The king taking a walk in his castle

When I'm trying to understand a master-level game, I usually understand little. But there is one kind of move that causes me trouble particularly often. It's when a castled king moves one square to the side. It's understable when the castling has been long and there's a need to protect the a-pawn. It is also understandable when there's something pointed at the king, for example a bishop pinning a pawn. I understand it may be dangerous. But sometimes I see those moves when the opponents pieces are not pointed at the king and seemingly can't be in a near future. (Of course it may just be that they actually can, but I just don't see it.) What could be the reasons for such moves in the middlegame?

Without seeing what position you have in mind.


White has played Kh1.

1) To rush up the f-pawn and not be surprised by any mid-combo checks.

2) To allow Rg1 to use the g-pawn as a bayonet.

3) To allow Rg1 because g2 is going to need some serious defending.

4) Possible spoiling check coming with Ne2+ or Nf3+ or Nh3+

5) Every piece is placed on it's best square moving a piece or pawn would be bad.

6) hedonist is White he wants to hop the Knight back to g1 to come out at h3. Thread 145493 😉

7) White cannot think of anything else to do.

8) The computer says it give White a 0.02+

9) Black has just played Kh8. (distant opposition)

10) Mozart Carlsen played it one of his games.

11) It's theory.

12) White is in Zuggers.

etc...etc...etc..

When I hear someone about a "wandering king"🙂 I always think about this famous game between Short and Timman. I know it's a little bit offtopic, but I just had to share:

this is perhaps even more normal than GP example a few posts ago
this is a common white king position in open sicilian
White has just moved Kb1- why?

1) to defend the otherwise unprotected a3 pawn
2) to avoid any a3 checks after a possible exchange (sac) on c3
3) to avoid any pins in the c-file after a possible exchange on d3 or more likely b3
4) in rare cases a knight could go b3-c1-d3
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5) i leave all the funny stuff to GP

Originally posted by Artsew
When I hear someone about a "wandering king"🙂 I always think about this famous game between Short and Timman. I know it's a little bit offtopic, but I just had to share:

[pgn][Event "Tilburg 53/115"] [Site "Tilburg 53/115"] [Date "1991.??.??"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "?"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Nigel Short"] [Black "Jan Timman"] [ECO "B04"] [WhiteElo "?"] .Qf6+ Kg8 30.h4 h5 31.Kh2 Rc8 32.Kg3 Rce8 33.Kf4 Bc8 34.Kg5 1-0[/pgn]

Here's a game from 2002. Someone called Ron Nep (white) is getting a beating from Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant in a KID game. (What a beautiful lady! http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5718)

Originally posted by WanderingKing
Here's a game from 2002. Someone called Ron Nep (white) is getting a beating from Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant in a KID game. (What a beautiful lady! http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5718)

[pgn][Event "Corus Tens"] [Site "Wijk aan Zee NED"] [Date "2002.01.24"] [EventDate "2002.01.18"] [Round "6"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Ron Nep"] [Black "Ket ...[text shortened]... o difficult. I'm having a lot of trouble understanding white's moves.