Famous Chess Games

The most celebrated games ever played — replay each masterpiece move by move with grandmaster commentary.

The Old Masters

The Immortal Game

Adolf Anderssen 1–0 Lionel Kieseritzky · London (casual) 1851

Replay the Immortal Game move by move: Anderssen sacrifices a bishop, both rooks and his queen to mate with three minor pieces. Full board + GM commentary.

The Evergreen Game

Adolf Anderssen 1–0 Jean Dufresne · Berlin (casual) 1852

Replay the Evergreen Game: Anderssen's quiet 19.Rad1 and the queen sacrifice 21.Qxd7+ crown an Evans Gambit with a two-bishop mate. Interactive board + analysis.

The Opera Game

Paul Morphy 1–0 Duke Karl of Brunswick & Count Isouard · Paris Opera House 1858

Replay the Opera Game move by move: Morphy mates in 17 with a queen sacrifice while the opera plays. The classic lesson in development, explained by a GM.

The Battle of Hastings

Wilhelm Steinitz 1–0 Curt von Bardeleben · Hastings 1895

Replay Steinitz's Hastings brilliancy: the untouchable rook of 22.Rxe7+ dances along the seventh rank while back-rank mates guard it. Board + GM commentary.

Rubinstein's Immortal

Georg Rotlewi 0–1 Akiba Rubinstein · Lodz 1907

Replay Rubinstein's Immortal: with queen and both rooks en prise, 22...Rxc3 begins the most beautiful mating combination ever played. Interactive board + notes.

The Gold Coins Game

Stepan Levitsky 0–1 Frank Marshall · Breslau (DSB Congress) 1912

Replay the Gold Coins Game and its legendary finish 23...Qg3!! — a queen capturable three ways that wins on the spot. The full story, on an interactive board.

The Immortal Zugzwang Game

Fritz Sämisch 0–1 Aron Nimzowitsch · Copenhagen 1923

Replay the Immortal Zugzwang Game: after 25...h6, White resigns in a full middlegame because every legal move loses. Hypermodern strategy, explained by a GM.

Botvinnik vs. Capablanca, AVRO 1938

Mikhail Botvinnik 1–0 José Raúl Capablanca · AVRO, Rotterdam 1938

Replay the most anthologized combination in chess: Botvinnik deflects with 30.Ba3!! and 31.Nh5+!!, then walks his king through a hail of checks to beat Capablanca.

The Champions' Era

The Game of the Century

Donald Byrne 0–1 Bobby Fischer · Rosenwald Memorial, New York 1956

Replay the Game of the Century: 13-year-old Bobby Fischer's queen sacrifice 17...Be6!! and the windmill that follows, move by move with GM commentary.

Nezhmetdinov's Immortal

Lev Polugaevsky 0–1 Rashid Nezhmetdinov · RSFSR Championship, Sochi 1958

Replay Nezhmetdinov's Immortal: the queen sacrifice 24...Rxf4!! buys a king hunt from e3 to a5, ending in mate by minor pieces. Interactive board + GM notes.

Robert Byrne vs. Fischer, US Championship 1963

Robert Byrne 0–1 Bobby Fischer · US Championship, New York 1963

Replay the Fischer brilliancy so deep that commentators thought White was winning when he resigned. 15...Nxf2! and 18...Nxg2!! explained on an interactive board.

Larsen vs. Spassky, Belgrade 1970

Bent Larsen 0–1 Boris Spassky · USSR vs. Rest of the World, Belgrade 1970

Replay the most famous miniature of modern chess: Spassky's decoy 14...Rh1!! and the h-pawn's promotion run demolish Larsen in 17 moves. Board + GM commentary.

Fischer vs. Spassky, Game 6, Reykjavik 1972

Bobby Fischer 1–0 Boris Spassky · World Championship Game 6, Reykjavik 1972

Replay the game so beautiful that Spassky applauded his opponent: Fischer opens 1.c4 for the first time and produces a positional masterpiece for the world title.

The Octopus Game

Anatoly Karpov 0–1 Garry Kasparov · World Championship Game 16, Moscow 1985

Replay the Octopus Game: Kasparov's knight lands on d3 and strangles Karpov's position on the road to the world title. Move-by-move board + GM commentary.

Modern Masterpieces

Man vs. Machine