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Nigel Short vs Jan Timman
"A Long Walk Off a Short Peer" (game of the day May-26-09)
Tilburg 53/115 1991  ·  Alekhine Defense: Modern. Alburt Variation (B04)  ·  1-0
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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 6 OF 6 ·  Later Kibitzing>
May-27-09  SirChrislov: The following "King march followed by check" has got to be The Godfather of all King Marches. Black checks the wht King all the way up the board only to find he is doomed. the victim, Riga's great magician: Geller vs Tal, 1975
Jun-19-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: My video annotation of this game has so far been favourited 41 times on youtube:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_oY...

Oct-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  technical draw: I've checked all the king march games posted here but I like this one the best. There's something strange about Short's king just moving up with impunity. It has an aesthetic appeal.
Oct-08-09
Premium Chessgames Member
  Kinghunt: So what is black's best defense to 31. Kh2? Bc8 seems like the only plausible defense to me, by regaining the 7th rank, which is key to several lines of Short's attack. But that allows 32. Ng5 with the idea of 33. g4, which is absolutely crushing. So does black have any better defense?
Dec-22-09  zanshin: <Kinghunt> I think you pretty much got it right. I checked the lines several times going forwards and back from the end to move 31 several times.
Apr-10-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  notyetagm: Game Collection: COORDINATE YOUR PIECES ON LOOSE SQUARES NEXT TO

Short vs Timman, 1991 35 Kg5-h6!! coordinates with White f6-queen on loose g7-square

Apr-22-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  PinnedPiece: Mr Short has posted on Youtube an exerpt from a DVD of his best games. In it he explains this king march:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07tw...

.

Jun-23-10  WhiteRook48: how about 31...Bc8?!
Jul-20-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  Kinghunt: <WhiteRook48: how about 31...Bc8?!>

As I mentioned earlier, it makes the idea of the king march impossible, but it allows another deadly attack: 32. Ng5 Bxd7 33. Nf4 Re7 34. Qxe7 Be8 35. Ne4 Qxe4 36. Rxe4 1-0

33...Re7 is forced or after say, 33...Qc5 white has 34. Nxf7 Rxf7 35. Qxf7+ with a clear win.

35...Qxe4 is also forced or after say, 35...Qd7 white has 36. Nf6+ Kg7 37. Nxh5+ Kh7 38. Qxf8 with mate coming shortly.

So by move 31 black has a completely lost position, regardless of how black defends.

Aug-04-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  sevenseaman: The King too needs a mate. Only he must go and get one.
Aug-13-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  sevenseaman: I've seen Kings taking a walk but this is the most kingly. Its like general Patton taking on the traffic point man's role for a while-a plebeian job getting unexpected dignity.
Aug-29-10  Lil Swine: a lesson we can all learn from this game is to not use the alekhine defense
Sep-10-10  rapidcitychess: <Lil Swine> Go tell that to Vaganian. :)
Sep-17-10
Premium Chessgames Member
  sevenseaman: There is another game in which the K travels to the 7th rank to participate in the attack. Not recalling.
Nov-26-10  paladin at large: <sevenseaman> Perhaps this one -

Browne vs Smyslov, 1982

Apr-28-11  Dionysius: <Nasruddin Hodja> way back in Nov 06 07 came up with <Take the two following classics: Tarrasch vs Reti, 1922 and Alekhine vs Yates, 1922 Short was probably aware of both of these games and this awareness probably helped him originate the plan of the king march starting with 31. Kh2. Chess games seldom repeat themselves, but they do often rhyme ;-) > Go Nasruddin – those last ten words are a remarkably beautiful turn of phrase!
May-22-11  Tigranny: Isn't the finish 34...Kh7 35.Rxf7+ Rxf7 36.Qxf7+ Kh8 37.Kh6, and Black cannot stop the mate threat of Qh7#?
Aug-04-11  50movesaheadofyou: Short's #1 hit.
Sep-04-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  waustad: It's too bad he's Sir Nigel not Lord Nigel. "Earl's Koenig hat mir ein Leid's gatan" might be a good pun. There are many good sources for this, but an interesting one is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdhR...

Sep-07-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  waustad: Sorry, that should be Leid not Leid's. It is many years since I spoke German regularly. Leider.
Oct-23-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  waustad: getan
Dec-22-11  Tigranny: <Kinghunt> 33.Nf4 is not possible in your line. After 31...Bc8, there is 32.g4!, which gives Black very beautiful variations to choose from. 32...Bxd7 loses to 33.gxh5 gxh5 34.Qg5+ Kh7 35.Qxh5+ Kg7 36.Rg4#. If Black does not play 33...gxh5 and chooses a different move, say 33...Qxa4, White has 34.h6, and there is no way to prevent 35.Qg7#. If White chooses 33.Ng5 after 32...hxg4, Black must counterattack with 33...g3+, which still loses to 34.Kxg3! Bxd7 35.Kh2!! Qxa4 36.h5! gxh5 37.Rh4, threatening either 38.Qh8# or 38.Rh8#. If 34...Bb7, there is 35.f3. If Black chooses 32...Bb7 after 32.g4!, the finish is simply 33.Rf4! Qxd7 34.gxh5 gxh5 35.Qg5+ Kh7 36.Qxh5+ Kg7 37.Rf4#. White can also choose in this variation 33.Rd3, which wins to 33...hxg4 34.h5! gxh5 35.Qg5+ Kh7 36.Qxh5+ Kg7 37.Qxg4+ Kh8 38.R3d4! Qxf3 39.Qh4+Kg7 40.Qg5+ Kh7 41.Rh4+ Qh5 42.Rxh5#.
Jan-13-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Kinghunt: <Tigranny: <Kinghunt> 33.Nf4 is not possible in your line.>

Yes, that was a typo. I meant 33. Rf4.

However, upon a bit more analysis, I think my first idea (in a previous post, from 2009) was the best. 31...Bc8 32. Ng5 Bxd7 33. g4! seems cleanest. All black responses lead to an immediate white win:

A. 33...hxg4 34. h5 gxh5 (else 35. h6) 35. Qh6 and mate on h7 is unavoidable.

B. 33...Re7 34. gxh5 gxh5 35. Ne4 and black has to give up all his pieces to avoid being mater by 36. Qg5+ 37. Qh6+ 38. Nf6#.

While your lines seem to win too, it seems unnecessary to give black the bit of extra play from playing g4 before Ng5. It's just a little less clean, and over the board, leaves white more room to err.

Jan-20-12  Tigranny: <Kinghunt> Sorry for my longer variations. I watched them on a video of the game at Chess.com. Your variations are good too :).
Dec-22-12  Llawdogg: Thanks kingscrusher, nice video.
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