A little move with deadly consequences. Part two.
In the first part of this article (http://www.chess.com/article/view/a-little-move-with-deadly-consequences) we analyzed games where one side moved his King to prepare pushing the 'g' pawn to launch a Kingside attack. Today we'll discuss other benefits of shifting your King.
One of the oldest examples happened in the next classical game.
These days unpinning the 'f' pawn by moving your King is a standard and well-known idea. Here is a recent example:
A different case of a 'weird' King move can be seen in the next famous game.
This is one of the most complicated games in chess history in my opinion. Kasparov himself devotes 22 pages to analysis of this game in his book about the World Championship match vs. Karpov. There is no point in repeating here the ocean of his variations (if you are interested I strongly recommend to get the book where he analyzes this game). Let me just quote his explanation of the mysterious 31.Kh2!! move in the middle of the attack. Kasparov says: "This is the last prophylaxis. It is necessary to move the King out of the weak first rank. After that White is ready to start his attack."
He doesn't give any concrete variation where it is clear that 31.Kh2!! was really necessary. But for any experienced chess player it is pretty obvious that an opportunity to concentrate on your attack without being distracted by your opponent's pesky checks along the first rank is the luxury that fully justifies spending a tempo to move the King.
In the last couple of articles I heavily used Yusupov's games to demonstrate nice attacking ideas, so can I miss an opportunity to show another of his brilliancies? Of course not!
In the position in the diagram White would be winning after 1.Nxf6! gxf6 2. Qg4 Nd7 3. Re1! and the Re7 is overloaded... except Black can take Rxe1 with a check! How can White solve this problem?
This outstanding game of a very young Artur Yusupov didn't get into the databases, so we should thank his coach and very famous chess trainer IM Mark Dvoretsky for preserving this game.
In conclusion, let me show you an unbelievable combination where one of the key moves was a quiet King's move. If you find it, pat yourself on the shoulder. When many years ago my coach showed me this position I was not able to solve it without a hint...
