This article needs additional citations for verification .(May 2020) |
The Immortal Game was a chess game played in 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It was played while the London 1851 chess tournament was in progress, an event in which both players participated. The Immortal Game was itself a casual game, however, not played as part of the tournament. Anderssen won the game by making a double rook sacrifice, a major loss of material , while also developing a mating attack with his remaining minor pieces . Despite losing the game, Kieseritzky was impressed with Anderssen's performance. Shortly after it was played, Kieseritzky published the game in La Régence, a French chess journal which he helped to edit. In 1855, Ernst Falkbeer published an analysis of the game, describing it for the first time with its sobriquet "immortal".
The Immortal Game is among the most famous chess games ever played. As a miniature game, it is frequently reproduced in chess literature to teach simple themes of gameplay. Although Kieseritzsky himself indicated that the game ended before checkmate, the Immortal Game is frequently reproduced with a brief continuation involving a queen sacrifice—a further loss of material—leading to checkmate. This continuation is commonly presented as part of the complete game, as if the final moves were actually played as part of the real historical game. Some authors also permute certain moves, deviating from Kieseritzky's report, although such permutations typically give rise to a transposition in which a distinct line of play eventually returns to the moves and positions reported by Kieseritzky.
Although both players made moves which are regarded as unsound by modern players, the game is appreciated as an example of the Romantic school of chess, a style of play which prized bold attacks and sacrifices over deep strategy. The game—especially its mating continuation—is also appreciated for its aesthetic value, as a plausible example of how a player with a significant material deficit can give mate, provided that an advantageous position exists. The continuation's mating position is a model mate, a strong form of pure mate in which all of the attacker's remaining pieces contribute to the checkmate, while the mated king is prevented from moving to any other square for exactly one reason per square. In 1996, Bill Hartston called the game an achievement "perhaps unparalleled in chess literature". [1]
Anderssen was one of the strongest players of his time, and many consider him to have been the world's strongest player after his victory in the London 1851 chess tournament. Kieseritzky lived in France much of his life, where he gave chess lessons and played games for five francs an hour at the Café de la Régence in Paris. His strength was shown most favourably when giving substantial odds to weak players; against masters, he was less convincing.
The Immortal Game was an informal one, played during a break in a formal tournament in London; the exact venue is uncertain. [2] Kieseritzky was very impressed with Anderssen's performance; after the game was over, Kieseritzky telegraphed the moves of the game to his Parisian chess club. The French chess magazine La Régence published the game in July 1851. The Austrian Ernst Falkbeer nicknamed it "The Immortal Game" in 1855. [3]
This game is acclaimed as an exemplar of the 19th-century Romantic style of chess, where rapid development and attack were considered the most effective way to win, many gambits and countergambits were offered (and not accepting them would be considered slightly ungentlemanly), and material was often held in contempt. These games, with their rapid attacks and counterattacks, are often entertaining to review, even if some of the moves are no longer considered optimal.
In this game, Anderssen won despite sacrificing a bishop (on move 11), both rooks (starting on move 18), and the queen (on move 22) to produce checkmate against Kieseritzky, who lost only three pawns. Anderssen later demonstrated the same kind of approach in the Evergreen Game.
Some published versions of the game have errors, as described in the annotations below.
Shortly after the game was played, Kieseritzky is believed [4] to have telegraphed a report of the game to La Régence, a French chess journal which he helped to edit. The game was reported in an 1851 issue of the journal, with the piece attributed to Kieseritzky himself. La Régence used an "obscure" [5] and prototypical form of algebraic notation to record chess games. Pawns were denoted using lowercase letters indicating their starting files (a–h), while pieces were denoted using uppercase letters to indicate same (A–H). Squares were described beginning with their rank, then file, e.g. the square "e4" was instead described as "45".
The game has been republished many times, often with inconsistencies about the order of moves. [6] [7]
White: Adolf Anderssen [a] Black: Lionel Kieseritzky Opening: King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bryan Countergambit ( ECO C33)
1. e4 e5 2. f4
2... exf4 3. Bc4
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
1 | 1 | ||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
3... Qh4+ 4. Kf1 b5?! (diagram)
5. Bxb5 Nf6 6. Nf3
6... Qh6 7. d3
7... Nh5
8. Nh4 Qg5
9. Nf5 c6
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
1 | 1 | ||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
10. g4? Nf6 11. Rg1! (diagram)
11... cxb5?
12. h4!
12... Qg6 13. h5 Qg5 14. Qf3
14... Ng8
15. Bxf4 Qf6 16. Nc3 Bc5
17. Nd5
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
1 | 1 | ||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
17... Qxb2 (diagram)
18. Bd6!
18... Bxg1?
19. e5!
