He Sacrificed His Queen Three Times

The game kicked off like a fairly normal Catalan. Black developed naturally enough, but there was always something slightly odd about the position. The early ...a5 didn't quite fit with the rest of Black's setup, and while White calmly prepared the thematic e4 break, Black seemed unsure whether they wanted a closed setup, queenside expansion, or to challenge the centre directly.
That indecision would eventually prove fatal.
Navara slowly improved his position, won back the c4-pawn, and established a strong centre. Meanwhile, Black drifted more and more toward queenside operations. Pieces migrated away from their king, the bishop on b7 remained a spectator, and the knight embarked on an ambitious pawn hunt.
It all looked perfectly playable.
Until Navara suddenly decided to sacrifice a knight.

The Ridiculous Move That Started Everything

21.Nf6+!!

If you saw this move without context, you may be wondering why White just hangs the knight.
The knight jumps onto a defended square.
Black can take it.
End of story.
Except... they can't.
If Black greedily accepts with 21...gxf6, White's attack becomes overwhelming. After 22.Qg4+, the exposed king simply has nowhere to hide. Every retreat walks into fresh attacking ideas, the weakened dark squares become impossible to defend, and White's queen and knight tear through the kingside.
Ignoring the knight isn't an option either.
After 21...Kh8 22.Qh5, the threat of Ng4 followed by sacrifices on h6 becomes devastating.
Suddenly, this absurd-looking move isn't absurd at all.
It's brilliant.
Black's only real chance is:

21...Bxf6

Even then, White had achieved exactly what they wanted.

Cracks In The Fortress

22.exf6

The point now becomes clear.
The pawn on f6 is a monster.
Black cannot comfortably capture it without opening files against their own king. The kingside structure that looked perfectly healthy a few moves earlier has been compromised beyond repair.
White's pieces begin to gather.
Black's pieces remain stranded on the queenside.
The bishop on b7 watches helplessly.
The knight that wandered off to collect pawns contributes nothing to the defence.
The attack practically plays itself.

The First Kamikaze

Eventually, White achieved the thematic breakthrough:

29.d5

Black tried to hold everything together with ...c5.
The bishop moved to d7.
The b5-pawn appeared defended.
Everything seemed under control.
Then came the first queen sacrifice.

29...c5 30.Qxb5!!

At first sight, White simply hangs the queen.
Surely Black can just take it?
Except:
30...Bxb5 31.Nf5+
And suddenly the queen comes back through a fork.
Black loses the queen anyway.
White emerges with an extra pawn, a dangerous passed d-pawn, and the superior endgame.
The queen appears to give itself up.
But it's completely sound.

The Second Kamikaze

Black struck back with:

30...Nc2!

This was actually a clever practical attempt.
The knight attacks key pieces.
White can't take it because then their queen actually hangs, and the familiar Nf5+ motif is impossible because the knight on e3 is distracted.
Perhaps Black had finally tricked Navara.
Instead, Navara somehow found an even more ridiculous move.

31.Qc6!!

Again.
The queen is hanging.
Again.
And again Black cannot take it.
If:
31...Bxc6 32.Nf5+
the same fork in a slightly different version, recovering the queen and leaving White's passed pawn ready to decide the game.
It's almost comical.
One queen sacrifice is memorable.
Two queen sacrifices using nearly identical tactical ideas feels impossible.
Yet here it was.
The Kamikaze Queen had returned for another mission.

The Passed Pawn Takes Over

Eventually, Black managed to eliminate the knight that had been supporting the fork ideas.
But by then, another threat had taken its place.

33.d6

The d-pawn became the true hero of the game.
Everything revolved around it.
Black's pieces were tied down.
The knight on e3 became pinned.
White doubled rooks behind the passer.
The threat of infiltrating along the e-file constantly hung over Black's position.
Black desperately tried to cling on, shuffling their queen around merely to prevent Rxe3.
It was a survival mode.

The Third Queen Sacrifice

Eventually, White's queen found herself attacked and standing in the way of her own passed pawn.
Most players would retreat.
Navara chose violence.

39.Qxf7+!

The third queen sacrifice.
This one was different.
The previous two weren't really accepted.
This one had to be.

39...Kxf7

Finally, after repeatedly throwing herself into danger throughout the game, the mad Kamikaze Queen actually left the board.
But her work was done.
The d-pawn was unstoppable.

The Queen Returns

40.d7

The pawn simply marches forward.
Promotion cannot be stopped.
Black grabbed material.
White didn't care.
After promotion, Navara immediately launched a mating attack against the exposed king.
One final move stood out.

45.Qe4!

No check.
No flashy tactic.
Just quiet domination.
The move cuts off escape squares, neutralizes any possible counterplay, and leaves Black completely helpless.
It's often the quiet moves that make attacking games truly memorable.
The sacrifices draw your attention.
The checks earn applause.
But moves like Qe4 reveal complete understanding.
Black's king was already dead.
White merely informed him of the fact.

Checkmate

48.Qe7#

The beautiful irony of this game is impossible to ignore.
The original queen repeatedly appeared ready to throw herself under the bus.
Twice, she offered herself only to discover that Black couldn't actually accept.
The third time, she genuinely died for the cause.
And yet, in the end, it was still a queen that delivered checkmate.
Not the original one.
A new one.
Promoted from the passed d-pawn that the sacrifices had helped create.
I could spend pages criticizing Black's opening choices: the mysterious ...a5, the queenside pawn hunt, the misplaced pieces that abandoned their king, and the bishop that barely participated for half the game.
But perhaps that misses the point.
Those inaccuracies allowed us to witness something extraordinary.
A ridiculous knight sacrifice.
A kingside attack that never lost momentum.
And not one.
Not two.
But three queen sacrifices in a single game.
David Navara's Kamikaze Queen may have had a death wish.
But it also had impeccable judgement.