29 October 1912 · City of London Chess Club

The King Hunt: Lasker vs Thomas, London 1912, and the mate in 18

The King Hunt is a 1912 game from the City of London Chess Club in which Edward Lasker, playing White, sacrificed his queen with 11.Qxh7+!! and hunted the Black king across the board to mate with 18.Kd2#. Edward Winter’s “Chaos in a Miniature” is the source for the story.

Date: 29 October 1912
Place: City of London Chess Club
Players: Edward Lasker (White) vs George Alan Thomas (Black)
Result: 1-0 in 18 moves
Opening: Dutch Defence (1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6)
On Chess History: You play Lasker, coached by a foxhound called Bramble

Play the story Interactive: the moves, the characters, the endings to find.

The moves

1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e4 fxe4 7.Nxe4 b6 8.Ne5 O-O 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Qh5 Qe7 11.Qxh7+ Kxh7 12.Nxf6+ Kh6 13.Neg4+ Kg5 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 18.Kd2#

After 11.Qxh7+!! Kxh7 every Black move is forced except 12…Kh8. Lasker played 18.Kd2#; some books print 18.O-O-O#, which is also mate. 14.f4+! mates one move sooner.

The hunt

The game was a five-minute informal game, and it is remembered for the king chase in the second half. After 10…Qe7?, White’s queen sacrifice 11.Qxh7+!! opens the Black king to the knight and the bishop.

The course uses the hunt idea: each check drives the king to a worse square, until the king stands on g1 and 18.Kd2# mates with the king itself. Winter’s “Chaos in a Miniature” is where the game is most often studied.

Where Black could hold

The engine checks show that 10…Bxe5! or 10…g6 hold the position for Black. After 10…Qe7 the attack is too strong. The lesson is that a queen sacrifice is only good when every reply is forced.

Questions and answers

What is the King Hunt?

A 1912 game between Edward Lasker and George Alan Thomas in London, won by White with the queen sacrifice 11.Qxh7+!! and the mate 18.Kd2#.

Is 18.Kd2# the only mate?

No. Some books print 18.O-O-O#, which is also mate. The course follows Lasker’s own move.

Where is the game studied?

Edward Winter’s “Chaos in a Miniature” on chesshistory.com is the usual source.

Sources and checks

Edward Winter, “Chaos in a Miniature” (chesshistory.com)
Lasker’s notebook and Deutsches Wochenschach, 1912
Engine check on this site: Stockfish 17

The moves on this page are checked for legality, and the engine evaluations come from Stockfish 17. Where a game is more legend than fact, the story says so.