Learn › History

5 Famous Chess Games Every Player Should See

The Immortal Game, the Evergreen Game, Fischer's Game of the Century, Kasparov's Immortal and the Opera Game - replay every move on interactive boards.

· 2 min read

Some games are played once and studied forever. They are brilliant, but they are also the best way to learn: each one shows an idea - development, attack, sacrifice - so clearly that you remember it for the rest of your chess life.

Step through each game below with the arrows, or click any move. Try to guess the next move before you look.

1. The Immortal Game (Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, London 1851)

Adolf Anderssen gave up a bishop, both rooks and finally his queen - and still delivered mate with his three remaining minor pieces. The game was played as a casual game during the first international tournament, in London, and the Austrian writer Ernst Falkbeer named it "the Immortal Game" a few years later.

White ends with only a bishop and two knights against almost Black's whole army - and it is enough, because Black's pieces never got into the game.

Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ 4. Kf1 b5 5. Bxb5 Nf6 6. Nf3 Qh6 7. d3 Nh5 8. Nh4 Qg5 9. Nf5 c6 10. g4 Nf6 11. Rg1 cxb5 12. h4 Qg6 13. h5 Qg5 14. Qf3 Ng8 15. Bxf4 Qf6 16. Nc3 Bc5 17. Nd5 Qxb2 18. Bd6 Bxg1 19. e5 Qxa1+ 20. Ke2 Na6 21. Nxg7+ Kd8 22. Qf6+ Nxf6 23. Be7#

Open this position on the analysis board

The lesson: material only counts if the pieces are working. Black spent the game grabbing pieces with the queen while their own army stayed at home.

2. The Evergreen Game (Anderssen vs Dufresne, Berlin 1852)

A year later, Anderssen produced another masterpiece, this time from the Evans Gambit. The finish is a quiet rook move that lets Black take a whole knight with the queen, then a queen sacrifice and a mate with two bishops.

19. Rad1!! ignores the threat to the f3 knight. Black takes it - but 20. Rxe7+ and 21. Qxd7+!! tear open the king, and the two bishops mate.

Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d3 8. Qb3 Qf6 9. e5 Qg6 10. Re1 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5 12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 Bb6 14. Nbd2 Bb7 15. Ne4 Qf5 16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+ gxf6 18. exf6 Rg8 19. Rad1 Qxf3 20. Rxe7+ Nxe7 21. Qxd7+ Kxd7 22. Bf5+ Ke8 23. Bd7+ Kf8 24. Bxe7#

Open this position on the analysis board

The German player Wilhelm Steinitz called it "the evergreen in Anderssen's laurel wreath", which gave the game its name.

3. The Game of the Century (Byrne vs Fischer, New York 1956)

Thirteen-year-old Bobby Fischer, playing Black against the strong master Donald Byrne, sacrificed his queen on move 17 - and the rest of his pieces hunted down White's king and won back more than he gave. The chess writer Hans Kmoch named it "the Game of the Century".

17...Be6!! leaves the queen to be taken. After 18. Bxb6, a "windmill" of knight checks collects a rook, a bishop and a pawn - and Black's minor pieces later mate the white king.

Moves: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. d4 O-O 5. Bf4 d5 6. Qb3 dxc4 7. Qxc4 c6 8. e4 Nbd7 9. Rd1 Nb6 10. Qc5 Bg4 11. Bg5 Na4 12. Qa3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe4 14. Bxe7 Qb6 15. Bc4 Nxc3 16. Bc5 Rfe8+ 17. Kf1 Be6 18. Bxb6 Bxc4+ 19. Kg1 Ne2+ 20. Kf1 Nxd4+ 21. Kg1 Ne2+ 22. Kf1 Nc3+ 23. Kg1 axb6 24. Qb4 Ra4 25. Qxb6 Nxd1 26. h3 Rxa2 27. Kh2 Nxf2 28. Re1 Rxe1 29. Qd8+ Bf8 30. Nxe1 Bd5 31. Nf3 Ne4 32. Qb8 b5 33. h4 h5 34. Ne5 Kg7 35. Kg1 Bc5+ 36. Kf1 Ng3+ 37. Ke1 Bb4+ 38. Kd1 Bb3+ 39. Kc1 Ne2+ 40. Kb1 Nc3+ 41. Kc1 Rc2#

Open this position on the analysis board

The lesson: the queen is just a piece. Fischer gave it up for a rook, two bishops and a pawn - and a king that could never get safe.

4. Kasparov's Immortal (Kasparov vs Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 1999)

Garry Kasparov sacrificed a rook on d4 and then drove Black's king from c8 across the whole board, to d1 - right into White's own camp. Many consider it the finest attacking game ever played.

24. Rxd4!! starts it. The black king runs from b8 to a5, a4, a3, b4, c3, d2 and d1 - and White still wins. Topalov resigned after 44. Qa7.

Moves: 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 c6 6. f3 b5 7. Nge2 Nbd7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Bb7 10. a3 e5 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. Kb1 a6 13. Nc1 O-O-O 14. Nb3 exd4 15. Rxd4 c5 16. Rd1 Nb6 17. g3 Kb8 18. Na5 Ba8 19. Bh3 d5 20. Qf4+ Ka7 21. Rhe1 d4 22. Nd5 Nbxd5 23. exd5 Qd6 24. Rxd4 cxd4 25. Re7+ Kb6 26. Qxd4+ Kxa5 27. b4+ Ka4 28. Qc3 Qxd5 29. Ra7 Bb7 30. Rxb7 Qc4 31. Qxf6 Kxa3 32. Qxa6+ Kxb4 33. c3+ Kxc3 34. Qa1+ Kd2 35. Qb2+ Kd1 36. Bf1 Rd2 37. Rd7 Rxd7 38. Bxc4 bxc4 39. Qxh8 Rd3 40. Qa8 c3 41. Qa4+ Ke1 42. f4 f5 43. Kc1 Rd2 44. Qa7

Open this position on the analysis board

5. The Opera Game (Morphy vs the Duke and the Count, Paris 1858)

The shortest of the five, and the most instructive. Paul Morphy develops every piece with tempo, opens lines towards the enemy king, and finishes with a queen sacrifice and mate - all in 17 moves. We walk through it move by move in how to read chess notation.

What these games teach

Every one of these games follows the same three ideas:

  1. Development beats material. The winner always had more pieces in play, even when behind in material.
  2. Open lines towards the king. Sacrifices work when they open files and diagonals for pieces that are ready to use them.
  3. Forcing moves. Checks and captures leave the opponent no time to fix their position.

You can train the same vision with sacrifice puzzles - every one is a real game where giving up material wins - and the guess-the-grandmaster-move puzzles. Or open any of these games on the analysis board with the Analyse link under the board and see what Stockfish thinks of the great sacrifices.

Practise it: Chess sacrifice puzzles

Keep learning