In 1922, he was the first to write a chess monograph on the opening 1.e4 Nf6, calling it Alekhine's Defence.
Rico won, ahead of Medina and Alekhine, at Gijón 1945 (2nd it); took 4th at Gijón 1946 (3rd it, Francisco José Pérez won); took 9th at Gijón 1947 (4th it, Perez and Prins won); took 2nd, behind Perez, at Aviles 1947; and won, followed by Baruch Harold Wood, Perez, etc. at Gijón 1948 (5th it).
The Danish Gambit was popular with masters of the attack including Alekhine, Marshall, Blackburne, and Mieses, but as more defensive lines for Black were discovered and improved, it lost favor in the 1920s.
In July 1945, he took 6th in Gijón (Antonio Rico won before Alekhine, Medina and Pomar); Lupi had lost his game with Alekhine.
His victory against Alexander Alekhine at Karlsbad in 1923 won the brilliancy prize, while his win against Milan Vidmar at San Remo in 1930 was described by Alekhine as the finest game played since the war.
Helms also organized and promoted national chess tours for top players such as Capablanca, Alekhine, Lasker, Géza Maróczy, and Frank Marshall.
During this period, he had several other notable high finishes, such as Bern 1932 (tied for second with 11½/15, after World Champion Alexander Alekhine); Zürich 1934 (tied for second with 12/15, again trailing Alekhine); and Pärnu 1937 (second behind Paul Felix Schmidt).
Chess tradition was highlighted by the 1914 international tournament, in which the title "Grandmaster" was first formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II to five players: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and Marshall, and which the Tsar had partially funded.
He shared 9th at Bern 1932 (Alexander Alekhine won), took 10th at Zürich 1934 (Alekhine won), took 11th at Bad Liebwerda 1934 (Salo Flohr won), and tied for 5-8th at Lucerne 1950 (SUI-ch, Hans Johner won).