The Kibitzer
by Tim Harding

A Royal March to Death or Glory

This month, The Kibitzer is looking at cases where kings go to
extremes and become polar explorers going to the far corners of
the board. If a white king reaches h8 (or a8), or His Black Majesty
arrives on h1 (or a1) then the game qualifies for consideration.

I set my database to work on a collection of more than 1.6 million
games to find suitable examples, especially short ones. Of course
the majority of cases where kings travelled the whole board turned
out to be endgames, where the kings were supporting passed pawns
often trying to capture enemy infantry en route.

Such cases are relatively uninteresting, both because they are
plentiful and because with material greatly diminished the king is
normally not running much risk. However, the following example
from master play is a little out of the ordinary. The final phase of
the white king's journey is with the purpose of forcing a winning
king and pawn ending.

Luther,T-Ellers,H Petermaennchen (Germany) 1999 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3
Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6 5 c4 Bg7 6 Be3 Nf6 7 Nc3 Ng4 8 Qxg4
Nxd4 9 Qd1 Ne6 10 Qd2 Qa5 11 Rc1 b6 12 b3 Bb7 13 Nd5
Qxd2+ 14 Kxd2 g5 15 h4 h6 16 hxg5 hxg5 17 Rxh8+ Bxh8 18
Bd3 d6 19 Rh1 Kd7 20 Rh7 Rf8 21 Be2 Nf4 22 Bg4+ Kd8 23 g3
Nxd5 24 exd5 Bf6 (See Diagram)

Now White's king starts motoring. 25 Kd3 Bc8 26 Bxc8 Kxc8 27
Ke4 Kc7 28 Kf5 a6 29 Bxg5 Bxg5 30 Kxg5 Kd7 31 Kh6 e5 32
Kg7 Ke7 33 Rh8 Rxh8 34 Kxh8 1-0.

Black resigns as the white king can return down the h-file to
support the advance of his pawns, or if Black plays ...Kf6 the white
king can move along the 8th rank to attack d6. 

The second most common category of such games is the King Hunt
- the doomed king is driven by checks and threats of mate to the far
corner, where normally he will perish in a pool of blood. There are
several well-known examples, for example the very pretty
Korolev-Kopylov postal game which can be found in the John
Nunn edition of the book "The King Hunt" by W.H. Cozens.

Here is a classic example where both kings take long walks but he
who walks last walks longest.

Carl Schlechter- Julius Thirring Vienna 1893 1 e4 e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3
f4 exf4 4 Nf3 g5 5 h4 g4 6 Ng5 h6 7 Nxf7 Kxf7 8 Bc4+ d5 9 Nxd5
Kg7 10 d4 Be6 11 Bxf4 Bd6 12 0-0 Qxh4 13 Bxd6 cxd6 14 Ne3
g3 15 Nf5+ Bxf5 16 Rxf5 Qh2+ 17 Kf1 Qh1+ 18 Ke2 Qxg2+ 19
Kd3 Nf6 20 Rxf6 Kxf6 21 Qg4 Nb4+ 22 Kc3 Qxc2+ 23 Kxb4 a5+
24 Kb5 Qxb2+ 25 Bb3 Qf2 (See Diagram) 

Now White's king is safe (!) and he took the initiative by 26 e5+
dxe5 27 dxe5+ Kxe5 28 Qe6+ Kd4 29 Qd5+ Ke3 30 Qe6+ Kf3 31
Bd1+ Kg2 32 Qe4+ Kh2 33 Qh1+ Kxh1 34 Bf3+ Kh2 35 Rh1# 1-
0.

Canadian GM Laurence Day must have enjoyed the following
finish (Black against Lod Prins at the 1968 olympiad in Lugano)
because his king hunt culminated in giving checkmate by castling
(See Diagram) 

White: Kf1, Qd1, Ne1, Be2, Ra1, Rc1; pawns - a3, b2, c4, e3, g2
Black: Ke8, Qc6, Bb7, Ra8, Rh8; pawns - a6, d7, e6, f7, g4, g7

23...Rh1+ 24 Kf2 g3+ 25 Kxg3 Rxe1 26 Qxe1
Qxg2+ 27 Kf4 g5+ 28 Ke5 Qe4+ 29 Kf6 Qf5+ 30 Kg7 Qg6+ 31
Kh8 0-0-0# 0-1.

