Photo: TheBoburshokh / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)
The white king is standing on g7, deep inside Black's half of the board, two squares from the black king. It walked there one step at a time, while Black was giving check.
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Final position, after 39.Kg7, with Black to move. White's king has walked all the way to g7. Black resigned.
It is a strange sight. Kings usually hide. But in this rapid game, the white king ended up safer in the enemy camp than the black king was at home.
Hans Niemann 1-0 Volodar Murzin Tata Steel India Rapid 2026, Kolkata · Round 1 · Rapid, 15 minutes plus 10 seconds a move White: Hans Moke Niemann (2636) · Black: Volodar Murzin (2603)
A French Defence
The game began as a French Defence, where Black answers 1.e4 with 1...e6.
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 a6 8.Qd2 b5 9.Be2 Qb6
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21aehPosition after 9...Qb6, with White to move. White's pawns on d4, e5 and f4 grab space. Black's pawns on b5, c5 and d5 push back on the queenside.
This is a typical French position. White has pawns on d4, e5 and f4, and more space on the kingside. Black attacks White's centre from the queenside.
10.Nd1 b4 11.c4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Bc5 14.Bxc5 Nxc5 15.cxd5 Bb7 16.Ne3 Ne4 17.Qd3 Bxd5 18.O-O O-O
Our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, called this almost level, with White less than half a pawn better.
Racing the clock
From here, both players were very short of time. From move 18 on, Murzin never had more than about a minute and a half on his clock, and Niemann never more than about two and a half. Each move added ten seconds, and each move used most of them. In rapid chess this happens often, and it makes the engine's evaluation jump around.
19.Rfd1 Bc4 20.Qxe4 Bxe2 21.Rd6 Qb5 22.Kf2 Rac8 23.Qd4 a5 24.a4 bxa3 25.Rxa3 Bh5 26.g4 Bxg4
53Position after 26...Bxg4, with White to move. Black has given up the bishop for a pawn to open lines toward the white king.
Black gave up the bishop for a pawn to get at the white king. Our engine thought it was not quite enough: after 27.Nxg4 it rated White more than a pawn better.
The king goes for a walk
27.Nxg4 Rc2+ 28.Kg3 Qf1 29.Rd8 Qe1+ 30.Kh3 Qf1+ 31.Kh4
Every black check pushed the white king one square further toward the edge. But look at what Black had to attack with: only the queen and one rook.
53fPosition after 31.Kh4, with Black to move. The white king has walked to h4. White's rook on d8 pins the black rook on f8 against the king.
Our engine's choice here was 31...Rc8, and even then it rated White about four pawns better.
31...g6
Murzin played this with 15 seconds left on his clock.
53fPosition after 31...g6, with White to move. The pawn on g6 no longer covers f6 or h6, so the dark squares around the black king are open for White's queen.
This pawn move left the squares f6 and h6 without a pawn to guard them. Our engine now found a forced checkmate for White.
32.Rxf8+ Kxf8 33.Qd8+ Kg7 34.Qf6+ Kf8 35.Qh8+
The white queen came in on the dark squares, just as the engine expected. White missed the fastest mate here, but kept a winning position.
35...Ke7 36.Rb3 Qe1+ 37.Kg5 h6+ 38.Kxh6 Qh4+ 39.Kg7
Black kept checking, and the white king kept walking forward: g5, then h6, then g7. After 39.Kg7 our engine rated White more than six pawns better against every reply, and Murzin resigned.
What this game teaches
1. A king can be safe in the middle of a fight. The white king walked from f2 to g7, and Black's checks never turned into checkmate.
2. Checks are not always good. Black gave many checks, but each one just helped the white king walk to a better square.
3. Pawn moves around your king leave holes. 31...g6 left f6 and h6 unguarded, and the white queen used exactly those squares.
4. Time trouble makes everything harder. Both players spent the last twenty moves with around a minute on the clock. That is when mistakes on both sides appear.