A King Walked to g5

The game, move by move

The Falkbeer

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. f4 The King’s Gambit
4. 2… d5 The Falkbeer — a pawn back Instead of taking on f4, Black offers a pawn of his own in the centre. The point is not material; it is that the e-file opens with White’s king still on it.
5. 3. exd5 Taken
6. 3… e4 The pawn goes past e4 cannot be taken and cannot easily be attacked, and it takes f3 away from White’s knight for the next eleven moves.
7. 4. Nc3 Developing
8. 4… Nf6 And Black
9. 5. d3 Undermining e4
10. 5… Bb4 Pinning the knight
11. 6. Bd2 Breaking the pin
12. 6… e3 e3 — the wedge The pawn steps in front of White’s own bishop and pawn and refuses to be taken by anything except the bishop. Every white piece is now a move further from the kingside.

Everything aimed at e2

1. 7. Bxe3 Taken
2. 7… O-O Black castles
3. 8. Bd2 The bishop steps back
4. 8… Bxc3 The knight taken
5. 9. bxc3 Recaptured
6. 9… Re8+ Check, down the file The rook lands on e8 and White’s king is still on e1, which is what 2…d5 was played for eight moves ago.
7. 10. Be2 Blocked with the bishop Be2 is the only way to block. It puts a bishop on the one square in White’s position that everything black is about to attack.
8. 10… Bg4 Pinning it
9. 11. c4 Holding d5
10. 11… c6 Chipping at the pawn
11. 12. dxc6 Taken
12. 12… Nxc6 Recaptured, and developed
13. 13. Kf1 The king steps off the file Kf1 unpins nothing and breaks the check line, and it is the move that puts the king on the square his walk starts from.
14. 13… Rxe2 The rook, for the bishop Rxe2 gives up a rook for a bishop to strip e2 of its defender. It is the first of three pieces Morphy hands over, and the only one taken with a piece.

Two knights given

1. 14. Nxe2 Taken back
2. 14… Nd4 The knight to d4 Attacking the knight on e2 a second time and covering f3, which is where the other knight is going.
3. 15. Qb1 The queen to b1 Defending the knight from the far corner. It is the last move White makes that is not forced.
4. 15… Bxe2+ The bishop takes, with check
5. 16. Kf2 Kf2
6. 16… Ng4+ Check, from g4
7. 17. Kg1 Kg1
8. 17… Nf3+ The second knight, on f3 Nf3+ cannot be declined and cannot be taken by anything except the g-pawn — which is the point, because the g-file is the last thing covering this king.
9. 18. gxf3 Taken, and the file opens
10. 18… Qd4+ Check, from d4

The king walks to g5

1. 19. Kg2 Kg2
2. 19… Qf2+ Check, from f2
3. 20. Kh3 Kh3 — the third rank
4. 20… Qxf3+ The pawn on f3, taken with check Black recovers one of the three pieces and keeps checking. The king cannot go back: g2 and g3 are both covered.
5. 21. Kh4 Kh4 — the fourth Six half-moves of check have walked a king from f1 to h4, and there is no white piece within four squares of him.
6. 21… Nh6 Nh6 — the quiet move The only move in the last fifteen that is not a check or a capture. The knight is going to f5, and from f5 it covers g3, h4 and h6 — every square the king could still reach.
7. 22. Qg1 The queen comes back to g1 Too late by one move, and from a square where she guards nothing that is about to be attacked.
8. 22… Nf5+ Check, from f5 And the king has exactly one square, which is forwards, to g5.
9. 23. Kg5 Kg5
10. 23… Qh5# Checkmate, on h5 The queen steps up beside the king, defended by the bishop that has been standing on e2 since move fifteen. She covers f5, g6, g4, h6 and h4; the knight covers h6 and h4 as well; f6 and g6 are Black’s own pawns; and f4 is White’s.