Kasparov himself was involved in one such case early in his career

Romanishin - Kasparov Leningrad, 1975 (See Diagram)

White: Kg2, Bb2, Bf3, Ra1, Rf1; pawns - a2, c4, g4
Black: Kc8, Nd7, Bc5, Rd8, Rg8; pawns - a7, b7, c6, f4, f7

Now White starts his kamikaze flight 24 Kh3 Nb6 25 Bf6 Rd3 26
Rac1 Nd7 27 Ba1 f5 28 Kh4 Be7+ 29 Kh5 Rg5+ 30 Kh6 Rd6+ 31
Kh7 Nf8+ 32 Kh8 Rh6# 0-1.

The main interest in such cases is to seek really short examples
involving human players. (I discount computer games and Internet
blitz for these purposes.)

The shortest one I have found from over-the-board play in the 20th
century is the following.

Szukszta,J - Grzelak,R Poland team championship, 1971 1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 Ne4 5 Qc2 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bf8 7 Bd3 g6 8 h4
Bg7 9 h5 d6 10 Nf3 Nd7 11 hxg6 hxg6 12 Rxh8+ Bxh8 13 Bxg6
fxg6 14 Qxg6+ Kf8 15 Ng5 Qe8 16 Qh6+ Bg7 17 Nxe6+ Ke7 18
Qxg7+ Kxe6 (See Diagram) 

19 d5+ Kf5 20 g4+ Ke4 21 Qd4+ Kf3 22 Qf4+ Kg2 23 Qg3+ Kh1
24 Kf1 1-0. It is mate next move by Qh3 or Qg2. 

However the next game is shorter still.

Alexander - O. Cordel Weissenfels, 1870 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5
Bc5 4 0-0 Nge7 5 c3 f5 6 Bxc6 dxc6 7 Nxe5 fxe4 8 Qh5+ g6 9
Nxg6 Nxg6 10 Qxc5 Qd3 11 f3 Bh3 12 Qe3 Rg8 13 Qxd3 exd3 14
gxh3 Nf4+ 15 Kf2 0-0-0 (See Diagram) 

16 Ke3 Ng2+ 17 Ke4 Rge8+ 18 Kf5 Rd5+ 19 Kf6 Nf4 20 Rg1
Re6+ 21 Kg7 Rd7+ 22 Kh8 Re8+ 23 Rg8 Ng6# 0-1

In the following postal game, White's king even arrives at a8 on
move 20, but the win takes a little longer.

B. Skvortsov - Sergey Grodzensky Ryazan Oblast Corr Ch
(USSR), 1971

1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nc3 Qh4+ 4 Ke2 d5 5 Nxd5 Bg4+ 6 Nf3 Nc6 7
Kd3? 0-0-0 8 Nxh4 Bxd1 9 Kc3 g5 10 Nf3 Bg7+ 11 Kd3 g4 12
Ng5 b5 13 a3 Nge7 14 c4 bxc4+ 15 Kxc4 Na5+ 16 Kb5 Nec6 17
Ka6 White should have tried 17 Nxf7!? Kb7 18 Nxd8+ Rxd8 19
Nb4! Nxb4 20 axb4 Nb3 21 Bc4 according to Grodzensky.
17...Nb7 18 a4 If 18 Nxf7 Ba4!. 18...Nb8+ 19 Kxa7 Bd4+ 20 Ka8
(See Diagram) 

20...Rxd5 21 exd5 Bb3 22 Be2 Bxd5 23 Bxg4+ Nd7 24 Bf3 c6 0-
1. The winner of that game was recently awarded the
Correspondence Chess Grandmaster title.

The square a8 is also featured in the following game, perhaps the
shortest king hunt of its type. Emil Diemer and Gunderam played
numerous games in the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit so it is perhaps
no surprise that a king came to such an early bad end in one of
these.

