A king hunt is a sustained series of checks and threats that drags the enemy king out of its shelter and drives it across the board, usually ending in mate or decisive material gain.
A king hunt begins with an eviction, typically a sacrifice on h7, f7 or g7 that the king must accept or that destroys its pawn cover. From that moment the king becomes a piece in the open, and every check is a whip driving it further from home.
The craft of the hunt is choosing checks that herd rather than chase. Each check should shrink the king's territory and pull it toward your remaining pieces, and the attacker must stay calm about material: a successful hunt often gives up a queen's worth of wood before the net closes. Famous hunts have marched a king from g8 across the entire board to be mated deep in enemy territory.
Before starting one, count your attackers and the king's escape routes honestly. A hunt that runs out of checks halfway leaves you a piece down against a safe king. The standard test: if the king can reach shelter behind its own pawns anywhere on the board, keep developing instead of chasing.
With a sacrifice that rips away the king's pawn shield, most often on h7, g7 or f7. Once the king is forced to step into the open, a stream of checks and threats keeps it moving away from its defenders.
When you cannot calculate the forcing line to the end and the king has a path back to safety. If the checks run out with the king sheltered again, the material you invested is simply gone, so verify the net before you sacrifice.
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