We’ve been on the ‘serious chess’ train for the last few weeks. There’s good reason to consider ‘high-level quality of play under tournament conditions’ to be a qualifier when considering which are the very greatest games … and yet the fact remains that some of the most remarkable battles ever seen on a chessboard were off-hand games where some Genius Chess Master gives a relative patzer a good slapping.
“The Immortal” is one of these, being played at London’s Simpsons in the Strand one evening whilst the great tournament of 1851 was being held elsewhere during the day.
If sacrificing both rooks and queen to deliver mate isn’t reason enough for inclusion on a ‘Greatest Ever’ list, the fact it made it into Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner surely is.
Anderssen - Kieseritzky,
London 1851
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 Qxa1
19 Ke2 Bxg1
20 e5 Na6
If you haven’t seen this game before and you can find the mate in three from here you are very much a better man than I.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
21 Nxg7+ Kd8
22 Qf6+ Nxf6
23 Be7 checkmate.
BONUS QUESTIONS
BQ1: Kiesteritzky’s 7 … Nh5 looks - and is - odd. What is Black’s immediate threat after this move?
BQ2: What is Anderssen’s immediate threat after 14 Qf3?
BQ3a: How does White give mate in two after 19 … Qxg1 instead of 18 … Bxg1?
BQ3b: How does White give mate in four after 18 … Bxd6?
Well that took me a long time to figure out but I got it! What a finish! 🙏