Diemer,E - Gunderam corr, 1976 1 d4 d5 2 e4 dxe4 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 f3
exf3 5 Nxf3 Bf5 6 Ne5 e6 7 g4 Ne4 8 gxf5 Qh4+ 9 Ke2 f6 10 Nf3
Qf2+ 11 Kd3 Nc5+ 12 dxc5 Na6 13 Ne4 Nxc5+ 14 Kc4 b5+ 15
Kxb5 Rb8+ 16 Ka5 Nxe4 17 Qd4 (See Diagram) 

17...Bb4+ 18 Ka6 Nc5+ 19 Kxa7 Rb7+ 20 Ka8 Kf7+ 0-1. It is
mate next move.

Can anyone find a shorter game in which this task of mating the
king in the far corner was accomplished?

An elegant checkmate also of interest.

Sturua,Z - Chipashvili Soviet Union, 1978 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4
Nd7 4 Nc3 Ngf6 5 Be2 g6 6 Bg5 Bg7 7 dxe5 dxe5 8 Nxe5 Nxe5 9
Qxd8+ Kxd8 10 Nd5 Ned7 11 0-0-0 Bh6 12 Bxh6 Nxe4 13 Bf3
Nxf2 14 Bg5+ f6 15 Nxf6 Nxh1 16 Nd5+ Ke8 17 Re1+ Ne5 18
Rxe5+ Kd7 19 Re7+ Kc6 20 Rxc7+ Kb5 21 Be2+ Ka4 22 b3+ Ka3
23 Be7+ Kxa2 24 Nc3+ Ka1 (See Diagram) 25 Ba3! 1-0. Next
move Bb2 will complete the mate by bishop and knight.

The following game is curious for a different reason - in under 25
moves, two white pieces visit a8! R. Qualtiere - G. Grant Ohio
Class ch, 1988 1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nc3 Qh4+ 4 Ke2 d6 5 d4 g5 6
Nd5 Bd7 7 Nxc7+ Kd8 8 Nf3 Qh5 9 Nxa8 (See Diagram) 

How will the white king replace the knight on this square? Just
watch! 9...g4 10 Ng1 Bh6 11 Kd3 Nf6 12 Ne2 Nxe4 13 Qe1 Qf5
14 c4 Nc5+ 15 Kc3 Qd3+ 16 Kb4 Nba6+ 17 Ka5 b6+ 18 Nxb6
axb6+ 19 Kxb6 Qxc4 20 Qa5 Ke7 21 Nxf4 Rb8+ 22 Ka7 Rb7+ 23
Ka8 Nc7+ 0-1

More interesting is the case where the king is driven (or runs) to
the far corner but the game is not lost.

Delanoy,A - Ermenkov, Evgeny Groningen 1990 (See Diagram)

White: Kf3, Rc1, Rh1; pawns - a2, b3, c3, d5, e4, h3
Black: Kg6, Be5, Rh4, pawns - a7, b7, c5, d6, f4, g5

White is ahead the exchange for a pawn but it is not obvious how
he is to break down Black's resistance. The game ended 29 Rcg1!?
Bxc3 30 Rg4 Kh5 31 Rxh4+ Kxh4 32 Rg1 Bf6 33 Rg4+ Kxh3 34
Rg1 Kh2 35 Rg2+ Kh1 The black king is stalemated but cannot be
checkmated. If White still hoped to win, 36 e5 dxe5 37 Rd2 might
have been worth a try (not 37 d6?? e4+) but he settled for a draw
36 Re2 Be5 37 Rg2 Bf6 38 Re2 Be5 39 Rg2 «-«.

In the following game, some compulsion seemed to drive Black to
put his king in the corner when it wasn't necessary.

W. De Vries - T. Schneider ICCF thematic TT/5/97/2 corr, 1997
(See Diagram)

White: Kd1, Qf4, Ne6; pawns - a2, c2, e5, f2, g2, h4
Black: Ka3, Qe8, Nb8, Bb7, Ra8; pawns - a7, b6, d5

33 Qf3+ Kxa2?? After 33...Ka4 White has only a draw. 34 Qb3+
Ka1 35 Kc1 Qb5 36 Qa3# 1-0.

Better still, the king hunt fails altogether and (as in Luther-Ellers)
the player whose king reaches the far corner is the winner. Here is
an example from a high-level event.

