The King Hunt

The game, move by move

A quiet Dutch

1. 1. d4 Queen’s pawn
2. 1… e6 A modest reply
3. 2. Nf3 Out
4. 2… f5 The Dutch Black takes the centre with the f-pawn, which is enterprising and puts a hole where his king is about to castle.
5. 3. Nc3 Out
6. 3… Nf6 Out
7. 4. Bg5 The bishop pins
8. 4… Be7 Breaking the pin
9. 5. Bxf6 Trading the bishop off
10. 5… Bxf6 Recaptured

Both queens come out

1. 6. e4 Opening the centre
2. 6… fxe4 Taken
3. 7. Nxe4 Recaptured with the knight
4. 7… b6 A pawn for the bishop’s diagonal
5. 8. Ne5 A knight to e5 Three white pieces are now within one move of the black king’s corner, and Black has not noticed.
6. 8… O-O Castling into it The king goes to h8’s corner behind a pawn on h7. Every check for the next eight moves lands on a square he has just been given.
7. 9. Bd3 The bishop onto the diagonal d3 points at h7, which is now defended once and attacked once.
8. 9… Bb7 The bishop out
9. 10. Qh5 The queen to h5 Attacked twice, defended once. There is a queen sacrifice on h7 in the position and one move to prevent it.
10. 10… Qe7 Not that one Qe7 develops and defends nothing that matters.

The queen on h7

1. 11. Qxh7+ The queen, on h7 Taken for a pawn. What White gets is the king out of the corner, and eight checks in a row to walk him down the board.
2. 11… Kxh7 It has to be taken
3. 12. Nxf6+ Check, from the knight
4. 12… Kh6 The king walks up

h8 to g1

1. 13. Neg4+ The other knight, check Both knights are on the king now, and every square he is given is one square further from home.
2. 13… Kg5 g5
3. 14. h4+ A pawn, check
4. 14… Kf4 f4
5. 15. g3+ Another pawn, check White is checking with pawns. Nothing has been developed for this; every piece was already where it needed to be.
6. 15… Kf3 f3 — the fourth rank behind him
7. 16. Be2+ The bishop, check
8. 16… Kg2 g2, beside White’s own king
9. 17. Rh2+ The rook, check Rh2 was a rook that had not moved all game, and it moves once.
10. 17… Kg1 g1 — the corner he was walked to
11. 18. Kd2# Checkmate, with the king The white king steps to d2 and takes the last flight square, which no other piece could. Eight checks, h8 to g1, and the mating move is a king move.