In the 1991 Tilburg Chess Tournament, Nigel Short famously beat Jan Timman using what became known as “The Immortal King Walk”. Such journeys by the monarch seldom happen in high level games, as the safety of the king is considered the most important element in the game of chess. But only a few days ago, a wounded Magnus Carlsen, smarting from his exit from the FIDE World Cup at the hands of the eventual winner Jan-Krzysztof Duda, came very close to replicating it.
First let’s see how Short did it!
[caption id="attachment_154243" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Short - Timman (1991) - Position after 30… h5 [/caption]
The white pieces are utterly dominant. The queen is menacingly placed in the heart of black’s weakened king-side. The two rooks control the all important d-file. The black pieces are cramped and passive. All black can hope for is to maintain the status quo.
Despite all the dominance, it seems like white needs that “one extra piece” to crash through black’s defences because the knight on f3 must stay there due to the checkmating threat on the long diagonal. So where does that extra piece come from? Short found an ingenious way.
31.Kh2 A normal move in such positions. After all, when you are totally in control, it makes perfect sense to prophylactically address any back rank threats.
31...Rc8 Black holds the fort and waits. 31...Bc8 does not work due to 32.Ng5 Bxd7 33.Rf4 Qc5 34.Nxf7 Rxf7 35.Qxf7+ Kh8 36.Qxg6 Qxe5 37.g3 and white wins.
32.Kg3 It is only now that Short’s marvelous idea becomes clear. The king is on its way to h6, becoming that additional piece white needed to finish black off. Black can only watch.
32...Rce8 33.Kf4 Bc8 34.Kg5 and black resigned.
[caption id="attachment_154244" align="alignnone" width="300"]
The final position[/caption]
34...Kh7 runs into the pleasing 35.Qxg6+ Kh8 36.Qh6+ Kg8 37.Kf6.
This kind of a king walk is so rare that Nigel Short later pronounced (half jokingly) that he wants it engraved on his tombstone. Now let’s see how Carlsen almost did a much longer version of it.
[caption id="attachment_154245" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Vladimir Fedoseev - Magnus Carlsen; FIDE World Cup 2021 (3rd place play-off); After 16.Be3[/caption]
Here, Carlsen started the fireworks with 16...f4! and followed it up with an exchange sacrifice 17.Bxf4 Bd7 18.Nd1 Rxf4!
Soon, white was finding it hard to breathe.
19.Qxf4 Bh6 20.Qg3 Qf8 21.Ne3 Bf4 22.Qg2 Rc8 23.Rc3 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Qc8 25.c4
[caption id="attachment_154246" align="alignnone" width="300"]
Black to play[/caption]
25...b5! 26.axb6 {26.cxb5 Qc1+ 27.Bd1(27. Nd1 Qd2+ 28. Kf1 Bxb5) 27... Bxb5 and 28...Qc3#} axb6 27.Qg1 Qa8 28.Kf1 Qa2 29.Ng2 Qa1+ 30.Ne1 Qb2 31.Ng2 Qc1+ 32.Ne1 Qd2 33.Qg2
[caption id="attachment_154247" align="alignnone" width="300"]
After 33.Qg2[/caption]
With white’s army totally paralyzed, and black needing that “one extra piece” to finish the deal, Carlsen’s thoughts must have drifted towards replicating Short’s immortal king-walk. If the black king can come all the way to d2 (the queen can move over to c1), that would have been a truly amazing spectacle.
33...Kg7 34.Rg1 Kf8 35.Qh1. Sadly, the black king can’t access the a6 square (because of c4-c5 with a discovered check), so Carlsen changes his plan.
35...e6! Now if white plays 36.dxe6, the king walk is back on. After 36...Bxe6, we get the following position.
Now the king can avoid the a6 square and reach d2 via c5-b4 path. Unfortunately this “one for the ages” variation failed to materialize as Fedoseev took a different path to go down.
36.Rg3 exd5 37.exd5 Bf5 38.Rg1 Kf7 39.Rg3 Nd7 40.Rg5 Bxg5 41. hxg5 Ne5 0-1
Short - Timman (1991) - Position after 30… h5 [/caption]
The white pieces are utterly dominant. The queen is menacingly placed in the heart of black’s weakened king-side. The two rooks control the all important d-file. The black pieces are cramped and passive. All black can hope for is to maintain the status quo.
Despite all the dominance, it seems like white needs that “one extra piece” to crash through black’s defences because the knight on f3 must stay there due to the checkmating threat on the long diagonal. So where does that extra piece come from? Short found an ingenious way.
31.Kh2 A normal move in such positions. After all, when you are totally in control, it makes perfect sense to prophylactically address any back rank threats.
31...Rc8 Black holds the fort and waits. 31...Bc8 does not work due to 32.Ng5 Bxd7 33.Rf4 Qc5 34.Nxf7 Rxf7 35.Qxf7+ Kh8 36.Qxg6 Qxe5 37.g3 and white wins.
32.Kg3 It is only now that Short’s marvelous idea becomes clear. The king is on its way to h6, becoming that additional piece white needed to finish black off. Black can only watch.
32...Rce8 33.Kf4 Bc8 34.Kg5 and black resigned.
[caption id="attachment_154244" align="alignnone" width="300"] The final position[/caption]
34...Kh7 runs into the pleasing 35.Qxg6+ Kh8 36.Qh6+ Kg8 37.Kf6.
This kind of a king walk is so rare that Nigel Short later pronounced (half jokingly) that he wants it engraved on his tombstone. Now let’s see how Carlsen almost did a much longer version of it.
[caption id="attachment_154245" align="alignnone" width="300"] Vladimir Fedoseev - Magnus Carlsen; FIDE World Cup 2021 (3rd place play-off); After 16.Be3[/caption]
Here, Carlsen started the fireworks with 16...f4! and followed it up with an exchange sacrifice 17.Bxf4 Bd7 18.Nd1 Rxf4!
Soon, white was finding it hard to breathe.
19.Qxf4 Bh6 20.Qg3 Qf8 21.Ne3 Bf4 22.Qg2 Rc8 23.Rc3 Rxc3 24.bxc3 Qc8 25.c4
[caption id="attachment_154246" align="alignnone" width="300"] Black to play[/caption]
25...b5! 26.axb6 {26.cxb5 Qc1+ 27.Bd1(27. Nd1 Qd2+ 28. Kf1 Bxb5) 27... Bxb5 and 28...Qc3#} axb6 27.Qg1 Qa8 28.Kf1 Qa2 29.Ng2 Qa1+ 30.Ne1 Qb2 31.Ng2 Qc1+ 32.Ne1 Qd2 33.Qg2
[caption id="attachment_154247" align="alignnone" width="300"] After 33.Qg2[/caption]
With white’s army totally paralyzed, and black needing that “one extra piece” to finish the deal, Carlsen’s thoughts must have drifted towards replicating Short’s immortal king-walk. If the black king can come all the way to d2 (the queen can move over to c1), that would have been a truly amazing spectacle.
33...Kg7 34.Rg1 Kf8 35.Qh1. Sadly, the black king can’t access the a6 square (because of c4-c5 with a discovered check), so Carlsen changes his plan.
35...e6! Now if white plays 36.dxe6, the king walk is back on. After 36...Bxe6, we get the following position.
Now the king can avoid the a6 square and reach d2 via c5-b4 path. Unfortunately this “one for the ages” variation failed to materialize as Fedoseev took a different path to go down.
36.Rg3 exd5 37.exd5 Bf5 38.Rg1 Kf7 39.Rg3 Nd7 40.Rg5 Bxg5 41. hxg5 Ne5 0-1