Why Kh1?

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clenehan

13. Kh1 was played

I'm interested in these little king moves... can anyone explain simply what White saw that I do not see...??  Thanks.

Enrico Paoli vs Olaf Ulvestad
Reggio Emilia (1960/61), Reggio Emilia ITA, rd 1, Dec-27

justbefair
clenehan wrote:

13. Kh1 was played

I'm interested in these little king moves... can anyone explain simply what White saw that I do not see...??  Thanks.

Enrico Paoli vs Olaf Ulvestad
Reggio Emilia (1960/61), Reggio Emilia ITA, rd 1, Dec-27

It's so much easier to give an opinion when you actually post the game you have a question about.



clenehan

oops - I'd intended to post a screen shot of the position!

Even better with the moves I guess too...?

daxypoo
one of the best ways to see the reason behind an engine suggestion is to play a move (often a pawn move on other side of the board one square helps here) and let the engine play it’s next move

the point in this position is the knight on h3 cant move to a safe square after ...g4 so- Kh1 provides a flight square for the knight if it is attacked
DasBurner

It's to prevent the knight on h3 from being trapped

If white plays something irrelevant to the needs of the position, say 13. a3, black will continue by playing g4, attacking the knight that has no squares to retreat to

Kh1 is one way to free up a square for the knight, but I prefer 13. f3, which prepares white to play nf2 and ne4, which is a very good square for the knight. After Kh1 and g4 from black, the white knight is somewhat relegated to g1 where it has no real future besides offering to trade itself on e2

DerekDHarvey

In the Steinitz Variation of the Two Knights Defence white retreats to h3 rather than f3 to avoid the main line then plays Kh1 if black does not exchange bishop for knight when Steinitz says that he is 'threatening' Ng1 retaining the pawn with no weaknesses.