Notable Games
Larry Christiansen
13 celebrated games · 723 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Christiansen – Meyer · 1977 · 1–0
A 26-move Sicilian Kan miniature at Lone Pine 1977, finished with the queen sacrifice 25.Qxh5! against a helpless king; Christiansen took the tournament brilliancy prize for it.
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Christiansen – Reshevsky · 1977 · 1–0
A 28-move Najdorf attacking win over veteran Samuel Reshevsky at the 1977 U.S. Championship in the year Christiansen earned the grandmaster title.
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Christiansen – Bisguier · 1977 · 1–0
A hard-fought win over Arthur Bisguier at Lone Pine 1977, which Christiansen chose to open the attacking anthology in his book Storming the Barricades.
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Christiansen – Seirawan · 1978 · 1–0
"Merry Christiansen": a Pirc Defense king-hunt against Yasser Seirawan in 1978, sealed by the rook sacrifice 29.Rxh6! and a march up the h-file, later chosen as a chessgames.com Game of the Day.
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Christiansen – Michaelides · 1980 · 1–0
A Closed Sicilian attacking win over Evan Michaelides at Lone Pine 1980, featured among the model attacks in Christiansen's book Storming the Barricades.
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Christiansen – Spassky · 1981 · 1–0
A Queen's Gambit Declined win over former World Champion Boris Spassky in round one at Linares 1981, the strong event Christiansen shared first with Anatoly Karpov.
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Christiansen – Portisch · 1981 · 1–0
An English Opening win over Lajos Portisch at Linares 1981, driving the black king up the board to 30...Kxh5 31.Qf7+; one of Christiansen's showcase attacking games.
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Christiansen – De Firmian · 1985 · 1–0
A grinding 77-move win over rival Nick de Firmian at the 1985 U.S. Championship, converted all the way to checkmate.
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Christiansen – Nunn · 1989 · 1–0
A 20-move Ruy Lopez miniature that crushes attacking grandmaster John Nunn, ending abruptly with 20.Nxf7+ at the 1989 German Cup in Cologne.
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Christiansen – Polugaevsky · 1993 · 1–0
A sharp 24-move Queen's Indian win over the great Lev Polugaevsky at Antwerp 1993, decided by a knight fork on e7.
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Christiansen – Karpov · 1993 · 1–0
The famous 12-move upset of former World Champion Anatoly Karpov at Wijk aan Zee 1993: after 11...Bd6?? the quiet retreat 12.Qd1! traps the knight on h5 and Karpov resigned.
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Christiansen – Wojtkiewicz · 2006 · 1–0
"Larry Fine": a 23-move Sicilian Sozin brilliancy over Aleksander Wojtkiewicz at the 2006 U.S. Championship, launched by the sacrifice 13.Bxe6; a chessgames.com Game of the Day.
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Christiansen – Zivanic · 2008 · 1–0
A Taimanov Sicilian attacking win over Marko Zivanic at the 2008 U.S. team final, one of Christiansen's listed notable games.
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