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Why is black forced to move the king?

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TimmyCorkery
TimmyCorkery
Closed: Inactive
Feb 11, 2022
0
#1
Watching a Levy Rozman lesson from his "Don't Let Them Castle" series, When Things Go Wrong, he describes a game he played with GM Emilio Cordova back in '18 as an example of what you do when you are forced to not castle.
On move 8, Rozman says that Cordova "forces me to uncastle my king." Most of this game was over my head, but especially this move. Why is 8... Kf8 necessary? Why did Rozman have to move his king?
 
 
I ran a game review of these moves to try to get a better picture of what was going on and it was a little ugly. 5. Qb3?! "This is not the right idea." 6... e5?! "That's an unfortunate error." And so on. It was a little confusing to see the engine be so critical of an IM and a GM. But since this is an IM vs a GM, am I just not gonna understand the reasoning behind 8... Kf8 yet? Or why the engine was so harsh in its criticisms? Thanks.

 

TimmyCorkery
TimmyCorkery
Closed: Inactive
Feb 12, 2022
0
#2
NervesofButter wrote:

Several other moves are possible too. 

That's my question right there. Why is Kf8 better than Qf8, for instance? This may be too theoretical for someone at my level, though. I mean, I'll be honest: I don't understand that opening AT ALL. 

magipi
magipi
Feb 12, 2022
0
#3

The computer keeps changing his mind about which move is best. The frontrunners are f5, Bh6, Bf8 and Kf8 (and not Qf8, for the reasons that others stated above). So Levy saying that Kf8 is "forced" is just weird.

JamesColeman
CM JamesColeman
Show your flair!
Feb 13, 2022
0
#4
TimmyCorkery wrote:
NervesofButter wrote:

Several other moves are possible too. 

That's my question right there. Why is Kf8 better than Qf8, for instance? This may be too theoretical for someone at my level, though. I mean, I'll be honest: I don't understand that opening AT ALL. 

After …Qf8 you’re likely to be forced to move the King anyway if white plays c5 with Nd6+ coming in. Another benefit of …Kf8 is Black could follow up with …Nf6, which wouldn’t be possible after …Qf8 (e5 pawn would be hanging)

 

Of course even after …Kf8, Black’s position is not exactly great.