The Immortal Game: Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, London 1851

Why this game still matters

In the summer of 1851 London hosted the first international chess tournament, and the German mathematics teacher Adolf Anderssen won it. Between the official rounds the strongest players met for casual games, and one of those, against the Paris-based master Lionel Kieseritzky, became the most retold game in chess history.

The final position is the reason. White has given away both rooks, a bishop and the queen. Black still has almost his whole army. Yet the black king is checkmated by two knights and one bishop. Players have called it the Immortal Game ever since.

Today an engine will tell you that neither side played perfectly. That does not reduce its value. The game is a lesson in a single idea that every club player needs: material only counts if it can take part in the fight.

The full game

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 Bxg1 19.e5 Qxa1+ 20.Ke2 Na6 21.Nxg7+ Kd8 22.Qf6+ Nxf6 23.Be7# 1-0

The opening: a King's Gambit with a twist

Anderssen opened with the King's Gambit, offering the f-pawn on move two. After 3.Bc4 (the Bishop's Gambit) Black gives a check with 3...Qh4+, and White's king has to step to f1. That looks awkward, but in this line it is normal: White loses the right to castle, while Black's queen is out early and can be chased.

Kieseritzky then played 4...b5, the Bryan Countergambit, giving a pawn back to pull the white bishop away from the attack on f7. Both players are already treating pawns as small change. What they want is time, open lines and active pieces.

Moves 6 to 11: chasing the queen

From move six onwards a pattern repeats. White develops with tempo and the black queen keeps running. 6.Nf3 hits it, 8.Nh4 and 9.Nf5 bring a knight to a strong square, and 10.g4 pushes the black knight away. Every white move does something; many black moves only answer a threat.

Look at the position after Black's eleventh move.

Black has taken the bishop and is a full piece ahead. But count the developed pieces. White has a knight on f5 and a rook ready on the g-file; Black has a queen that keeps getting hit and pieces still at home on b8, c8 and f8. Anderssen now uses his kingside pawns as attackers: 12.h4 and 13.h5 push the queen back again, and 14.Qf3 joins the attack, preparing 15.Bxf4 with another hit on the black queen.

Moves 15 to 18: the first sacrifices

14...Ng8 retreats the knight to protect f6 and make room, and after 15.Bxf4 Qf6 16.Nc3 Bc5 White plays 17.Nd5, attacking the queen and eyeing c7.

Black grabs the pawn on b2 with 17...Qxb2, threatening to win the rook on a1 with check. What does White do? Nothing to save it. With 18.Bd6 Anderssen also offers the rook on g1.

The idea of 18.Bd6 is to take the f8 and e7 squares away from the black king and to cut the bishop on c5 off from the defence. Kieseritzky accepted with 18...Bxg1, and now both rooks are on offer.

Moves 19 to 21: closing the net

19.e5! is the quiet move that decides the game. It blocks the black queen's diagonal back to the kingside, so she can no longer help defend g7 or f6. Black takes the second rook with 19...Qxa1+, the king steps to e2, and Black is a huge amount of material ahead.

But look at the board from the black king's point of view. The knights on f5 and d5 and the bishop on d6 control a cage of squares around e8. 20...Na6 tries to cover c7, and then 21.Nxg7+ drives the king to d8.

The finish: 22.Qf6+!!

Here comes the last offer. 22.Qf6+ gives up the queen. Black has to take with 22...Nxf6, because the king has no other square that works. Then 23.Be7# is mate.

Check each escape square yourself. The bishop on e7 gives the check, and the knight on d5 protects it, so the king cannot take it. The same knight covers c7, and the knight on g7 covers e8. The other squares are blocked by Black's own pieces on c8 and d7. Black still has a queen, two rooks, two bishops and two knights, and none of them can do anything.

What modern analysis says

Engines have shown that Black had better defences at several points, and that some of White's choices, including 18.Bd6, were not the strongest moves objectively. In the actual game, though, Black's decision to keep taking material gave White exactly the time he needed. That is a useful lesson in itself: in a sharp position, a single greedy capture can be the losing move even when it wins a rook.

Lessons for your own games

1. Development beats material in open positions. Black was ahead in material for most of the game, but behind in active pieces the whole time.
2. Every move with tempo counts. Moves like 6.Nf3, 8.Nh4, 12.h4 and 13.h5 developed or gained space while hitting the queen.
3. Quiet moves can be the strongest. 19.e5 captures nothing and gives no check, yet it cuts Black's queen out of the game.
4. Count attackers and defenders near the king, not the total material on the board.

Try it yourself

Set up the position after 21...Kd8 on the analysis board and look for the mate before reading the solution again. Then paste the full game into game review and see which moves the engine marks as brilliant and which as mistakes. If you want to play the King's Gambit yourself, start with the opening trainer, and test your attacking eye with puzzles. There is also a short video section where famous games are walked through move by move.

Published 2026-11-01 · 22Softwares