Retrospective

I was looking through a number of the games in the nearly-finished ChessWorld Jerome Gambit Thematic Tournament when I was surprised by the following position from mckenna215 - blackburne

Never mind White's extra Queen – what was his King doing at h8?

I rolled back the game a number of moves, and looked at the position again, with Black to move.

It is clear, now, what happened in the game: Black's Queen chased the White King to safety at h8. But, is that all we can say? Let's roll the game forward...

25...Qa1+ 26.Kf2 Qb2+ 27.Kg3

White's King, feeling claustrophobic, heads for the wide open spaces. He could well have stayed closer to home with 27.Kf1 Qc1+ 28.Ke2 Qb2+ 29.Kd3 Qb1+ 30.Kd2 Qb2+ 31.Qc2 when his Queen's arrival would save the day.

27...Qxc3+ 28.Kf4

Now here Black played 28...Qxd4+, and the game eventually ended on a slip or a spite check with 29.Kg5 Qg4+ 30.Kf6 Qf4+ 31.Kg7 Qg5+ 32.Kh8 Qf6+ 33.exf6 Black resigned.

Had he found 28...Qd2+, the second player would have been able to make use of his light-squared Bishop and his "dark-squared" Queen to keep the enemy monarch from going further afield. One possible line might be 29.Kf3 Qd1+ 30.Ke3 Qe1+ 31.Kd3 Ba6+ when 32.Kc2 would allow Black to continue checking with 32...Qe2+, and 32.Nc4 would allow Black to win the Knight, e.g. 32...Qb1+, when his piece for White's extra pawn might well hold the draw.

To be fair to White, had he played 28.Kh4 instead, his King would have escaped: 28...Qxd4+ 29.Kg5 Qg4+ 30.Kf6 Qf4+ 31.Nf5.