A King Walk Straight Into Checkmate

This game starts as a fairly chaotic and dubious pawn-grabbing Slav, but eventually transforms into one of the strangest king walks you’ll probably ever witness. And the craziest part is that Black’s idea was not even bad in principle, it just failed because of one tiny nuance.
What followed was a king march all the way into White’s camp... ending with checkmate on e2.

A Strange Slav Gone Wrong

The opening quickly turns into one of those messy positions where one side tries to justify sacrificed material with aggression.

20.Bg5

White’s position is already bordering on strategically lost here. Black is up two pawns, White’s king is exposed, and once the h-file opens and Black’s light-squared bishop enters the game, White could easily get blown off the board.
What makes the position especially unpleasant for White is that Black not only has extra material, but also the initiative. White’s kingside pawn storm never really achieved anything apart from weakening their own king.
At first glance Black’s king also looks somewhat exposed after castling queenside, but White has virtually no realistic way to attack it. Apart from maybe some queen infiltration ideas through a5, there simply are not enough pieces left to generate real pressure.
White is threatening to win the exchange, but Black’s position is so dominant that they can either prevent it calmly, or even simply ignore it and continue attacking.
And on top of everything else, Black was also up around 30 seconds on the clock.

Sacrificing the Exchange for the Attack

20...hxg4

Black decides to sacrifice the exchange voluntarily.
This was by no means necessary. Moves like 20...f6 or even simply 20...Rde8 would leave Black with a borderline winning position anyway.
But the exchange sacrifice actually makes a lot of sense practically.
By opening the h-file immediately, Black keeps the initiative alive and avoids wasting tempi dealing with the rook. And after White gives up the dark-squared bishop for the rook, the dark squares in White’s camp become extremely weak.
Ideas like ...Ne3 suddenly become very dangerous, and White’s king starts looking incredibly vulnerable.

21.Bxd8 Rxd8

22.Bxg4

White tries to recover at least one pawn. Otherwise either the f5-pawn collapses or Black’s light-squared bishop finally joins the attack with devastating effect.
The move does allow the highly unpleasant knight fork on e3, but there were not really any attractive alternatives anyway.

22...Ne3

White Finds Practical Counterplay

23.fxe6

This is actually a very good practical decision from White.
Objectively the position is still lost, but White at least transforms a completely hopeless position into one with some counterchances.
White gives up the bishop, but in return gets connected passed pawns and practical complications. In blitz, that alone can matter enormously.

23...Nxg4

24.exf7

Now at least White has some vague dream of promoting the f-pawn.

24...Nxe5

And this is the move that really starts Black’s downfall.
Black simply became too greedy.
They most likely assumed the promotion square on f8 was permanently under control and that White had no tactical tricks involving promotion.
But the point is that the promotion itself is not the real threat.
Black could have won comfortably with something like 24...Qd5+ 25.Kg1 Qd4+, when White either loses material immediately or gets mated shortly after. The dormant bishop on h7 finally enters the game with decisive force.
Instead, Black grabbed another pawn, and allowed a nice tactical resource that allows White to stay in the game. And what I find interesting is the inconsistency in Black's play: they firstly decided to sack the exchange when there was no real need to, and now they decided to get greedy precisely at a wrong moment.

25.f8=Q

Black must have missed this idea completely.
The promotion works as a decoy. White obviously does not care about keeping the new queen alive, the real point is to drag Black’s queen away from defending the knight on e5.

25...Rxf8

26.Rxf8+ Qxf8

27.Qxe5

Now White is suddenly up an exchange.
Black is still in the driver seat with excellent compensation because White’s king remains weak and Black possesses dangerous queenside pawns, but the situation is no longer remotely straightforward.
And this is where things become truly bizarre.

The Correct Winning Plan

27...Qf3+

This looks completely logical.
Black activates the queen, creates mating threats, prepares ...Be4, and continues attacking White’s exposed king.
The problem is that Black’s own king now becomes vulnerable to perpetual checks.
While the queen sat on f8, it has controlled important checking squares. Once it moved away, White suddenly gained tremendous activity.
The strongest move here was actually:
27...a3!
An incredibly difficult move to find in blitz.
The idea is extremely subtle.
Black essentially forces White to capture the pawn, because otherwise the a-pawn becomes a massive danger. And only after bxa3 does Black begin the checking sequence with ...Qf3+, ...Be4, and eventually the famous king walk.
Why is this important?
Because if White’s pawn disappears from b2, then later White no longer has the key checking move Qc3+ available, as you'll soon witness yourself.
That tiny detail changes the evaluation of the entire position.
But over the board, with little time remaining, this is almost impossible to appreciate fully.
Instead, Black follows the right idea, but in the wrong version.

28.Kg1 Be4

This was Black’s concept all along.
The queen and bishop coordinate beautifully, White’s king looks close to getting mated, and Black intends to simply walk the king out of perpetual checks.
At first glance, it looks brilliant.

29.Qe8+ Kc7

30.Qe7+ Kb6

31.Qd8+ Kc5

32.Qe7+

And now the king march truly begins.

The March Into Enemy Territory

32...Kd4

This is the moment where the game transforms from chaotic to legendary.
Black decides to fully commit to the king walk idea and simply marches deeper into White’s position.
And honestly, the idea itself is not ridiculous.
If White did not have that pawn on b2, Black’s king would actually escape successfully. The king could eventually park itself on c2 or e2 while Black’s queen and bishop finish the attack against White’s king.
That is what makes this game so fascinating.
Black’s concept was not some random hallucination. It was a real idea.
They just missed one tiny nuance.

33.Qxg7+ Kd3??

And this loses immediately.
Black follows the logic of the king walk without realizing they have stepped directly into a mating net.
At this point Black could still repeat moves and settle for a perpetual check. But instead they impulsively continue the march forward.
And now comes the key detail.

The Nuance That Changed Everything

34.Qc3+

This move only works because White still has the pawn on b2.
That pawn defends c3.
If Black had managed to eliminate the b-pawn earlier with the subtle 27...a3! idea, then this check would not exist.
And suddenly the entire king walk would actually work.
That is the incredible irony of the game.
Black’s strategic concept was fundamentally correct, but because of just one small overlooked detail, the entire idea collapses.

34...Ke2

And now the king reaches the legendary resting spot: e2.
But instead of escaping danger heroically, it walks directly into mate.

35.Re1#

Final Thoughts

What makes this game so memorable is the sheer absurdity of the ending.
Usually when we think of legendary king walks, we think of heroic masterpieces: kings marching through enemy fire to assist in brilliant attacks.
People remember games like Short vs Timman because the king walk becomes immortal.
Here, it is the exact opposite.
Black’s king goes on this enormous journey through the center and deep into enemy territory... only to get checkmated on e2.
And yet the game is even more fascinating because the idea itself was not nonsense.
Black actually understood the position correctly:

• White’s checks were dangerous
• the king needed to escape
• the queen+bishop attack was extremely strong
• the king walk genuinely could have worked

But chess is cruel.
One missing detail, one surviving pawn on b2, has completely changed the story.
And instead of producing an immortal masterpiece, the king walk became a cautionary tale.
A GM marched the black king all the way into the enemy camp searching for safety...
...and walked straight into checkmate instead.