1910 (reported 1 April 1910) · Vienna, Neues Wiener Tagblatt

The Vanishing Queen: Réti vs Tartakower, Vienna 1910, and the queen sacrifice

The Vanishing Queen is a 1910 game from Vienna in which Richard Réti, playing White, sacrificed his queen with 9.Qd8+!! and mated with 11.Bd8#. The game was a casual one with a stake of ten crowns, and the printed score is incomplete: the mate comes from Tartakower’s own notes.

Date: 1910 (reported 1 April 1910)
Place: Vienna, Neues Wiener Tagblatt
Players: Richard Réti (White) vs Savielly Tartakower (Black)
Result: Mate in 11, after the queen sacrifice
Opening: Caro-Kann (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6)
On Chess History: You play Réti, dressed as a stage magician

Play the story Interactive: the moves, the characters, the endings to find.

The moves

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Qd3 e5 6.dxe5 Qa5+ 7.Bd2 Qxe5 8.O-O-O Nxe4 9.Qd8+ Kxd8 10.Bg5+ Kc7 11.Bd8#

9.Qd8+!! gives the queen for nothing, and 10.Bg5+ is a double check that forces the king to move. The course shows 6…Qxd3! and 8…Be7! as Black’s alternatives to the game.

The queen sacrifice

Réti is remembered for his flank openings and his sense of space. The Vanishing Queen is the opposite: a sudden, sharp attack in which the queen is given away for a mate on the back rank.

After 8…Nxe4? the queen move 9.Qd8+!! leaves the queen on d8, where Black’s king must take it. Then 10.Bg5+ is a double check, the king must step to c7, and 11.Bd8# closes the game.

The doubts

The earliest source is G. Marco’s report in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt on 1 April 1910, which describes a casual game for ten crowns. The printed score ends with 10.Bg5+ and a resignation, but Tartakower’s own book gives 11.Bd8# as the finish.

Engine checks show that 8…Be7! is Black’s defence (about +1.5 for White), and 6…Qxd3! 7.Bxd3 Nxe4 8.Bxe4 is about +0.8. The game is a legend in its details and an example of how a single move can change a game.

Questions and answers

What is the Vanishing Queen?

A queen sacrifice in a 1910 game between Réti and Tartakower in Vienna: 9.Qd8+!! Kxd8 10.Bg5+ and 11.Bd8#.

Did the game really end with 11.Bd8#?

The printed score stops with a resignation after 10.Bg5+. Tartakower’s book gives the mate, and the course follows that version.

Who won?

Réti, with White, by mate in 11.

Sources and checks

G. Marco, Neues Wiener Tagblatt, 1 April 1910
Tartakower’s Breviary (the mate 11.Bd8#)
Engine check on this site: Stockfish 17 (depth 22)

The moves on this page are checked for legality, and the engine evaluations come from Stockfish 17. Where a game is more legend than fact, the story says so.