The Man Who Walked Out

The game, move by move

Italian Game

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 Out, hitting e5
4. 2… Nc6 And defended
5. 3. Bc4 The Italian bishop
6. 3… Bc5 The symmetrical answer
7. 4. c3 Preparing d4
8. 4… Nf6 The last knight out
9. 5. d4 The centre, on move five The classical way to play this: two pawns abreast, and the game is about whether they can be held there.
10. 5… exd4 Taken
11. 6. cxd4 Recaptured, and the pawns are abreast
12. 6… Bb4+ Check, from b4 A developing move with a check attached, which is the cheapest kind.
13. 7. Nc3 Blocked with the knight
14. 7… d5 The centre challenged back
15. 8. exd5 Taken
16. 8… Nxd5 Recaptured with the knight

Pieces off, king in the middle

1. 9. O-O White castles Both sides have four pieces out and neither has a weakness. What decides the game is that in nine moves Black still has not castled.
2. 9… Be6 The bishop to e6
3. 10. Bg5 The bishop out to g5
4. 10… Be7 Retreating the bishop
5. 11. Bxd5 Taking the knight
6. 11… Bxd5 Recaptured with the bishop
7. 12. Nxd5 Taking the other knight
8. 12… Qxd5 Recaptured with the queen Four pieces come off in three moves. Every exchange helps the side whose king is safe, and that is White.
9. 13. Bxe7 Taking the bishop
10. 13… Nxe7 Recaptured with the knight
11. 14. Re1 The rook to the open file The file the black king is standing on. He has one move to get off it and does not use it.
12. 14… f6 A pawn to f6 Making a square on f7 for the king rather than castling — Black is going to walk his king by hand for the rest of the game.
13. 15. Qe2 The queen behind the rook
14. 15… Qd7 The queen to d7
15. 16. Rac1 The second rook out Every white piece is now on the file or the diagonal that matters. Nothing is attacked and Black has no move that frees him.
16. 16… c6 A pawn to c6

The knight to e6

1. 17. d5 The pawn breaks d5, offered, to open the file and the diagonal at once.
2. 17… cxd5 Taken
3. 18. Nd4 The knight to d4 Heading for e6 — the square in front of the king, where a knight cannot be taken because taking it opens the file behind it.
4. 18… Kf7 The king steps to f7 The only square. He is on the seventh rank on move eighteen with both rooks still at home.
5. 19. Ne6 The knight lands on e6 A knight two squares from the king, touching c7, d8, f8 and g7 at once. Neither the king nor the queen can afford to take it, so it simply stays there.
6. 19… Rhc8 The rook comes out at last
7. 20. Qg4 The queen to g4 A third piece pointed at the king, and the threat is simply Nxg7. Black has to weaken the squares around him to stop it.
8. 20… g6 A pawn to g6 Stopping the knight and opening the diagonal the queen is already on.

A rook on the seventh, four times

1. 21. Ng5+ Check, from g5 The knight steps back with check, and the king has one square.
2. 21… Ke8 Back to e8
3. 22. Rxe7+ The rook takes on e7 The first offer. Kxe7 walks into Re1+ and a hunt; Qxe7 drops the rook that has been loose on c8 all along, to Rxc8+. So the rook sits on the seventh rank, attacked, and may not be taken.
4. 22… Kf8 The king sidesteps
5. 23. Rf7+ The rook slides to f7 Still attacked, still untouchable, and now checking again. Second of four.
6. 23… Kg8 To g8
7. 24. Rg7+ And to g7 Third. The rook has crossed the whole seventh rank under attack without ever being taken.
8. 24… Kh8 The corner
9. 25. Rxh7+ Rxh7 — and the chair empties The fourth offer, and von Bardeleben answered it by standing up, walking out of the tournament hall and letting his clock run down. He lost on time. Everything after this move was played by Steinitz to the spectators.

The finish, played to an empty chair

1. 25… Kg8 The finish, from here on Ten moves of check, demonstrated at the board to a room. These are the moves everybody knows the game by and not one of them was played by an opponent.
2. 26. Rg7+ The rook returns to g7
3. 26… Kh8 Back to the corner
4. 27. Qh4+ Check, from h4 The queen finally comes to the h-file, and now the rook on g7 is bait rather than an attacker.
5. 27… Kxg7 The king takes the rook Forced — and it walks him onto the square the queen needs him on.
6. 28. Qh7+ Check, from h7
7. 28… Kf8 To f8
8. 29. Qh8+ Check, from h8
9. 29… Ke7 To e7
10. 30. Qg7+ Check, from g7
11. 30… Ke8 To e8
12. 31. Qg8+ Check, from g8
13. 31… Ke7 Back to e7
14. 32. Qf7+ Check, from f7
15. 32… Kd8 To d8
16. 33. Qf8+ Check, from f8 Eight checks in a row, and the king has been walked from h8 to d8. The one thing he got to do on the way was take the rook on g7.
17. 33… Qe8 Blocked with the queen The only move. Interposing on e8 is what lets the knight in.
18. 34. Nf7+ Check, from the knight Nf7 — the knight has stood on g5 since move twenty-one, doing nothing but watch, and this is the one move it makes.
19. 34… Kd7 The last square
20. 35. Qd6# Checkmate The queen lands on d6 and the king is walled in by his own queen on e8 and rook on c8, with the rook on c1 and the knight on f7 taking the rest. Ten moves of it, played to an empty chair.