2018 was the most successful year in the career of US grandmaster Samuel Shankland so far: in April he won the US Championship, ahead of players such as Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Hikaru Nakamura, in May Shankland won the Capablanca Memorial, and in June he followed up with a victory at the American Continental Championship. At the Olympiad in Batumi, Shankland proved that he is indeed strong enough to deserve these successes: he played board four for the US team, scored 7 points from 10 games and thus added 3½ points to his current rating of 2722. Moreover, Shankland scored in important matches.
In round 8, when the US was playing against Azerbaijan and fought for gold, Shankland won with Black against Rauf Mamedov which helped the US to an important 2½-1½ victory. In the middlegame, with a number of pieces still on the board, Shankland suddenly started to walk his king from g8 to b8 to keep it better protected.
GM Daniel King had a closer look at the game
Shankland's king's march has a historical predecessor. At the Lone Pine Open 1976 Tigran Petrosian, world champion from 1963 to 1969, won with a similar manoeuvre against the USA International Master Jack Peters.
The Swedish grandmaster and author Tiger Hillarp Persson is known for his original ideas and creative attacks. At the Olympiad in Batumi he played on board two for Sweden and scored 3½/7. However, his game against IM Tomas Laurusas from Lithuania in round 7 won the prize for the most brilliant game of the Olympiad.
GM Daniel King also had a closer look at this game
This king's march also has a historical predecessor. In a famous and spectacular game played at the Tilburg tournament, 1991, Nigel Short sent his king into the middlegame from g1 to h6 to mate his opponent, Dutch grandmaster Jan Timman.
Chess trainers, again and again, emphasise how important it is to study "the classics". Games such as Petrosian vs Peters and Short vs Timman show that this advice is more than nostalgia.
