helpman.komtera.lt

You can turn a chess diagram into an editable position by uploading the image to an OCR (optical character recognition) service, letting it detect the board and pieces, then checking and correcting the result before using it. On Helpmate Analyzer, this is handled by its Chess OCR tool, which accepts files, camera photos, drag-and-drop, and clipboard paste, and the site notes that its diagram recognition has been improved and can handle images containing multiple chessboards. After recognition, you set the position and stipulation in the Analyzer, which then reports thematic content and move effects.

What you need before starting

• A clear image of the diagram: a scan, screenshot, or photo. Sharper images with straight board edges reduce misreads.
• A way to get the image onto your device (file, camera, or clipboard).
• Access to the Chess OCR tool linked from the Helpmate Analyzer site, and the Analyzer itself for the follow-up step.

The site does not state that these tools require an account or payment; it only mentions that donations via PayPal are welcome if you want to support development. Treat login and cost as unconfirmed rather than assuming free access.

Step-by-step: from image to editable position

1. Capture or collect the image. Use a screenshot of a digital diagram, a scan from a book or PDF, or a photo of a printed diagram. Keep the whole board in frame and avoid glare.
2. Open the Chess OCR tool from the Helpmate Analyzer page.
3. Upload the image using any of the supported methods the site lists: file selection, camera, drag-and-drop, or copy-and-paste. Pasting with Ctrl+V works directly without opening the OCR tab first, according to the site.
4. Run recognition. The service detects the board and pieces. Because it can handle images with multiple chessboards, check that it picked the board you intended.
5. Verify the detected position square by square against the original. Confirm piece types, colors, and whose move it is.
6. Correct any errors in the editable position before moving on. Fixing here is faster than debugging later analysis.
7. Transfer the position to the Analyzer. In Helpmate Analyzer you specify the position and the stipulation (the problem's conditions), and the program analyzes thematic content and the effects of departure and arrival of individual moves.

Supported image sources and upload methods

Common recognition problems and fixes

• Wrong piece type (e.g., bishop read as pawn): zoom in on the original and correct each square manually; low-contrast piece sets are the usual cause.
• Board orientation flipped: confirm which side is White at the bottom and that ranks/files match the original before trusting the position.
• Blurry or skewed photo: retake with the board filling the frame and the camera parallel to the page; recognition degrades with motion blur and steep angles.
• Multiple boards in one image: the tool can handle these, but verify it selected the correct board rather than a neighboring diagram.
• Missing or extra pieces: compare piece counts against the original; a single dropped piece changes the whole analysis.

When to skip OCR and enter the position manually

Manual entry is the better choice when the image is very low resolution, the diagram uses nonstandard piece symbols, or the board is partly obscured. It is also sensible for short positions where typing the pieces takes less time than correcting a flawed recognition. Either way, the Analyzer needs the position and stipulation set correctly before its thematic and move-effect output is meaningful.

For background on what the Analyzer is doing with the position, the site links a beginner's examples page, a glossary of helpmate themes and terms, guidance on describing twins, and chess problem databases such as PDB and YACPDB.

Helpmate Analyzer is an online tool for chess composers and judges that analyzes helpmate problems. You specify the position and the stipulation, and the program reports the problem's thematic content, the departure and arrival effects of individual moves, and other features. It suits anyone who needs to check what a helpmate actually shows — whether you are composing one, judging a tourney entry, or studying published problems. A helpmate is a chess problem in which both sides cooperate to checkmate Black.

What a helpmate is and who the tool is for

In a helpmate, White and Black move in the same direction: Black is trying to get mated, and White is trying to deliver the mate. That cooperative logic is what separates helpmates from directmates, where the defender resists. Because the play is cooperative, the interesting content of a helpmate usually lies in why each move is made — the thematic effects — rather than in tactical resistance.

Helpmate Analyzer is built around that idea. Its stated audience is chess composers and judges, and its output is aimed at the thematic reading of a problem rather than at a score or a win. If you want to understand a problem's construction, this is the kind of tool that answers "what theme is this?" and "what does this move do?" rather than "who is winning?"

The analysis workflow

The core loop is simple: give the program the problem, then read what it reports.

1. Specify the position. Enter the chess position of the helpmate problem.
2. Specify the stipulation. The stipulation is the formal statement of the task — the number of moves and the exact conditions under which the mate must be achieved. The Analyzer needs it to know what to analyze.
3. Run the analysis. The program analyzes the problem against its stipulation.
4. Read the results. The output covers the problem's thematic content, the effects of departure and arrival of individual moves, and other features.

The "Results" panel is where the analysis appears. The practical point is that the tool does the bookkeeping of move effects for you: instead of manually tracing what each move vacates, opens, guards, or unguards, you get that reported per move and can then judge whether the effect is thematic or incidental.

