CHESS HISTORY

Chess history stories: 16 famous games and traps, move by move

Every story on Chess History is a real game or an opening trap, told by the people who played it. Each one has a page here with the answer first, the real moves, the history and its doubts. Then you can play it: you make the key moves yourself, and the endings are yours to find.

The games range from Paul Morphy’s Opera Game (Paris, 1858) and Adolf Anderssen’s Immortal Game (London, 1851) to Fischer’s Game of the Century (New York, 1956) and Kasparov’s Immortal against Topalov (Wijk aan Zee, 1999). The traps are for the opening player: the Alien Gambit in the Caro-Kann, the Stafford Gambit in the Petrov, and Légal’s Trap from the Café de la Régence.

  1. 1858 (Morphy was 21) The Opera Game: Morphy’s queen sacrifice and mate in 17 moves Paul Morphy (White) vs Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard (Black) · 1-0 in 17 moves
  2. Modern online blitz, popularised by streamers The Alien Gambit: the Caro-Kann sacrifice and the traps that follow White: the gambit player. Black: the Caro-Kann defender · Forced line; traps for Black
  3. A 1950 correspondence game; popular online since The Stafford Gambit: the Petrov trap where the king takes everything Black: Stafford (the trap). White: the opponent who falls for it · Black wins the White queen or mates the king
  4. 1852 The Evergreen Game: Anderssen’s mate in 24 moves, explained Adolf Anderssen (White) vs Jean Dufresne (Black) · 1-0 in 24 moves
  5. 20 July 1912 (round 6 of the 18th DSB Congress) The Gold Coins Game: Levitsky vs Marshall, Breslau 1912 Frank Marshall (Black) vs Stepan Levitsky (White) · 0-1 in 23 moves
  6. 26 December 1907 Rubinstein’s Immortal: Rotlewi vs Rubinstein, Łódź 1907, the rook sacrifices Akiba Rubinstein (Black) vs Rotlewi (White) · 0-1 in 25 moves
  7. 17 October 1956 The Game of the Century: Fischer vs Byrne, 1956, move by move Robert James Fischer (Black, aged 13) vs Donald Byrne (White) · 0-1 in 41 moves
  8. 20 January 1999 Kasparov’s Immortal: the Rxd4!! sacrifice against Topalov, 1999 Garry Kasparov (White) vs Veselin Topalov (Black) · 1-0 in 44 moves
  9. c. 1750 (possibly 1787) Légal’s Trap: the 18th-century mate that started at the Café de la Régence Légal (White) vs Saint-Brie (Black) · Mate in 7 if Black walks into the trap
  10. 1991 (Interpolis tournament, round 4) The King Walk: Short vs Timman, Tilburg 1991, the king that walks to mate Nigel Short (White) vs Jan Timman (Black) · 1-0
  11. 21 June 1851 The Immortal Game: Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, London 1851, with 23.Be7# Adolf Anderssen (White) vs Lionel Kieseritzky (Black) · 1-0 in 23 moves
  12. 1910 (reported 1 April 1910) The Vanishing Queen: Réti vs Tartakower, Vienna 1910, and the queen sacrifice Richard Réti (White) vs Savielly Tartakower (Black) · Mate in 11, after the queen sacrifice
  13. 29 October 1912 The King Hunt: Lasker vs Thomas, London 1912, and the mate in 18 Edward Lasker (White) vs George Alan Thomas (Black) · 1-0 in 18 moves
  14. 1809 Napoleon vs the Turk: the 1809 chess game of the automaton, told as a legend Napoleon Bonaparte (White) vs the Turk automaton (Black) · 0-1 in 24 moves (apocryphal)
  15. January 1947 The Blindfold Game: Najdorf’s 45 boards in São Paulo, 1947, with the Rxh7!! attack Miguel Najdorf (White, blindfolded) vs the consultation pair Camarinha and Rinsky (Black) · 1-0 in 26 moves (one of 45 boards; +39 =4 −2)
  16. 20 March 1804 (disputed) Napoleon’s King Hunt: Napoleon vs Madame de Rémusat, 1804, and the king walk Napoleon Bonaparte (White) vs Madame de Rémusat (Black) · 1-0 in 14 moves (disputed)