19... Qxa1+ 20. Ke2
20... Na6
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
1 | 1 | ||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
21. Nxg7+ Kd8 22. Qf6+! (diagram)
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
8 | 8 | ||||||||
7 | 7 | ||||||||
6 | 6 | ||||||||
5 | 5 | ||||||||
4 | 4 | ||||||||
3 | 3 | ||||||||
2 | 2 | ||||||||
1 | 1 | ||||||||
a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
The Evergreen Game is a famous chess game won by Adolf Anderssen against Jean Dufresne in 1852.
The Opera Game was a chess game played in 1858 at an opera house in Paris. The American master Paul Morphy played against two amateurs: the German noble Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, and the French aristocrat Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues. It was played as a consultation game, with Duke Karl and Count Isouard jointly deciding each move for the black pieces, while Morphy controlled the white pieces by himself. The game was played in a box while an opera was performed on stage. Morphy quickly checkmated his opponents following rapid development and sacrifice of material, including a queen sacrifice.
The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky was a Baltic German chess master and theoretician, known for his contributions to chess theory, as well for a game he lost against Adolf Anderssen, known as the "Immortal Game". Kieseritzky's name became associated with several openings and opening variations, such as the Kieseritzky Gambit, Kieseritzky Attack, and the Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit.
Boden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing diagonals, with possible flight squares for the king being occupied by friendly pieces or under attack by enemy pieces. Most often the checkmated king has castled queenside, and is mated on c8 or c1. Many variants on the mate are seen, for example a king on e8 checkmated by bishops on g6 and a3, and a king on f1 checkmated by bishops on h3 and b6. Often the mate is immediately preceded by a sacrifice that opens up the diagonal on which the bishop delivers checkmate, and the mate is often a pure mate.
In chess and other related games, a double check is a check delivered by two pieces simultaneously. In chess notation, it is almost always represented the same way as a single check ("+"), but is sometimes symbolized by "++". This article uses "++" for double check and "#" for checkmate.
In chess, a pure mate is a checkmate position such that the mated king is attacked exactly once, and prevented from moving to any of the adjacent squares in its field for exactly one reason per square. Each of the squares in the mated king's field is attacked or "guarded" by one—and only one—attacking unit, or else a square which is not attacked is occupied by a friendly unit, a unit of the same color as the mated king. Some authors allow that special situations involving double check or pins may also be considered as pure mate.
Game 6 of the Deep Blue–Kasparov rematch, played in New York City on May 11, 1997 and starting at 3:00 p.m. EDT, was the last chess game in the 1997 rematch of Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov.
Anderssen's Opening is a chess opening defined by the opening move:
Handicaps in chess are handicapping variants which enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger one. There are a variety of such handicaps, such as material odds, extra moves, extra time on the chess clock, and special conditions. Various permutations of these, such as "pawn and two moves", are also possible.
In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a queen, the most powerful piece, in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage.
The Peruvian Immortal is the name given to a chess game played by the Peruvian master Esteban Canal against an unknown amateur in a simultaneous exhibition he gave at Budapest in 1934. In just 14 moves, Canal sacrificed both his rooks and his queen, finishing with Boden's mate.
In chess, the bishop and knight checkmate is the checkmate of a lone king by an opposing king, bishop, and knight. With the stronger side to move, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from almost any starting position. Although this is classified as one of the four basic checkmates, it occurs in practice only approximately once in every 6,000 games.
Leopold Adamovich Mitrofanov was a Russian chess composer, an International Judge of Chess Composition and an International Master of Chess Composition. He was born in Leningrad and, by profession, was a chemical engineer.
The opposite-colored bishops endgame is a chess endgame in which each side has a single bishop and those bishops operate on opposite-colored squares. Without other pieces besides pawns and the kings, these endings are widely known for their tendency to result in a draw. These are the most difficult endings in which to convert a small material advantage to a win. With additional pieces, the stronger side has more chances to win, but still not as many as when bishops are on the same color.
In chess, checkmate pattern is a recognizable/particular/studied arrangements of pieces that delivers checkmate. Several checkmate patterns occur frequently enough to have acquired specific names in chess commentary. The diagrams that follow show these checkmates with White checkmating Black.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:
Rotlewi versus Rubinstein is a game of chess played between Gersz Rotlewi and Akiba Rubinstein in Łódź, Poland on December 26, 1907. It features a brilliant queen and rook sacrifice by Rubinstein to force mate.
In chess, an economical mate is a checkmate position such that all of the attacker's remaining knights, bishops, rooks and queens contribute to the mating attack. The attacker's king and pawns may also contribute to the mate, but their assistance is not required, nor does it disqualify the position from being an economical mate. Economical mates are of interest to chess problem composers for their aesthetic value. In real gameplay, their occurrence is incidental. Nevertheless, some notable games have concluded with an economical mate such as the Opera game, won by Paul Morphy.