Reading the output

The two named output categories are worth separating:

• Thematic content — which recognized themes the problem realizes. The site maintains a list of programmed themes, including Lommer theme, Sacrificial Loyd's clearance, colour-switched moves, masked unguard of flight, Sabra 29 theme, Azemmour 12 theme, WCCT-12 theme, and Festina lente. A theme appearing in the output is a signal to check the mechanism yourself, not a substitute for judgment.
• Departure / arrival effects — what a move does by leaving its origin square and by reaching its destination square. This is the raw material of helpmate construction, and having it listed move by move is what makes the tool useful for composition and judging.

Supporting tools on the same site

The Analyzer is part of a small ecosystem aimed at the same audience:

The Chess OCR piece matters in practice: if the problem you want to analyze exists only as a diagram — in a book, a PDF, or a photo — you can recognize the diagram and get the position without setting it up by hand. The site notes that the OCR service has been improved and that images can include multiple chessboards, with upload by file selection, camera, drag and drop, or copy and paste (Ctrl+V pastes directly without opening the OCR tab).

Practical notes

• Donation-supported, not paywalled in the material here. The site invites donations via PayPal to support further development. The page does not state a price or a login requirement, so treat access terms as something to confirm on the site rather than assume.
• The theme list is a moving target. The site labels its theme additions as "latest," which means the programmed-theme coverage grows over time. If a problem uses an unusual theme, check whether it is in the current list before reading a null result as "no theme."
• Use the glossary alongside the output. Theme names in the results are shorthand; the glossary is where the definition lives, and matching the reported name to the definition is how you verify the claim.
• Contact for feedback is listed as Viktoras Paliulionis, if you find a misreported theme or want a theme added.

For a composer, the natural use is to draft a problem, run it, and check whether the intended theme is actually present and whether the move effects are clean. For a judge, it is a second opinion on thematic content before you commit to an award.

A helpmate is a chess problem in which both sides cooperate to checkmate Black: White moves first (unless the stipulation says otherwise), and Black helps rather than resists, so the checkmate is reached in exactly the number of moves the problem specifies. Helpmate Analyzer (helpman.komtera.lt) is an online tool for chess composers and judges that takes a helpmate position and stipulation, then reports the problem's thematic content and the effects of each move's departure and arrival. It is aimed at people who compose or judge helpmates, not at players looking for game analysis.

What makes a helpmate different

In a normal game or a directmate, Black defends. In a helpmate, Black is a partner: both sides play the moves that produce the final mate. The stipulation fixes the terms — typically how many moves each side makes and who moves first — and the solver's job is to find the unique cooperative sequence that mates Black within those terms.

Because the point is the construction rather than the contest, helpmates are judged on their themes: recurring patterns of move effects, such as a piece clearing a line, a square being unguarded, or two sides swapping roles. That is exactly the layer Helpmate Analyzer is built to surface.

What Helpmate Analyzer does

According to the site, you specify the position and the stipulation of a helpmate problem, and the program analyzes it and provides information on:

• Thematic content — which recognized themes the problem contains. The site lists programmed themes including Lommer theme, sacrificial Loyd's clearance, colour-switched moves, masked unguard of flight, Sabra 29 theme, Azemmour 12 theme, WCCT-12 theme, and Festina lente.
• Effects of departure and arrival of individual moves — what each move changes by leaving its origin square and by reaching its destination, which is the raw material of most helpmate themes.
• Other features of the problem.

The site describes the tool as being for chess composers and judges. It also invites donations via PayPal to support development; the site does not state terms of use beyond that, so treat access and any limits as something to confirm on the site itself.

Workflow: from diagram to results

1. Get the position in. You can set up the position directly, or bring in an image: the site's Chess OCR service recognizes chess diagrams, and the news notes that images can include multiple chessboards, with upload by file selection, camera, drag-and-drop, or copy-paste (Ctrl+V pastes directly without opening the OCR tab).
2. State the stipulation. The analysis depends on the problem's terms, so the stipulation has to match what the problem actually asks.
3. Run the analysis and read the results. The results panel reports thematic content and the departure/arrival effects of individual moves, which you then interpret against the theme definitions.

A practical example: if you have composed a two-move helpmate and suspect it contains a colour-switched move, enter the position and stipulation, run the analysis, and check whether that theme is reported — then use the departure/arrival breakdown to see which move carries the effect and whether it holds across the solution.

Common sticking points

• OCR input is the likeliest failure point. Diagram recognition is convenient but depends on image quality; if the imported position looks wrong, correct it before analyzing, since every later result depends on the position being exact.
• Theme names need a reference. The tool reports themes by name; if a name is unfamiliar, check it against the site's glossary rather than guessing from the label.
• Twins need their description. Problems with multiple parts are described in a specific notation, and the site links to guidance on how to describe twins — get that right before expecting the analysis to match.

