Analyze with KIMPLODES! K = King Safety

KIMPLODES! is an acronym to guide you through the process of analyzing a chess game.

K = King safety. His Majesty is the weakest piece on the board, unable to approach other pieces too closely. Even in an endgame His forward progress is often akin to rock climbing without ropes as the opponent can often simply check Him away...or into his grave. (Do King's have graves, or only mausoleums, pyramids, or other grandiose final resting places?) Lose track of your King's safety and it's game over, baby.

The Opening

Even players rated over 2200 sometimes forget about King safety in the opening. All because the Damsel on d1 proves too tempting for a secular Bishop to ignore.

Well, that was a bit simplistic. How often will it be that easy?

Not often you'll get lucky enough that your opponent offers a help-mate. Let's take a look at a more nuanced exploration that requires evaluations of King safety during the opening phase. We'll look at a line I used to play frequently several years ago. Now, to quote the Raven, "Nevermore!" Well, unless a mood strikes. It is a fully playable line for both sides. White scores some rapid victories if Black is unwary. And Black can hope that White is overexuberant with a mistimed sacrifice. Otherwise, Black is playing for long term gains based on a solid position. [The Raven mentioned above, aka Corvux corvax, is not a member of the NFL team in Baltimore. But it is no coincidence that Edgar Allen Poe also resided in Baltimore on North Amity Street. Which should not be linked to The Amityville Horror, based in Long Island.]

NOTE! The alternatives are where you will encounter the most gruesome examples of a King operating without a safety net. Channel your inner reptilian🦖brain and focus on those alternatives to see other potent examples where a lack of King safety proved decisive!

In the Caro-Kann variation shown above, White's focus is on making the Black's King position insecure. As a result, with best play the Black King is slightly unsafe from move 5 until some point in the middle game. But that evaluation can switch swiftly to dead lost if Black is not careful. Or is simply unaware of some of the tricks, traps and tactics available to White. Other openings where the King factor can rapidly shift off the equals peg include, obviously, the Kings Gambit and the Schliemann variation of Ruy Lopez.

Now for an example where King safety is not a predominant factor in the opening. We'll only glance at this quickly, treating it as representative, in some sense, of cases where neither Monarch faces incipient disaster before move ten or so.

As MCO-15 notes (p. 724), "The King's Indian Attack [KIA] is not, strictly speaking, an opening, but a path for White to follow regardless of Black's opening moves. As the setup is a compact structure on White's side of the board, Black cannot prevent it without unreasonable play." The diagram above looks at two normal lines in the KIA through move eight. In both cases King safety is not a factor. Other openings where the King factor tends to stay centered on equal during the opening: Queens Gambit Declined and many classical Ruy Lopez lines. Even here there will be exceptions. If the King somehow suffers an early demise, we can assuredly attribute a different meaning to KIA, one usually applied in war zones. Which these adays are often civilian zones as well.

The Middlegame

So, the first thing I do once out of the opening is always keep one eye focused on King safety, both my own King and the Suzerain on the other side of the board. Peripheral vision may be good enough for you. Unless you're blessed with a third eye that you can train on both Kings.

There are certain middle games in which King safety is a crucial factor that must be considered by both players on every move. For instance, any opening in which opposite side castling occurred often tends to involve ferocious, competing, middle game attacks against the enemy Kings. This frequently occurs in the Sicilian Defense. Another instance in which White often suffers from a slightly unsafe King well into the middle game is the Classical version of the King's Indian Defense (KID). In many lines of the KID White hopes that play on the Queenside will compensate for Black's attack on the Kingside (Kramnik has had great success as White, particularly with the Bayonet Attack, one of my favorites). Of course, modern chess play now sometimes finds White attacking on the Kingside in the KID while Black seeks Queenside counterplay.

For illustrative purposes, I am going to offer a stunning game from 29 April, 2016. In this game we see former World Champion Kasparov fall prey to an insecure King. Due to a lack of Development that ultimately results in a very, very unsafe King. The result, as Garry described it, "Kasparov63 :"My game against Wesley reminded me of a game of Morphy vs an amateur...I was the amateur" #UltimateBlitzSTL"

I started this after Black's eighth move because that is the starting point of this particular line. On move thirteen Wesley sacrificed a pawn because Black's King was still dilly-dallying in the center, just too luscious a target to resist.

OK, don't fall behind in development against a super-GM. Got it. What else do you have for me?

Sigh, it's a huge field. This is just a blog to suggest that as an analytic tool, during or after the game, King safety should be a foremost consideration. Nevertheless, I can extremely quickly point to two other blogs that revolve around King safety.

First, GM Gserper has a great article From Paul Morphy to Wei Yi about when a weak f2 or f7 square leads to the demise of a Monarch because the King is left unsafe. This is just one of many "must know" thematic ideas in chess, but a good starting point. Why was Wei Yi in GM Gserper's thoughts? You can answer that question at Wei Yi Plays 21st Century Immortal Game.

Second, I will offer a link to some puzzles and discussion of the Boden configuration, a scenario in which the Boden mate is not quite achievable, but the threat's to the King are sufficient to secure concessions from the opponent. Secrets of Trapping Pieces: Boden Configuration

For those who don't have the time to explore other blogs, I offer some very brief notes after the diagram below. I have also investigated configurations that echo the Epaulette Mate, smothered mates, etc. Though I have not yet translated those investigations into blogs. More detailed material can be found in my book Secrets of Trapping Pieces, which can be found on chessable.com. Yes, I am quickly advertising my own publication. Wouldn't you? After all, I can always use some beer🍻 money. And an occasional pretzel 🥨. 

Lower Left-Hand Corner
The Rook has just captured on c3. Presumably White has no other piece able to capture on c3. The good news in that case is that by capturing on c3 the newly minted c-Pawn will vacate the b2 flight square. The bad news? White will never reach that greener field as once the Rook is lifted from the field the dark-robed Bishop will slide to a3 and deliver benedictions for His Majesty. Long live the King, the King is dead.
Upper Left-Hand Corner
This is the prototypical Boden's Mate. Obviously, the Bishop on f5 could be anywhere along the h2 to b8 diagonal EXCEPT for the c7 or b8 squares. Unless some other White piece protects it long enough for mate to be administered from a6.

Other than that, the position seems to speak for itself.

The Endgame

Is King safety still a concern in the endgame? You betcha! Here is a rather wild example with plenty of major pieces on the board. It was a blitz game on Titled Tuesday, so time pressure certainly factored into the scenario. But had Black chosen wisely on their first move in this puzzle they might have found some random, lucky shot later in the game. Instead, they quickly succumbed to a standard mating pattern.

Kevin, are you really calling that an endgame? An awful lot of powerful pieces on the board and Black's King was obviously already in trouble. Can you offer a calmer, more convincing example?

Let's start with another dazzler. Then we'll move on to a lengthier game.

OK, here's a more sedate version where King safety gradually becomes the one factor that rules all the actions on the board. My coach, IM Attila Turzo, won this very fine effort against a GM in a Titled Tuesday blitz game. 

What Have We Learned

King Safety is the alpha and the omega , the beginning and the end, the essence around which all other factors revolve.

Prior Blog in the Series:

KIMPLODES! Explosive Analysis Approach--Break it up, baby!

Next Blog in the Series

Analyze with KIMPLODES! I = Initiative