Questions tagged [famous-games]
Certain games are famous and well known among chess players, e.g. the Immortal game.
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A game I might have read about, Kasparov had to analyse an opening line from scratch and ended up winning anyway?
If my memory isn't tricking me, didn't Kasparov once get a game where early in the opening he didn't know the line, so he sat down for 45 minutes and worked out that the best move is Qc7, and went on ...
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Have any full rank-and-file piece specifications ever been required in a masters level game of chess?
According to the rules of algebraic notation, in order for a move to be recorded with rank and file for both starting and ending square (eg, Be5f4), there would need to be, at a minimum:
three pieces ...
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King and three knights vs king․
Is there any recorded official game in history where the king and three knights play against the lone king in the endgame?
I know it can be a very rare case where in practice both knights stay until ...
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Queen corner round trip
In "The Ink War", Hendriks "complained" that in some game,
during the Zukertort manouvre Q-e8-h8-a1-h1 the bQ didn't start at a8.
Do you know a game with a Q corner round trip in ...
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Where to find the game "Brauner-Sollig Hildesheim 2001"
In a lesson from learningchess.net they presented this game. The blunder is so big that I wanted to check more about this game, but I cannot find anything online.
Brauner-Sollig Hildesheim 2001
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Chess Match Neustadtl-Porges 1901 Prague
Where can I get the full list of moves in the match between Hermann Neustadtl and Moritz Porges played in Prague in 1901?
I want the moves from the whole match, not just the famous endgame analysis.
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Why is "The Seventh Seal" called so?
I just found the following game
[Title "Carlos Torre vs Emmanuel Lasker, Moscow 1925"]
[FEN ""]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bg5 c5 4. e3 cxd4 5. exd4 Be7 6. Nbd2 d6 7. c3 Nbd7 8. Bd3 ...
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What is the longest string of moves by one side on one color of the board?
This game was dubbed "White Key Symphony" by chessgames.com for the fact that Karpov made moves on only light squares for 18 moves in a row.
Is this still the record for the light squares, ...
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Has simultaneous partial queen pinning, besides mutual queen pins, happened in a master game?
In a 3+0 blitz game, this humorous position arose. Have such mutual partial pins, wherein both players pin the others queen to their king, occurred in master games?
[FEN "r3k2r/1ppb1ppp/p2bqn2/...
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Positions where pawn promotion to queen is worse than to other piece
I'm looking for games from famous grandmasters, in which pawn promotion to a rook, a bishop, or a knight is a better move than queen promotion. I tried to Google some, but I couldn't find anything.
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How rare are double forks in high-level games?
I was playing a blitz game, when I saw my chance to produce an amusing position, to which my opponent unknowingly obliged; I was able to fork their rooks with my queen and rook simultaneously.
[Title &...
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Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling queenside in a high-level game?
This is to complement the kingside variant of that question
Has checkmate ever been achieved by a castling queen side in a high-level game?
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What happened actually in the game Kreschmer - Laue, Aisenach 1951?
[Title "Kretschmar vs. Laue, 1951"]
[fen "7k/3R2pq/pb3N2/1p4Qp/5p2/1PP2P1P/1P4PK/4r3 w - - 0 1"]
In a German book, Spass am Kombinieren (Joy of Combination) by Albin Pötzsch, it ...
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Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling kingside in a high-level game?
Has checkmate ever been achieved by castling kingside in a high-level game?
I asked an AI large language model, but it listed games which certainly didn't achieve checkmate with castling kingside. I ...
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Most "heavy" model mate in a game
A model mate, to recall, is a mate where
a) any flight (including the standing place) of the enemy king is attacked exactly once;
b) no friendly piece (except king and pawns) idles around.
c) (...
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Early recorded games (before 1600)
Do we have examples of recorded chess games from 1600 or before? A game where all the moves were written down. It would be interesting to see such a record.
This question was inspired by Was not ...
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Has O-O ever been played without moving the e or g pawns?
Normally the e or g pawn must be moved (to release the bishop) before castling kingside is possible. However, it’s theoretically possible for a knight to have taken the bishop without these pawns ever ...
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In which tournament did Karpov play his first move with white pieces and offer a draw?
It had to have happened in the 90s, but I can't remember either the tournament or Karpov's opponent (probably some Spanish tournament, like Linares or Dos Hermanas). Karpov was upset with the ...
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Inspired by Ding's victory over Rapport in round 10th of 2022 Candidate's tournament; victories with a piece not moving at all
So in round 10th of the 2022 Candidate's tournament, Ding beat Rapport, and at the moment of resignation (move 55!), Ding's c8 bishop had not moved from its original square during the whole game.
So I ...
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Game in James Bond film "From Russia with love"
The beginning of the James Bond film From Russia with love (1963) portrays the end of a game between the fictional characters Kronsteen (Czechoslovakia) and Macadams (Canada) in the last and decisive ...
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Was White's last move actually Ne1?
[FEN ""]
[Event "Ubeda op 6th"]
[Site "Ubeda"]
[Date "2001.01.25"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Comas ...
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Black beginning (specifically, the Immortal)
By CPT (or better: the Chess version thereof) if a game is opened by Black, you can transpose it to the standard version (by swapping board, colors and move rights) and there is no visible difference. ...
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Is today's World Championship game the first with a symmetrical position and one file completely occupied?
After 8 moves in the 8th game between Carlsen and Nepomniatchi this position was reached.
[FEN "r2qk2r/pppb1ppp/3b4/3p4/3P4/3B4/PPPB1PPP/R2QK2R w - - 0 1"]
The position is perfectly ...
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Did Geller resign in a drawn position vs Spassky in a 1959 game?
Did Geller resign in a drawn position vs Spassky in 1959? Or could White win? Here is the famous controversial position, Black to move.
