What are the most famous chess games ever played?
Four games turn up on nearly every list: the Immortal Game (1851), the Evergreen Game (1852), the Opera Game (1858) and the Game of the Century (1956). All four are on this page, move by move, each one starting at the moment it turns. Every one of them is also loaded into ShatterChess, where you can watch the whole game with every capture shattering and take over from any move.
The Immortal Game
Anderssen gives up a bishop, then both rooks, then his queen. He mates on move 23 with a bishop and two knights. Kieseritzky ends the game having lost three pawns and nothing else.
It was a casual game, played in London while the 1851 tournament was going on. Nobody was keeping score for a prize.
The Evergreen Game
Anderssen again, a year later. Dufresne takes a knight on move 19 and threatens mate on g2. Anderssen answers by giving up a rook, then his queen, and mates on move 24 with two bishops and a pawn.
It opens with the Evans Gambit: a pawn offered on b4 on move four to gain time.
The Opera Game
Morphy played it in a box at the Paris opera, against two noblemen who talked over every move. He brings out every piece, gives up a knight, a rook and finally his queen, and mates on move 17 with a rook and a bishop.
Coaches still use it to show why you get your pieces out before you attack. Black’s kingside bishop and rook never move.
The Game of the Century
Bobby Fischer was 13. On move 17 he leaves his queen where Byrne can take it, and Byrne does. In return Fischer collects a rook, two bishops and a pawn, then chases the white king along the back rank until mate on move 41.
The white queen spends the last nine moves on b8 and never gets back.
All four games are waiting on ShatterChess. Pick one, press play, and step in at any move if you think you would have done better than Kieseritzky.
Open the Immortal Game