Famous Chess Games : Best of Adolf Anderssen

What's the best chess game ever played? What's the most famous chess game?  

Over the past 170-200 years history of competitive chess ( it's kinda like the intro of my previous blog ), this board of 64 squares has experienced some unbelievable brilliancies by some of the best chess players of that era, some marathon battles, or some complete dominations of one player over the other. Some of these chess games got recorded in the record books, and got registered in the list of the greatest chess games ever played, either because of the brilliance of one player, or because of some insane chess battle between the two. Some are famous till this date. 

Rotlewi - Rubinstein ( 1907 ), Bobby Fischer's  " Game of the Century  ", against IM Donald Byrne ( 1956 ), Deep Blue's historic first win over Kasparov ( 1997 ), Kasparov's flash of genius against Veselin Topalov ( 1999 ), are some of the famous games from the 20th century. 

World Champion Kasparov ( right ) against Veselin Topalov ( left ), 1999. 

While the current era of chess continues to provide us the taste of such artistry skills over the board, where the chess world is dominated by the giants like Magnus Carlsen ( current world champion ), the American trio of Hikaru, Fabiano, Wesley So, and Nepo, Ding Liren, Firouzja, or Indian Wizard Vishy, we cannot ignore the legacy of ancient chess era and the ancient chess masters! Yes, I'm talking about the 19th century. 

The chess world of the 19th century is known for the existence of the greats like Paul Morphy ( probably the best player of his era ), Wilhelm Steinitz, Adolf Anderssen, Henry Blackburne, Louis Charles De Labourdonnais and more. Nah, they aren't great because they all have fancy names, they are due to their performance on the chess board. Paul Morphy, who is known as the " Pride and Sorrow of chess " ( cuz at the time when he announced his retirement, he was still very young, but had a phenomenal chess career ), Adolf Anderssen, the unofficial world champion in 1851, Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official chess world champion, all these have some admirable achievements to their name. Also, they are famous for some of the chess games that they played!

What are the best games of the 19th century? Well, which chess enthusiast doesn't know about the " Opera Game ", where Paul Morphy took on the two strong chess amateurs, Duke Karl, and Count Isouard, played at an opera house in Paris. Here, in this blog, you will be presented with two of the most famous and best games from the 19th century, or probably two of the most famous games till this date, played by the German master Adolf Anderssen, the games better known by the names of " Immortal ", and the " Evergreen " games, played in the consecutive years of 1851 and 1852, respectively. 

GAME 1 : Adolf Anderssen vs  Lionel Kieseritzky ( 21 June, 1851 ), the " IMMORTAL GAME " : 

This game, was played during an interval in the first international chess tournament ever held ( 1851 ), which was organized by the English chess player, and another one of the greats at the times, Howard Staunton. 

ABOUT THE PLAYERS :

1. ADOLF ANDERSSEN : 

Adolf Anderssen ( 1818-79, born in the city of Wroclaw, Poland ), was a German chess player. Undoubtedly one of the strongest players of his era, he was crowned the unofficial world champion after handsomely winning the great London Tournament of 1851, the first international chess tournament ever held. Anderssen, who was a mathematics teacher by profession, took chess more seriously after his London triumph. He continued to be the world's strongest player till 1858, before losing convincingly in a match against the brilliant young American, Paul Morphy. He stayed active on the chess fronts in the following years, winning the strongest ever tournament at the time ( 1870, in Baden-Baden ), where he finished ahead of players such as Wilhelm Steinitz and Blackburne. He was certainly a chess player at heart!

2. LIONEL KIESERITZKY : 

Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky ( 1806-53 ), was born in the city of Tartu, in what is now Estonia, but settled in France in 1839. As an opening theoretician, known for inventing a line in the king's gambit which is a main variation till date, he also used to give chess lessons in Le Café de la Régence, in the city of Paris. However, he is still best remembered for the part he played in this game. 

Dubbed as the " Immortal Game ", by the Austrian player Ernst Falkbeer ( because chess players thought its fame would last forever, and would be remembered for a long time ), this game is a typical example of " romantic " play, which includes some fantastic, beautiful sacrifices ( including a double rook offer, and a dazzling queen sac at the end ), Anderssen's love of combinations was clearly seen here. A memorable checkmating pattern, these circumstances made it one of the most famous games ever. 

