A Legendary King Walk: from g2 to a1

There are unusual king walks that you may have come across, and then there are games like... This.
This is one of those rare battles where the king does not merely step out for a move or two, it becomes one of the central characters of the entire game. In a super-GM encounter with a 200+ rating gap, White’s king begins its strange journey on g2, survives a tactical storm involving both knights, queen, and rook, and somehow finishes in what looks like an artificial long-castled setup on a1.
The truly paradoxical part is that both sides end up constructing long-castling positions by hand, as if normal castling was simply too mundane for this occasion.

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An opening that already promises chaos

1. c4 g6 2. d4 Nf6 3. f3

An immediate signal that this will not be a routine Grünfeld.
White goes for the anti-Grünfeld setup, aiming for something reminiscent of a Sämisch-style King’s Indian structure.

3... d6 4. Nc3 e5

Already highly unusual.
Black delays kingside development and strikes in the centre first. In many Anti-Grünfeld structures this actually tends to be perfectly thematic: instead of committing the bishop to g7 immediately, Black wants to clarify the centre and only then decide on the setup.

5. d5 Nh5 6. g3 f5 7. e4

The game now takes on a very closed, King’s Indian flavour, though a very unconventional one.

8. Kf2

And here the masterpiece begins.
This is the first move that makes you stop and stare.
Instead of playing something normal like Nge2, White simply says:
the king will defend g3 better than the knight.
It is one of those moves that initially looks absurd, yet contains genuine positional logic.
The king supports the kingside structure directly and, crucially, White shows absolutely no concern about losing castling rights.
The king walk has officially begun.

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The king hides behind its own umbrella

11. h4!

Excellent timing.
Black’s expanded kingside structure is still fragile, and White strikes immediately.

11... fxg3+ 12. Kg2

This is the first brilliant moment.
White does not recapture on g3.
Instead, the pawn on g3 becomes a shield.
The king literally hides behind the enemy pawn as an umbrella, neutralizing potential pressure on the g-file.
This probably wasn't too hard to foresee, but to me it still feels wonderfully creative.

13. Rxh4 Rg8 14. Nge2 Qd7 15. Nxg3

Now the knight recaptures on g3 under far better circumstances.
What looked like king exposure has suddenly turned into a coherent defensive construction.

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The position turns feral

17. Qh1 ... 18. Qh3 ... 19. Kf2

White now repositions the king again, this time with a very concrete idea:
the knight belongs on f5. So they unpin that knight.

20. Nf5

A natural attacking move, but one that invites a brilliant tactical response. White could also just take the pawn on h5.

20... Ng4+!

This is where Black’s counterplay becomes extraordinary.
The knight appears to be hanging.
But it is poisoned.
If White takes immediately, Black’s activity explodes:
21. fxg4? Bxh4+ 22. Qxh4 Rxg4
Suddenly the rook enters, the pinned knight on f5 becomes a liability, and White’s king is in tremendous danger.
This is one of the most impressive tactical decisions in the game:
a seemingly random knight leap that is actually completely grounded in dynamic compensation.

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The kamikaze knight

23. b4 ... 23... Nd3+ 24. Kd2 ... 24... Ngf2

At this point Black’s knights start to feel less like pieces and more like invading agents.
They keep going deeper and deeper into White’s position.
Every time White tries to "swat" them away, they burrow even further.
And then comes one of the most shocking moments of the entire game.

25... a5 26. b5 Nxe4+!!

This is absolutely spectacular.
Black sacrifices the knight for a single pawn on a square that appears to be fully defended.
At first glance it looks insane.
But in reality it is one of the most positionally grounded decisions in the game.
The knight network had become awkward and immobile, and White was already threatening to play Be3, possibly trapping one of them.
By sacrificing one knight, Black:

• destroys White’s central structure
• weakens e4
• opens the route for the other knight to c5
• prepares pressure against e4 with rook activity

This is not a random sac.
It is deeply strategic.
Black essentially says:
one knight must die so the rest of the army can get a breath of fresh air.
That is brilliant stuff.

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The king walk becomes iconic

29... Nxe4+ 30. Kb2 ... 31... Qf3

Now White’s king is under direct fire from queen, knight, and rook.
And yet somehow it keeps finding squares.

32. Qxh5+ Kd7 33. Rb1!!

This move is pure genius.
Of course, White had no intention defending the knight on e2, it didn't have much of a purpose in White's attack or defense, and the prize of a tempo is just too high.
And at first this may look like a meaningless rook shuffle.
But it does one thing that matters more than anything else:
it preserves a1 as a sanctuary. For White's king.
Without this move, the king has nowhere safe to run.
This rook move is what makes the entire legendary walk possible.

34. Nxg4 ... 35. Ka1

And there it is.
The king has arrived.
From g2 to a1.
After surviving one hell of a hurricane.
This is one of the most absurd king journeys I’ve personally ever seen in a perfectly serious high-level game.

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Artificial long castling (by both sides)

This is the most aesthetically beautiful idea in the entire game.
If someone showed you the position after 35.Ka1 without context, you would most certainly assume:

• White castled long
• Black castled long

But neither side did.
Both kings walked there manually.
That is what makes this game unforgettable.
White’s king:
g2 → f2 → e1 → d2 → c3 → b2 → a1
Black’s king:
e8 → d7 → c8
Both sides have effectively constructed queenside castling by hand.
It is surreal.
It genuinely looks like both players decided castling conventionally was too boring.
And you still doubt whether to castle or not? Just have a look at what the super-GMs are doing.

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Suddenly Black’s king is the vulnerable one

37. b6!

White's ability to generate any kind of meaningful counterplay hinges on this key break. But it's not even just that.
Savchenko’s sanity depends on this move.
The moment the b-file and 7th rank start opening, the story of the game changes completely.

38. Qe7! 38... Rd8 39. Qe6+ 39... Rd7

Black’s pieces now become horribly uncoordinated.
The rook on d7 is pinned.
The king is exposed.
White’s rook is about to join, and maybe Black underestimated how fast it can all come right at Black's face.

40. Bb2 ... 41. Rf1!!

This is one of the strongest moves in the game.
Only this rook route works.
And this is exactly why the final attack would not function if White tried Rg1 or Rh1.
The geometry matters.
The rook must come via f1, then f8, then c8.
Beautiful precision.

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The finish

42. Rf8+ Kc7 43. Qg8!

Now either the mating net or the queen trap has become unavoidable. Black must choose one of the two.

44. Rc8+ Kb6 45. Rxc4

And suddenly everything collapses.
White wins Black’s queen and emerges with a decisive material advantage.
The conversion was very clean. I'll just skip to the final move.

53. Kb2 1-0

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Final thoughts

This game is not just memorable because of the king walk.
It is memorable because the king walk made sense.
White’s king was not randomly wandering.
Every square had a purpose behind it.
Every step was grounded in tactical necessity.
And somehow, after being hunted by knights, queen, and rook, it reached a1, where it was, let's just say, relatively safe.
Meanwhile Black’s own king had to construct its own artificial castling shelter on the queenside.
A game where both sides manually build long-castled positions is already quite rare.
A game where one king starts on g2 and ends on a1 while surviving all of that chaos is something else entirely.
A true one-in-a-generation king walk.