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Library / Games / Nigel Short vs Jan Timman
Tilburg · Tilburg · 25 October 1991 · ECO B04

Short's King Walk

Nigel Short 1–0 Jan Timman
Opening: Alekhine's Defense
Nigel Short vs Jan Timman B04
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Tilburg, 25 October 1991

The Nigel Short — Jan Timman game from the 1991 Tilburg tournament is the most famous “king walk” in modern chess. Short took the king from g1 on move 31 and marched it up the kingside — Kh2, Kg3, Kf4, Kg5 — straight into the middle of Black’s position. By the time the king arrived at g5, Timman was lost. He resigned on move 34.

The setting was unusual. By move 30 Short had a winning position but no direct mate. His material was equal; his pieces were active; Black’s king was on g8 with no immediate threats. The natural plan would have been to manoeuvre the queen to a kingside attacking square. Instead Short realized — over several minutes of calculation, by his own account in New in Chess a few months later — that the king itself could complete the attack.

The walk: 31.Kh2, then 32.Kg3, then 33.Kf4, then 34.Kg5. Each move improves the king’s position without exposing it to check. The king is heading for h6, where it will participate in a mating attack against Black’s king on g8. After 34.Kg5, the threat is 35.Qf7+ followed by 36.Qg7# or similar. Black cannot defend.

Why the walk worked

Timman’s pieces were tied to defensive duties. The bishop on c8 could not return. The rooks were both on the queenside. The pawn structure on the kingside (…g6, …h7, …h5 after move 30) had become permanent weaknesses. Short’s king could walk to g5 because no Black piece could reach a square attacking it.

The game has been used in attacking-chess textbooks for thirty years as the canonical example of “the king as an attacker in the middlegame.” The traditional rule of thumb — that the king is a piece to be kept safe — is correct in 99 of 100 positions. Short found the hundredth position and walked his king into it.

The game also showed something about engine-era chess. Modern engines analyse 31.Kh2 and immediately suggest the correct continuation; chess understanding has been transformed since 1991. But the human accomplishment — seeing the king walk before playing the first king move — remains rare and beautiful.