King Hunts

     When a K loses the right to castle it's not always a sign that his army will lose the game. Besides the inability to castle, the K must also be exposed and vulnerable. Sometimes a K flees and escapes; sometimes it doesn't.
     The King hunt in this game was an exciting one. It was a tragedy that Caro's 34th move was of the kind that very few of us are likely to make...he ruined a fine effort against a very good player in a single move and lost almost at once. Who does that?!
     Seriously though, it's easy to sit at home with a couple of engines running and criticize the author and the players but we shouldn't be too hard on the players for the flurry of blunders at the end. It was late in the game and the position was a complicated one even for the engines. And, we have to remember that the author of the book didn't have a powerful engine available that would enable him to instantly spot tactics. The truth is, the author of The Art of Attack in Chess, Vladimir Vukovic, and the players, Mikahil Chigorin and Horatio Caro, were stronger than me or anybody else likely to read this post, so kudos to all of them: Vukovic for writing such a great book and Chigorin and Caro for their contributions to the game, including this exciting and unusual game.
     For a modern King hunt that succeeded check out GM Kavalek's article in the Huffington Post on the Riazantsev vs. Karjakin game that was so complicated even engines had a hard time determining the best move...that happens more often than you might think.