A King Walked to c5

The game, move by move

A Caro-Kann, opened

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… c6 The Caro-Kann
3. 2. Nc3 Developing
4. 2… d5 d5, the point of c6
5. 3. Nf3 The second knight
6. 3… Nf6 The knight out
7. 4. e5 e5, past the knight
8. 4… Ne4 The knight to e4
9. 5. Qe2 The queen to e2 Behind the pawn and on the file, so that when the knights come off, the recapture opens a diagonal.
10. 5… Nxc3 The knights traded
11. 6. dxc3 Recaptured with the d-pawn dxc3 rather than bxc3, so that the queen on e2 looks out along the e-file and the d-file is open for nothing in particular. It is the pawn that matters, not the file.
12. 6… b6 b6, for the diagonal

The pawn on e6

1. 7. Nd4 The knight to d4
2. 7… c5 c5, hitting it
3. 8. e6 e6 — the pawn, offered It is not a check and it wins nothing. What it does is force fxe6, which opens the diagonal from e2 to h5 and takes away every square in front of Black’s king at once.
4. 8… fxe6 Taken — and it has to be
5. 9. Qh5+ Check, from h5 The king cannot block it and cannot castle. He goes forwards, and he keeps going forwards for the next ten moves.
6. 9… Kd7 Kd7

The knight to f7

1. 10. Nf3 The knight comes back
2. 10… Kc7 Kc7
3. 11. Ne5 The knight to e5
4. 11… Bd7 The bishop out at last
5. 12. Nf7 The knight to f7 It attacks the queen and the rook and cannot be taken. From f7 it goes to d8 and then to e6, which is where it gives mate.
6. 12… Qe8 The queen steps aside
7. 13. Qe5+ Check, from e5
8. 13… Kb7 Kb7
9. 14. Bf4 The bishop to f4 Developed at last, on the diagonal that covers d6 — one of the five squares around the king at the end.
10. 14… c4 c4, trying to make room

The king walked to c5

1. 15. Qc7+ Check, from c7
2. 15… Ka6 Ka6 — the edge of the board
3. 16. Nd8 The knight to d8 On its way to e6, and it also takes c6 from the black queen.
4. 16… Nc6 The knight comes to c6, holding
5. 17. Qb7+ Check, from b7
6. 17… Kb5 Kb5
7. 18. a4+ A pawn, with check a4, so that b5 is covered when the king is on c5. It is a pawn move played four half-moves before it is needed.
8. 18… Kc5 Kc5 — the fifth rank A king on c5 on move eighteen with a queen, two rooks and a bishop of his own still on the board and none of them anywhere near him.
9. 19. Qxc6+ The queen, given on c6 She takes the knight that is guarding e6 and offers herself to the bishop that has to take her back.
10. 19… Bxc6 Taken
11. 20. Nxe6# Checkmate, on e6 The knight takes the pawn on e6 and the king on c5 is finished. The pawn on c3 covers d4 and b4, the pawn on a4 covers b5, the bishop on f4 covers d6, the knight covers d4 — and d5, c4, b6 and the bishop on c6 are all Black’s own.