Kupreichik - Yudasin 49th USSR Ch, Frunze, 1981 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3
Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Bg5 Bd7 7 Qd2 Rc8 8 f4
Nxd4 9 Qxd4 Qa5 10 e5 dxe5 11 fxe5 e6 12 0-0-0 Bc6 13 Nb5
Bxb5 14 exf6 Bc6 15 h4 Rg8 16 Bc4 gxf6 17 Rhe1 fxg5 18 Bxe6
fxe6 19 Rxe6+ Be7 (See Diagram) 

White has to bank everything on an attack, so 20 Rxe7+ Kxe7 21
Qe3+ Kf7 22 Rf1+ Kg7 23 Qe7+ Kh6 24 Rf7 Rcf8 25 Qd6+ Kh5
26 g4+ Kxg4 27 Qe6+ Kg3 28 Qe3+ Kh2 29 b4 Qxb4 30 Qe5+
Kh1 (See Diagram) White resigned. 0-1

The following recent example is from amateur play but is also
interesting because the result seems in doubt until nearly the end.

W.Moreno (2055) - M. Fuentes (2305) Regional ch, Lima (Peru)
1999 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 c5 3 d5 b5 4 Bg5 Ne4 5 Bh4 Bb7 6 a4 Qa5+
7 c3 e6 8 dxe6 fxe6 9 Nbd2 b4 10 Nxe4 Bxe4 11 c4 Nc6 12 e3 b3+
13 Ke2 Qb4 14 Nd2 Bc2 15 Qc1 Ne5 16 Ke1 d5 17 f4 Nxc4 18
Bxc4 dxc4 19 Kf2 c3 20 Nf3 c4 21 Nd4 cxb2 22 Qxb2 Qd2+ 23
Ne2 Bc5 24 Qe5 Qd5 25 Qxg7 Rf8 26 Bf6 Rb8 27 Bb2 (See
Diagram) 

Black should probably be winning this position (e.g. with 27...Rb7
or 27...Qe4) but he plays an incorrect combination 27...Rxf4+?!28
Nxf4 Qd2+ 29 Kf3 Qxe3+ 30 Kg4 Bf5+ 31 Kg5 Bf8 32 Qe5 Be7+
White's queen is in a dominant position but, a rook down, it is
understandable Black did not trust 32...Qxe5 33 Bxe5 Be7+ (or
33...Rb4) 34 Kh5 Rb4 35 g4. Although this would have prolonged
the game, White must be winning. 33 Kh5 Bg6+ 34 Nxg6 hxg6+
35 Kxg6 Qd3+ 36 Kg7 Bf8+ 37 Kh8 Qg6? 38 Qxb8+ 1-0.

To conclude, the following finish is definitely one of the more
unusual examples I found where a king made the long journey.

A.Novovsky - A.Kalinin IX Soviet Army Corr Ch, 1993 1 d4 Nf6
2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 d6 5 f3 0-0 6 Be3 Nbd7 7 Qd2 c5 8 Nge2
a6 9 a4 cxd4 10 Nxd4 Nc5 11 b4 e5 12 bxc5 exd4 13 Bxd4 dxc5
14 Bxc5 Nxe4 15 fxe4 Qa5 16 Bd4 Rd8 17 Nd5 Qxd2+ 18 Kxd2
Bxd4 19 Rb1 b6 20 Ne7+ Kf8 21 Nc6 Rd6 22 Nxd4 Rxd4+ 23
Ke3 (See Diagram) 

23...Rxe4+ 24 Kxe4 Bf5+ 25 Kd5 Bxb1 26 Kc6 Be4+ 27 Kxb6
Rb8+ 28 Kxa6 Rb1 29 Bd3 Bxd3 30 Rxb1 Bxb1 31 Kb6 Ke7 32
Kc7 Be4 33 a5 Bxg2 34 a6 f5 35 c5 Ba8 36 Kb8 Kd7 37 Kxa8 Kc8
0-1.

Maybe there was an adjudication or conditional move offer, since
in an over-the-board game one would expect at least one more
move to be made. After 38 Ka7 f4?? Black would even lose39 Kb6
f3 (39...Kb8 40 a7+) 40 a7 etc. 

However, the neat 38...Kc7! leaves White helpless while Black
advances his kingside pawn majority.