In 1928, he shared 1st with Kurt Richter in the Berlin City Chess Championship, and won a play-off match for the title against him (2 : 0).
[2] Helling represented Germany in the 4th Chess Olympiad at Prague 1931.
Helling won, ahead of Salo Flohr, at Zwickau 1930; won ahead of Ehrhardt Post and Richter, at Berlin 1930; and took 2nd, behind Isaac Kashdan, at Berlin 1930 (Quadrangular).
[4] In 1931, he lost a short match to Gösta Stoltz (0.5 : 1.5) in Berlin, tied for 2nd-4th, behind Herman Steiner, in Berlin, tied for 4-6th at Swinemünde (27th DSB Congress, Bogoljubow and Ludwig Roedl won),[5] and took 4th in Berlin (BSG, Ludwig Rellstab won).
Then he took 5th at Berlin 1932 (Mokadoro), took 3rd in the Berlin-ch 1933, took 10th at Bad Aachen 1933 (Bogoljubov won), and tied for 5-9th at Bad Pyrmont 1933 (1st German Chess Championship, Bogoljubow won).