Notable Games
Adolf Anderssen
15 celebrated games · 491 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Mayet – Anderssen · 1851 · 0–1
A twelve-move Berlin miniature and one of Anderssen's shortest brilliancies: in the Ruy Lopez he answers 6.O-O with the ...h5/...Bg4 storm, and after 8...hxg4 9.Nxe5 g3 the sacrifices crash in — 11...Bxd4 and 12...Bxf2+ win Carl Mayet's queen (13.Rxf2 Qd1+).
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Anderssen – Kieseritzky · 1851 · 1–0
The Immortal Game — a casual encounter beside the first international tournament, London 1851. In the King's Gambit (Bishop's Gambit) Anderssen gives up a bishop, then both rooks (18.Bd6!, 19.e5) and finally his queen (22.Qf6+!) to mate with three minor pieces, 23.Be7#. Ernst Falkbeer's 1855 name has stuck ever since.
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Anderssen – Staunton · 1851 · 1–0
London 1851, the first international tournament: a win from Anderssen's 4–1 defeat of Howard Staunton — the event's organiser and pre-tournament favourite — on the road to the title that made him the world's leading player. Doubled rooks on the h-file (20.Rh5, 24.Rxh7) break Black down.
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Anderssen – Dufresne · 1852 · 1–0
The Evergreen Game, Berlin 1852 — an Evans Gambit friendly. After 17.Nf6+! Anderssen unwinds one of the deepest combinations of the era: 19.Rad1!, 20.Rxe7+ and the queen sacrifice 21.Qxd7+!! Kxd7 22.Bf5+, mating with 24.Bxe7#. Steinitz dubbed it the evergreen in Anderssen's laurel wreath.
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Anderssen – Morphy · 1858 · 1–0
Paris 1858: the game in which Anderssen unveiled 1.a3 — ever since known as Anderssen's Opening — and ground down Paul Morphy over 77 moves. Morphy took the match +7−2=2, but this was one of only two games he lost in it, and beating the great American was a rare feat.
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Anderssen – Suhle · 1860 · 1–0
Breslau 1860, a crisp nineteen-move Evans Gambit: Anderssen's pieces swarm the kingside and 19.Nf5 wins material with 20.Qh6 mating to follow — Berthold Suhle resigns. A model of the gambit Anderssen played more than any other.
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Anderssen – Steinitz · 1862 · 1–0
London 1862 — the first all-play-all tournament, which Anderssen won ahead of the field. Here he beats a debuting Wilhelm Steinitz, the future first World Champion (who finished sixth): a Ruy Lopez Berlin in which the passed c-pawn promotes, 17.c7 and 18.cxb8=Q, and Anderssen converts the extra material.
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Rosanes – Anderssen · 1862 · 0–1
Breslau 1862, Anderssen with Black in the Falkbeer Countergambit — the line here carries his name, the "Anderssen Attack." He finishes with the thunderbolt 17...Qxb3! 18.axb3 Rxb3, and 19...Be3+ leaves Jacob Rosanes helpless.
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Rosanes – Anderssen · 1863 · 0–1
Breslau 1863, one of Anderssen's loveliest wins with Black: in the King's Gambit (Kieseritzky, "Anderssen Defence") he offers his queen, 20...Qf1+!! 21.Qxf1 Bxd4+ 22.Be3 Rxe3, and mates with 23...Re1#.
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Anderssen – Schallopp · 1864 · 1–0
A fourteen-move miniature in the Falkbeer Countergambit: Anderssen offers his queen with 13.Qxe4+!, and after 13...Nxe4 the quiet 14.Bxf7# ends it — a favourite illustration of a romantic-era mating net.
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Anderssen – Zukertort · 1869 · 1–0
Barmen 1869 (the 8th West German Congress): an Evans Gambit against the young Johannes Zukertort. Anderssen's kingside pawn-storm and piece build-up (18.Nf5, 20.g4, 23.g5) tear open the black king, and after 27.fxg7+ the attack finishes with 29.Qxh7+.
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Anderssen – Steinitz · 1870 · 1–0
Baden-Baden 1870 — Anderssen's last great tournament triumph at 52, won ahead of Steinitz and Blackburne. This Evans Gambit win over Steinitz, the future first World Champion, opens with 14.Nf6+ and a sustained attack the champion-to-be cannot hold.
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Anderssen – Rosenthal · 1873 · 1–0
Vienna 1873: a seventeen-move Evans Gambit miniature against Samuel Rosenthal — 15.Qa3+ drives the king forward and 16.Nf6+! gxf6 17.exf6+ forces a decisive discovered attack, Rosenthal resigning.
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Anderssen – Paulsen · 1873 · 1–0
Vienna 1873, the other side of Anderssen's chess: not a gambit but a patient Philidor Exchange, won by long-range piece play and a kingside pawn advance (g4–f4–h4–g5) that swells into a mating attack (34.Nef6+, 36.Rxh7+) before a clean endgame — a reminder that "the Romantic" was also a fine positional player.
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Riemann – Anderssen · 1876 · 0–1
Breslau 1876 — a late brilliancy at 58, Anderssen with Black in the King's Gambit (Bishop's Gambit) against the young Fritz Riemann: 12...Qxf3+! 13.gxf3 Bh3+ launches a king-hunt that ends 14...Bh4+ 15.Kg1 Re1+ 16.Qf1 Rxf1#.
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