Supporting resources on the same site

• Glossary of helpmate themes and terms — for interpreting the thematic labels the analyzer reports.
• How to describe twins — for multi-part problems.
• Examples of helpmates for beginners — a starting point if you are new to the genre.
• Chess OCR — the diagram-recognition tool, also usable on its own.
• Problem databases — the site points to the Chess Problem Database Server (PDB) by Schwalbe, the German Chess Problem Society, and YACPDB by Dmitry Turevsky, useful for checking whether a problem or theme already exists.
• Books (PDF) — Chris Feather, Black to Play (F. Chlubna, Vienna, 1994, correction 2012); Hilmar Ebert and Hans Gruber, Top Helpmates (1995) and Early Helpmates (2001).

Who should use it

Use Helpmate Analyzer if you compose helpmates and want a quick check of a problem's thematic content and move effects, or if you judge them and need a consistent reading of what a problem contains. If you are learning the genre, start with the beginner examples and the glossary first — the analyzer's output assumes you know what the theme names mean.

Daniel King is a British chess grandmaster, a professional player for more than two decades, and one of the most recognisable voices in chess broadcasting. If you have watched tournament coverage, heard commentary on a major event, or picked up a chess book with his name on the cover, you have already met part of his work. For players who want to improve, his main value lies in three areas: clear explanatory writing, the Power Play video series, and live or recorded commentary that turns complex positions into understandable plans.

Background: player, broadcaster, author

Daniel King has been a professional chess-player for over 20 years. He is also a games consultant, television presenter, freelance journalist, and an award-winning author of 14 books. He speaks German as well as English, which matters if you are looking for chess content in either language.

What this background means for a learner is straightforward. He is not only a strong player but someone who has spent years explaining chess to a general audience. That combination is rarer than it sounds. Many strong players can play well but struggle to teach; many teachers can explain but have not competed at a high level. King sits in the overlap.

The main strands of his teaching work

Books

With 14 books to his name, his written output covers openings, general improvement, and practical play. The style tends to be accessible rather than encyclopaedic: ideas are introduced with words first, variations second. That makes his books a reasonable fit for club players who want to understand why a move works, not just memorise it.

Power Play DVDs and video series

The Power Play series is probably the best-known part of his instructional catalogue. These are video lessons built around themes rather than a single opening. The format suits players who learn better by watching and listening than by reading notation. Because the material is presented in themed chunks, you can work through one idea at a time instead of committing to a long course.

Commentary and presenting

His work as a television presenter and commentator is where many players first encounter him. Live commentary demands a particular skill: explaining a position quickly, to viewers of mixed strength, without dumbing it down. That same skill carries over into his teaching — he tends to describe plans and candidate moves in plain language.

What level is his material aimed at?

Broadly, his instructional content sits in the improver-to-club-player range, with some material that stronger players will still find useful.

This is a general guide, not a rule. A strong player can still enjoy a well-explained video on attacking ideas, and a beginner can pick up a lot from watching commentary even if some lines go over their head.

Recurring themes in his teaching

Across books, videos and commentary, a few ideas come up again and again:

• Practical decision-making. What to do when there is no forced win, how to choose between two reasonable moves, and how to handle positions where you are slightly worse.
• Attacking play. How to build an attack, when to sacrifice, and how to judge whether an attack is justified.
• Explaining ideas clearly. He tends to prioritise understanding over memorisation, which is why his material works well for players who want to think for themselves at the board.

How to choose a first book or video

The right starting point depends on your goal, not on what is newest or most popular.

1. If you want to improve your overall play, start with a general improvement book or a themed Power Play video on strategy or attacking ideas.
2. If you struggle with openings, look for his opening-focused writing, but treat it as a guide to ideas rather than a memorisation list.
3. If you learn best by watching, go straight to the video series. Watch one theme, then play a few games trying to apply it.
4. If you mainly want entertainment and insight, his commentary is the easiest entry point — you get chess understanding without homework.

A simple rule: pick the format you will actually finish. A half-watched video teaches less than a fully read short book.

Why his wider roles shape the material

His work as a games consultant, journalist and presenter explains a lot about how his chess content is built. Journalism trains you to be clear and concise. Presenting trains you to hold an audience. Consulting trains you to solve practical problems rather than chase theoretical perfection. The result is teaching material that is approachable, well-structured, and focused on what helps you at the board.

A practical way to start

If you are new to his work, try this sequence:

1. Watch one Power Play video on a theme you find difficult, such as attacking play or positional decisions.
2. Play three or four games and note where that theme appeared.
3. Pick up one of his books and read the chapters that match those games.
4. Use his commentary as background listening to absorb how a grandmaster talks through a position.

That loop — watch, play, read, listen — turns passive viewing into actual improvement. It also lets you judge for yourself whether his style suits you, which is ultimately the only test that matters.