Queen Sac That Leads to Mate
Here is an interesting game in which White sacrificed his Queen to force mate. It's a familiar pattern - get the Bishop on Bishop 6 and threaten to put the Rook on Rook 8 for mate.
The Victor Mates With a Pawn
Victor Knorre was an amateur chess player (he was an astronomer) who beat some of the strongest players in the world. Here is a game in which he defeats Johannes Zukertort, one of the strongest players in the world. Knorre sacrificed a piece...
Chess polygamy (with 5 Queens)
There have only been a few "serious" games in which 4 or more Queens appeared on the board at one time. In many databases there is a game Sumpter - King, Australia 1965, with 7 Queens, which was later proven to be spurious; many chess si...
The Marshall Plan - Control the 7th Rank
Here is a game that Frank Marshall defeated Akiba Rubinstein by controlling the 7th rank. He was able to get his Queen and his Rook on the 7th rank to force mate. A Rook sacrifice helped it along.
Bondarevsky's Back Rank Mate
Igor Bondarevsky was a Soviet grandmaster, and for many years, Boris Spassky's trainer. He played in nine Soviet championships, and won it in 1940. Here is a game that he played in one of the famous Hastings Christmas tournaments i...
Capa's Kingside Capturing Combination
Former world champion Jose Capablanca played some of the most perfect games of chess ever played by a human. In this game, a Ruy Lopez, he shows his gift for combination as he finds all the right moves to force the win.
Alekhine's Brilliancy Prize Game
In 1921, Alekhine played in an international tournament in Budapest in which he took first place and won a brilliancy prize. Alekhine annotated the game in his book My Best Chess Games 1908-1923, except he left a move out (27...Rac8 28.Rd4)....
An Olympic Effort - Triple Sacrifice
Here is a game that was played in the first chess olympiad in London. The game won a brilliancy prize for its triple sacrifice that led to mate in 16 moves.
Sicilian, Grand Prix Attack
The opening 1.e4 c5 2.f4 is known as the Grand Prix Attack, or Larsen-Santasiere Attack, or McDonnell Attack. It is a less analyzed line, sort of like a King's Gambit against the Sicilian. Here is a clever, short game using this op...
Larsen's Lisitsin Lesson
Bent Larsen has been one of the top players in the world for many years. Here is one of his early games that in played in one of the chess olympiads. His opponent played the Lisitsin Gambit (1.Nf3 f5 2.e4) and Larsen got a quick attack...
Ragozin Stops the Wrath of Kan
Viacheslav Ragozin was a Soviet Over-the-Board (OTB) Grandmaster as well as Correspondence Grandmaster. He won the second World Correspondence Championship in 1958. Ilya Kan was an International Master, perhaps of Grandmaster strength....
Atkins Diet - A Danish with Smothered Mate
Henry Atkins was a British International Master who liked playing the Danish Gambit. He won the British Championship 9 times between 1905 and 1925 (7 in a row starting in 1905). Here is a game in which he won by playing a Danish Gambit...
The Black Death Swindles for a Mating Combination
Joseph Henry Blackburne was known as the 'Black Death.' For over 20 years he was one of the top 10 players in the world. Here is a game in which he swindled the great Adolf Anderssen. Blackburne was losing playing the Whi...
Geller's Swift Attack
Efim Geller was one of the 10 ten chess players in the world for about 20 years. He played in 23 USSR chess championships, winning it in 1955 and 1979. He was known for his swift attacks with a tendency to risk everything in order to w...
Sir George Thomas Avoids the Menchik Club - This Time
In 1929, Vera Menchik, the strongest woman chess player in the world at the time, was invited to the Carlsbad International tourament. Albert Becker, a Viennese master, did not want her to play in the event, saying she was too weak of a play...
Kasparov wins in 14 moves! (Now annotated.)
In this game, Kasparov, aged 15,takes out one of the strongest Grandmasters of all time, Mark Taimanov. The ending has the Kasparov mark: you see what's coming but you cannot do anything to prevent it. Enjoy! (The annotation is ...
Kasparov loses in 15 moves - (now annotated)
I found this little gem, a King's Gambit that Nigel Short used to bring down the great Kasparov in 15 moves. Don't try this at home! I have tried to annotate the game as best as I could. I am sorry that I did not do so earlier when I ma...
Check Out This Czech - Hort Hurts His Opponent
Vlastimil Hort, born in 1944, was the strongest Czech player in the 1970s and was one of the top players in the world. Here is one of his early games where he beat grandmaster Leonid Shamkovich with a rook sac that led to mate.
Johnny Cochrane Wins Another Case
John Cochrane (1798-1878) was a Scottish lawyer who loved to sacrifice his pieces for an attack. Here is a tactical game in which he beat the great Howard Staunton. He sacrifices a pawn on move 3, and eventually sacks his Queen for the...
Spassky's Kingside Attack
Former world chess champion Boris Spassky will always be remembered as the man who played and lost a match to Bobby Fischer, twice. Boris started out as one of the world's youngest grandmasters, Here is a game from his early days where he was ab...
Don't Play a Latvian Against a Russian
The Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) may be too risky at the highest levels of chess. The top players know most of the opening wrinkles of gambits. Here is a game where a master tries to play the Latvian Gambit against Vasily Smyslov ...
Tennison Anyone? Who Keres.
The Tennison Gambit (1.Nf3 d5 2.e4), also known as the Lemberg or the Abonyi Gambit, can be a weapon for White as he gets quick development. In this game, the great Paul Keres played it as White in one of his early correspondence games. ...
Control of the 7th Rank
It 's almost always a good idea to occupy and control the 7th rank with your Rook. Here is a nice game where Rudolf Spielmann, an Austrian professional player, took complete control of the 7th rank with his Rooks to force the win.
Hungarian Mates a Pole with the French in Russia
Chess is such an international game. Here is a game played by a Hungarian player against a Polish player using the French Defense played in Russia. The winner was Leo Fleischmann, a former Hungarian champion who gave up the game after ...