[FEN "6k1/6p1/7p/7P/2q1B1P1/Kp3P2/1B6/2N5 b - - 0 1"]
[...
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Has a "resignation blunder" ever been refused?
I was reading the question Has there been any blunders in resignation? and it occurred to me that a particularly good sportsman might refuse to accept an opponent's resignation if they knew the ...
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Have there been any blunders in resignation?
We know that despite what is shown in the movies and such, most chess games don't end by a "checkmate" move and oftentimes one side realizes that they are losing and resigns before the end. ...
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What is the most number of blunders in a 2100+ game?
Obviously any move (starting at a given position) may be a blunder, see Kh3 Ra4 Nf5 - Kh1 Rf2 where both sides may miss a mate in one until kingdom come. It might be amusing to watch two engines ...
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Why did Kasparov resign at 19. c4 in game 6 of the 1997 Deep Blue match?
The game is justifiably famous and is linked here.
[Date "1997.05.11"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Deep Blue"]
[Black "Kasparov"]
[FEN ""]
[startply "39&...
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Have there been brilliancy prizes awarded to the losing player?
Have there been brilliancy prizes awarded to the losing player? Preferably, it would be at a grandmaster level.
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Seeking a transcript of Hope vs. Fischer, 1972
On one of Bob Hope's television specials in 1972, Bobby Fischer appeared with him in a skit about himself (Fischer). The two also sat down at a board and sort-of played a game. (The moves were not all ...
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A certain game with a knight promotion checkmate
I once remember (this happened 2-3 years ago) one of my friends showing me a game that was about 20 moves long. It was maybe a little longer, but it definitely ended in the middle game. It ended with ...
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Harry Potter Chess Analysis
So, I've been reading Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone. If you haven't read the book yet, or watched the movie, and you don't want any spoilers, stop reading this question. Continuing, there ...
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Is holding the opponent's captured pieces legal or allowed?
There was a controversial finish in a Canadian championship, where an opponent [un]knowingly held the queen of the other player. The [victimised] player wanted to promote his pawn to queen, but couldn'...
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What is the legend of Ossip Bernstein, who supposedly played chess to save his life?
Wikipedia article reads as following:
A famous story goes that in 1918, after the October Revolution, Bernstein was arrested in Odessa by the Cheka (Bolshevik secret police). He was ordered to be ...
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Famous grandmaster games of "torturous" winning or flaunting out of arrogance?
I was originally wondering why we don't see more torturous type of games among masters. For example, instead of proceeding to checkmate, the player in control methodically takes all pieces of his ...
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In "The Queen's gambit" were there any famous games played?
Throughout "The Queen's Gambit" (Netflix) we see games at an advanced stage (after the opening).
And while the characters are fictitious, the show being set in the 1960s (Beth adult), Benny ...
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World championship games where underpromotion was necessary
I have been frequenting tactics puzzles and a few books over the past year. I come across these underpromotion puzzles frequently, however, I never find them in real games.
Has there ever been a ...
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Latest time to castle in a tournament game
In a casual game I played, my opponent castled around the 80th move. I want to know what was the latest move in which a player has castled, in an official game. I don’t think that there is an entry ...
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A position with the only legal move resulting in checkmate
Theoretically, is it possible that for some position, the only legal move for a side leads to a checkmate (that is, the opposite king gets checkmated)? If so, has this ever occurred in a real game?
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Most pins in a chess game
I've looked at a few chess games on ChessBase that have a lot of pins, and I am wondering, what is the most number of pins that has occurred in a game, and what is the game?
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Finding a Kasparov Game
I remember seeing a Kasparov game, where Black played a classical bishop sacrifice. He was playing against a computer, and I'm pretty sure it was Deep Junior. I have tried to find this game, but it ...
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Finding a Seirawan game
I am looking for a game played by Seirawan. I remember in the position that Black was heading for a Botvinnik formation(c5 and e5 but without d6 yet), and White had sacrificed a knight on e5 for an ...
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Shortest stalemate in serious tournament game
I am looking for the shortest stalemate that has occurred in a serious chess game (there were no agreements between the players). So far, I have found only compositions, but is there a real game where ...
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Where can I find this game with a sacrifice followed by a long series of checks leading to a discovered mate? [duplicate]
I am looking for a chess game and frankly, I really know very little about it. I remember seeing it somewhere on the Internet.
The game goes something like this. A player (either White or Black) ...
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Games with consecutive en passants
Games with consecutive en passants, that is one side makes two en passats captures in a row, are few and far between to my knowlegde. I only know of one example thanks to Tim Krabbe.
Kudrin-R Douven, ...
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Looking for a historic chess game
I'm looking for an historic chess game, and I don't remember if Capablanca or Kasparov played it. In it, both queens are face to face and neither let pass the other one, for almost 7 or 10 movements, ...
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Looking for the complete game score of Vlastimil Jansa-Istvan Bilek, Rubinstein Memorial 1968
I am looking for the complete score of the game Vlastimil Jansa versus Istvan Bilek, Polanica-Zdoj, Rubinstein Memorial 1968.
Here are the first 20 moves of this Sicilian Dragon-Yugoslav Attack game ...
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Soltis's best chess game of the 20th century
In Andrew Soltis's book The 100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century, Ranked, his number 1 game is a correspondence game between Yakov Estrin and Hans Berliner, from the 1965–1968 World ...
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Games with three en passants
Games with two en passants in them are are uncommon, and games with three are exceeding rare, and four has never been achieved as far as I know.
I only know of four games with three en passant ...
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The difficulty of finding the exact losing move
Are there examples of chess games where the exact losing move has been found only with the help of engines?
Better still, games where the exact losing move cannot be found even by the best current ...
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