CHESS HISTORY 4.8M views on TikTok
You saw the legends. Now play them.
Legendary games, told by their characters. The decisive moves are yours to play.
Levitsky vs Marshall
Marshall puts his queen where three pieces can take her.
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@chess.history · 4.8M views
Which video brought you here?
Each one became a story you can play. Find yours.
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Paris · 1858 · The Opera Game
Real games. Move by move.
- WatchThe characters tell the story, in their own voices.
- PlayYou make the key moves. Stuck? A hint, or “Show me”.
- ExploreTry the other moves. Find the hidden endings.
16 stories. Pick yours.
Legendary games and opening traps. Each one has its own cast, its own set and its own endings to find.
Legendary games Replay the moves that made history.
BRESLAU · 1912
Play Marshall’s queen sacrifice. Make it rain gold.
Frank Marshall himself coaches you through his legendary 23…Qg3!! — the queen three pieces can take — and every way Levitsky could have lost.
PARIS · 1858
Checkmate a Duke in 17 moves.
The most famous game in history, played at the opera. Morphy whispers you his moves: a knight, a rook, his queen… and mate.
SÃO PAULO · 1947
45 boards. Blindfolded. One masterpiece.
Miguel Najdorf played 45 games at once without seeing a board, hoping his family would read his name in the papers. Play his moves: 20.Rxh7!! and 22.Rh8+!!
MALMAISON · 1804
Drag a king from e8 to d4.
Napoleon himself coaches you through his legendary king hunt: a knight, then a bishop, and Madame de Rémusat’s king walks into the middle of his army. 14.Qd3#.
SCHÖNBRUNN · 1809
Be the chess machine. Checkmate an emperor.
You play the Turk, the famous chess automaton. Napoleon cheats three times; you refuse every illegal move, then hunt his king all the way home to e1. And then the cabinet opens…
PARIS · 1750
Give up your queen. Mate in 7.
Café de la Régence: Monsieur de Légal teaches you his famous trap. The pinned knight jumps, the vain Saint-Brie grabs the queen… and the wig falls.
VIENNA · 1910
Make a queen disappear. Play White.
Vienna, 1910: young Réti, dressed as a stage magician, teaches you his trick — a queen sacrifice, a double check, and mate in 11 moves.
LONDON · 1851
Give away everything. Win anyway.
The Immortal Game. A cockney chimney sweep coaches you as Anderssen: offer a bishop, both rooks, your queen… and mate with three little pieces.
LONDON · 1912
Sacrifice your queen. Hunt the king.
Tally-ho! A foxhound in a balloon coaches you through the most famous king hunt ever: 11.Qxh7+!! and the black king runs from g8 to g1.
BERLIN · 1852
Give everything. Win anyway. Play White.
A grumpy old nutcracker coaches you through the Evergreen Game: a rook, a queen, two bishops… and the truth engines found later.
NEW YORK · 1956
The Game of the Century. Play Black, age 13.
Bobby Fischer coaches you through his masterpiece against Donald Byrne: the knight on the rim, the queen sacrifice, the windmill… and mate without a queen.
ŁÓDŹ · 1907
Give away your queen. Mate anyway.
Rubinstein’s Immortal: two bishops, four sacrifices, one chain reaction. A shy genius whispers, a talking spool shouts — you play Black.
WIJK AAN ZEE · 1999
Be Kasparov. Throw a rook. Hunt the king.
Wijk aan Zee, 1999: a seagull coaches you through 24.Rxd4!! and the king hunt that drags Topalov’s king from a7 to d1. Three traps, and the honest truth.
TILBURG · 1991
Send your king to war. Play White.
Tilburg 1991: Nigel Short marches his king from g1 to g5 — with both queens on the board — and Timman resigns. Walk it yourself.
Opening traps Learn them here, spring them tonight in blitz.
OPENING TRAP · CARO-KANN
Abduct the king in six moves.
An alien teaches you the wildest gambit in blitz. Every move is a scene: click it, replay it, find the traps.
OPENING TRAP · PETROV
Set traps for the King. Play Black.
A court jester teaches you the trappiest gambit in blitz: the King grabs your pawn, then your queen… and gets mated.
Chess History Pass
Every story. One payment.
$19.99once
≈ $1.25 per story
- All 16 stories, and every new one
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- On your phone and your computer
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Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. The Gold Coins Game (Marshall, 1912) is free from the first move to the end, and every other story starts free. No account, no card. For the rest, one Pass unlocks everything.
Do I need to be good at chess?
No. The characters tell you what is at stake, a hint points the way, and “Show me” plays the move for you. You get the ideas by playing them.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once ($19.99) and the Pass is yours for good, with every new story included.
What if I don’t like it?
Write to [email protected] within 30 days for a full refund. No questions asked.
Phone or computer?
Both. It all runs in your browser, nothing to install. Sign in with the same email and your Pass comes with you.
Are these real games?
Yes: the moves as history recorded them. When a game is more legend than fact (Napoleon’s, for one), the story tells you so.
The Turk · chess automaton · 1770
They say I beat Napoleon. Your turn.
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Famous chess games, told move by move
Chess History turns famous chess games into interactive stories. Each story is a real game or an opening trap, told by the people who played it: Paul Morphy at the opera in Paris, Anderssen’s Immortal Game in London, Fischer’s Game of the Century, Kasparov against Topalov, and the traps every club player should know, such as the Alien Gambit, the Stafford Gambit and Légal’s Trap.
Every move is checked by a chess engine. Where a game is more legend than fact, the story says so. You can read the moves and the history for free on each story page, and play the stories to find the key moves yourself.
- The Opera Game: Morphy’s queen sacrifice and mate in 17 moves
- The Alien Gambit: the Caro-Kann sacrifice and the traps that follow
- The Stafford Gambit: the Petrov trap where the king takes everything
- The Evergreen Game: Anderssen’s mate in 24 moves, explained
- The Gold Coins Game: Levitsky vs Marshall, Breslau 1912
- Rubinstein’s Immortal: Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, Łódź 1907, the rook sacrifices
- The Game of the Century: Fischer vs Byrne, 1956, move by move
- Kasparov’s Immortal: the Rxd4!! sacrifice against Topalov, 1999
- Légal’s Trap: the 18th-century mate that started at the Café de la Régence
- The King Walk: Short vs Timman, Tilburg 1991, the king that walks to mate
- The Immortal Game: Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, London 1851, with 23.Be7#
- The Vanishing Queen: Réti vs Tartakower, Vienna 1910, and the queen sacrifice
- The King Hunt: Lasker vs Thomas, London 1912, and the mate in 18
- Napoleon vs the Turk: the 1809 chess game of the automaton, told as a legend
- The Blindfold Game: Najdorf’s 45 boards in São Paulo, 1947, with the Rxh7!! attack
- Napoleon’s King Hunt: Napoleon vs Madame de Rémusat, 1804, and the king walk