After the first couple of moves, we have a " King's gambit accepted " on the board. 

White sacrifices castling, in order to delay black's development. For black, 3....Qh4+ does prevent white from castling, but black will be wasting its time in order to move the queen when its attacked, in the future. 

4..... b5?!, the Bryan counter gambit. Named after the American chess player Thomas Jefferson Bryan ( who was also an active chess player in mid - nineteenth century ), Kiesereitzky's idea was to force the white's light squared bishop off center, and do not let it focus on the f7 square, which is one of the weak points in the black's kingdom. Neither the best move, nor the worst.

White captures on b5, black develops, and white attacks the queen with 6. Nf3. As previously mentioned, these queen moves might be beneficial in some way for white, as the queen can become a target in the future. d3 is the next move which's played, activating the dark squared bishop, and providing a support to the central e4 pawn. 

Here, black should be focusing on development, but plays Nh5. 7.....Nh5 intends to protect the f4 pawn, and at the same time threatens ...Ng3+. 8. Nh4 blocks the queen's way to the rook, and prevents ....Ng3+. Black responds with 8..... Qg5. Wait, did Anderssen just got forked here? Nah, he had something going on in his brain. 9. Nf5!, blocking the queen's vision of the other side of the board. Instead of trying to dislodge the f5 knight with .....g6, black attacks the bishop with c6, in order to meet 10. Bc4 d5.       

Anderssen steps on the gas with 10 g4. Black backs away, and now, 11. Rg1!, an imaginative sacrifice of the light squared bishop, and the idea was to gain masses of time by making the black's queen roam around the board. Black accepts the bishop sacrifice, and now, white just continues to annoy black's queen with consecutive moves of the h - pawn. 

Black finds its queen being caged in its own territory, and white plays 14. Qf3, looking for Bxf4. Only way for black, is to re-treat the knight, back to the g8 square, and create an escaping square for the queen. All of this happens, and white develops another knight, whereas black decides to attack the rook on g1, with 16…..Bc5. Anderssen marches the knight forward, with 17. Nd2, but hangs the b2 pawn ( I do not think Anderssen really cared about it, do you? ). White now has both of its rooks hanging, and is already down a piece! ( The position after the 14th move is the position which's in the thumbnail ). 

And here comes the immortal sacrifice. 18. Bd6!!, with this move, Anderssen's says, " Take my rooks, have some feast, enjoy for a bit, but not for long! ". Black captures the rook on a1 and gives a check, white moves its king out of way to e2. 

19.....Bxg1?, is a mistake. Want to know why? Well, try to solve this puzzle, and the correct move is what white played next!

Yes, 20. e5!!, but what does it do? It shuts the door for the queen, and the queen can no longer come to the rescue for the king, from a checkmating combination, which is about to happen. Kieseritzky finally gets his other knight into the game, but it was just too late. Andersson captures the g7 pawn ( 21. Nxg7+ ), and black's king is forced to move to d8 ( as the bishop covers the e7 and f8 squares ). What's the only stone in the path of checkmate for white? Yes, the g8 knight, as it covers the e7 square.

Can you find a way to deflect the g8 knight from its square? Kudos, if you got it right!

Yes, 22.Qf6!!. Here, white ends the game in a pleasing way, with 22. Qf6+!!, a queen sacrifice! Black is forced to take the queen, and 23. Be7#. Here's the highlights of how the whole game went : 

A beautiful way to end the game, where white finishes with a checkmate using all three of his remaining minor pieces. Black was punished in this game for his lack of respect for development, he did have fun with his queen, but it was short- lived. 

Did this game entertain you? If yes, then fasten your seatbelts, we have some more drama left over here! Let's move onto Game 2, the " Evergreen Game ". 

GAME 2 : Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne ( 1852 ), the " EVERGREEN GAME " : 

This encounter between Adolf Anderssen and Jean Dufresne, did not take place under tournament conditions, but was a friendly game, just for the pleasure of playing chess. The game was played in the city of Berlin, where Dufresne used to live. 

ABOUT THE PLAYERS : 

1. ADOLF ANDERSSEN : 

We already met Adolf Anderssen in GAME 1. If you didn't read about him because of being just too excited about the game, do check it out!

