Famous chess games

Each page has the full score in HTML, a diagram of the critical position, and a short original note on why the game is still shown to students. Where Stockfish was run at build time, moves are classified the same way the in-browser coach does.

• Opera Game

  1858 · Paul Morphy vs Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard · 1-0

  A queen sacrifice mates two consulting aristocrats in seventeen moves.

• Immortal Game

  1851 · Adolf Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritzky · 1-0

  Anderssen gives both rooks and the queen, then mates with three minor pieces.

• Evergreen Game

  1852 · Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne · 1-0

  Anderssen’s other immortal: a queen sacrifice and a bishop mate.

• Game of the Century

  1956 · Donald Byrne vs Bobby Fischer · 0-1

  Thirteen-year-old Fischer gives a queen and mates with a windmill of checks.

• Kasparov vs Topalov, 1999

  1999 · Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov · 1-0

  A rook sacrifice on d4 starts a twenty-move king hunt.

• Deep Blue vs Kasparov, 1997

  1997 · Deep Blue vs Garry Kasparov · 1-0

  Game six of the rematch: a machine wins the match in nineteen moves.

• Karpov vs Kasparov, 1985

  1985 · Anatoly Karpov vs Garry Kasparov · 0-1

  Kasparov’s knight sits on d3 for eighteen moves and freezes White.

• Lasker vs Bauer, 1889

  1889 · Emanuel Lasker vs Johann Bauer · 1-0

  The original double bishop sacrifice on h7 and g7.

• Levitsky vs Marshall, 1912

  1912 · Stepan Levitsky vs Frank Marshall · 0-1

  23...Qg3, the move that supposedly brought gold coins onto the board.

• Fischer vs Spassky, 1972

  1972 · Bobby Fischer vs Boris Spassky · 1-0

  Fischer plays 1.c4 and wins a model Queen’s Gambit. Spassky applauded.

• Botvinnik vs Capablanca, 1938

  1938 · Mikhail Botvinnik vs José Raúl Capablanca · 1-0

  30.Ba3 deflects the queen; a knight sac and a passed pawn finish it.

• Steinitz vs von Bardeleben, 1895

  1895 · Wilhelm Steinitz vs Curt von Bardeleben · 1-0

  A rook stays en prise for five moves, then a forced mate in ten.

• Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, 1907

  1907 · Georg Rotlewi vs Akiba Rubinstein · 0-1

  Rubinstein’s 22...Rxc3 starts a four-move combination still in every tactics book.

• Réti vs Bogoljubov, 1924

  1924 · Richard Réti vs Efim Bogoljubov · 1-0

  25.Be8, a quiet last move that stops every black piece at once.

• Sämisch vs Nimzowitsch, 1923

  1923 · Friedrich Sämisch vs Aron Nimzowitsch · 0-1

  The Immortal Zugzwang: White has pieces and no move that does not lose.

• Torre vs Lasker, 1925

  1925 · Carlos Torre vs Emanuel Lasker · 1-0

  The windmill: a rook checks along the seventh until Lasker’s queen falls.

• Short vs Timman, 1991

  1991 · Nigel Short vs Jan Timman · 1-0

  Short walks his king to g5 in a middlegame and mates with it.

• Tal vs Hecht, 1962

  1962 · Mikhail Tal vs Hans-Joachim Hecht · 1-0

  Tal leaves a queen and a bishop hanging. Hecht declines; the ending still goes to Tal.

• Paulsen vs Morphy, 1857

  1857 · Louis Paulsen vs Paul Morphy · 0-1

  17...Qxf3, Morphy’s queen sacrifice on an empty-looking board.

• Capablanca vs Marshall, 1918

  1918 · José Raúl Capablanca vs Frank Marshall · 1-0

  Marshall’s prepared 8...d5 novelty, refuted over the board.

• Alekhine vs Feldt, 1916

  1916 · Alexander Alekhine vs M. Feldt · 1-0

  A blindfold miniature: 15.Nf7 and 16.Qxe6+ mate the king on g6.

• Edward Lasker vs Thomas, 1912

  1912 · Edward Lasker vs George Thomas · 1-0

  A king hunt that ends with 18.O-O-O mate.

• Spassky vs Bronstein, 1960

  1960 · Boris Spassky vs David Bronstein · 1-0

  A King’s Gambit that later showed up in a James Bond film.

• Zukertort vs Blackburne, 1883

  1883 · Johannes Zukertort vs Joseph Blackburne · 1-0

  28.Qb4, a quiet queen move that starts a forced win.

• Robert Byrne vs Fischer, 1963

  1963 · Robert Byrne vs Bobby Fischer · 0-1

  Fischer’s 15...Nxf2 leads to a king walk and a resignation in a full board.

• McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834

  1834 · Alexander McDonnell vs Louis-Charles de la Bourdonnais · 0-1

  Three black pawns on the second rank beat a queen.

• Kasparov vs Karpov, 1986

  1986 · Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov · 1-0

  Karpov’s knight reaches d3; Kasparov still crashes through on the kingside.

• Carlsen vs Anand, 2013

  2013 · Magnus Carlsen vs Viswanathan Anand · 1-0

  Carlsen’s first title-match win: a rook ending Anand could not hold.

• Nezhmetdinov vs Chernikov, 1962

  1962 · Rashid Nezhmetdinov vs Oleg Chernikov · 1-0

  12.Qxf6, a queen for two pieces that never lets Black untangle.

• Kasparov vs Anand, 1995

  1995 · Garry Kasparov vs Viswanathan Anand · 1-0

  A prepared Open Spanish: 14.Bc2 and 17.Qg4, analyzed at home.

• Morphy vs Anderssen, 1858

  1858 · Paul Morphy vs Adolf Anderssen · 1-0

  Morphy beats the Immortal’s author in a seventeen-move Sicilian.