2. JEAN DUFRESNE : 

Jean Dufresne, was also a chess player from Germany. Although not a very strong player of his times, he was a popular chess writer, and the author of " Kleines Lehrbuch des schachspiels " was a popular beginner's guide. Forced to give up his career as a journalist due to a hearing defect, he is mostly remembered as Anderssen's opponent in this game!

Fun Fact : Jean Dufresne was a student of Adolf Anderssen. Losing to your master in a famous chess game is very self satisfying, isn't it?

It was Wilhelm Steinitz who gave this game its name, the first official world champion, while he was analyzing the game in 1879, and described it as " an evergreen in the laurel crown of the departed chess hero." While black was trying to create play on the flanks, Anderssen achieves a very centralized position, and wrenches attention to the black's king, which was stranded in the center, with a stunning knight sacrifice, and a glaring queen sac at the end, leading to an extremely attractive checkmate. Undoubtedly, its one of the most beautiful games of all time!

We have an " Evan's gambit " on the board. An opening which is popular to this day. 

White attacks the bishop, and immediately strikes in the center with 6. d4. Black captures, and white castles. Black doesn't want white to take the whole center, and so plays 7......d3, in order to throw white's coordination. 

Anderssen's not interested in taking the free pawn, and quickly goes for the attack on the weak f7 sqaure, with 8. Qb3. Black brings out its queen as well, and white doesn't wastes time in attacking it with 9. e5. Black moves the queen to safety, and now, 10. Re1!. Black develops its knight, and white teams up its dark squared bishop with its queen and the light squared bishop. And now, 11.....b5?!, remember the deflection strategy in Game 1, with the Bryan counter gambit?

White takes with the queen, and black attacks it with 12......Rb8. White safeguards the most valuable piece, and now 13.....Bb6, maybe with the intentions to attack the f2 pawn in the future. White brings its other knight into the game, and black too fianchetto's its light squared bishop. Its always said, " two bishops staring down at the opponent's king always make up a dangerous team ". 

15. Ne4! What it does is, it focuses on the d6 and f6 squares, with a pawn being the anchor of those squares. Remember 20. e5!! from the first game? Also, the d3 pawn is no longer protected by the queen. 15......Qf5? This lands black in trouble. White captures the pawn on d3, and black unpins the queen with 16.....Qh5. And now, the first sacrifice of the game. With black's king still in the center, Anderssen plays 17. Nf6+!?, black captures with the g - pawn, white captures with the e - pawn, which pins the e7 knight, and now, 18.....Rg8. Black has three pieces staring down at white's king, with white's f3 knight now being hanging. 

White brings its final piece into the game, and black plays.....Qxf3. Wait, did Anderssen blunder here? He is just one move away from getting mated! But then we remember that we are watching one of the best players of his generation play. Here's the start of the violent mating combination, which makes this game one of the most famous games of all time. 

Try solving the puzzle below, and the correct move is the move what white played next. 

Yes, 20. Rxe7+! 

A rook sacrifice! Black captures with the knight, and now, the most savage move of the game.

Try solving this puzzle to find out Anderssen's next move!

Yes, 21. Qxd7+!! Absolutely savage! White is forced to capture the queen, cause if 21.....Kf8 then 22. Qxe7#. 

Kxd7, and now 22. Bf5++. The king has only 2 possible squares,  c6 and e8. If Black plays 22.....Kc6, then 23. Bd7# and gets hunted by both the bishops, supported by the rook.. Black moves the king to e8, but nothing changes, except the win for white just delays for a bit. White plays 23. Bd7+, black's king has to go to f8, and Bxe7#, the bishops just hunt the black's king to death, anchored by the pawn on f6. Here's the full replay of how the game went : 

What an entertaining game! 

                                   CONCLUSION :

These 2 games are without a doubt, two of the best games from the 19th century. The brutal, violent sacrifices, mating combinations, take these games in the list of most famous games till date. Though, it's also true that in the mid 19th century, defensive techniques were not very well developed, and sacrifices tended to be readily excepted. Of course, everyone will have their own opinions on the games, but whether you agree of disagree, these games can hardly fail to give pleasure, instruction, and entertainment. 

And at last, a credit to the " MAMMOTH BOOK OF WORLD'S GREATEST CHESS GAMES ", which was used as a source for providing the info about the players. This will be an end to this blog.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 TO ALL!

Regards, 

@AstroTheoretical_Physics