- WhiteAdolf Anderssen
- BlackJean Dufresne
- Whereprobably Berlin
- When1852
- EventProbably a casual game
- Result1–0, White won
- OpeningEvans Gambit (C52)
- Length24 moves
The Evergreen Game was probably a casual game. It is usually thought to have been played in Berlin, where Jean Dufresne lived and where Adolf Anderssen often went, but when the game was published in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in September and October 1852, nothing was said about the circumstances.
As early as 1853, the English master Howard Staunton analyzed the game and concluded that Black was lost in every alternative on move 19 that he looked at. The name came later. When Anderssen died in 1879, Wilhelm Steinitz wrote a tribute in the English paper The Field, and of the move 19.Rad1 he wrote that it was “an evergreen in the laurel crown of the departed chess hero.”
The players
Adolf Anderssen (1818–1879) from Breslau was a mathematics teacher by profession. The year before, he had won the first great international tournament, in London in 1851, and many considered him the best player in the world. That same year he played the Immortal Game.
Jean Dufresne (1829–1893) was born and died in Berlin. He was a journalist and wrote several chess books. His Kleines Lehrbuch des Schachspiels from 1881, known in Germany as “the little Dufresne,” went through many editions and taught several generations to play. In a letter to Paul Dirac in 1929, the physicist Werner Heisenberg called it the best book on chess theory. Dufresne never reached Anderssen's class, but he was a strong player.
The game move by move
Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.
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Play like Anderssen
Guess the moves Anderssen played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.
The moments that decided it
The end
The first publication, in the Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1852, said only that White mates in four moves. It is unclear whether the mate 21.Qxd7+ Kxd7 22.Bf5+ Ke8 23.Bd7+ Kf8 24.Bxe7# was played on the board or only announced, which was common at the time. Some sources give 23…Kd8 instead of 23…Kf8, with the same mate.
Why the game is famous
This game and the Immortal Game are Anderssen's two most famous games. The finish, with a rook sacrifice, a queen sacrifice, a double check and mate with two bishops, still appears in chess books. Savielly Tartakower called it “a combination second to none in the literature of the game.”
What has kept the game evergreen for analysts too is 19.Rad1. Staunton, Lasker, Lipke, two Soviet analysts in the magazine 64 in the 1970s and Garry Kasparov have all had their say, and the question of what Black should have played on moves 19 and 20 has been argued over for more than a century.
The whole game with notes, as text
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 The Evans Gambit. White gives up a pawn to gain time for development. It was one of the most popular openings of the 19th century. Read more about the Evans Gambit. 4… Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 Black takes another pawn. A more solid choice, unknown to theory at the time, is 6…d6. 7. O-O d3 Dufresne's favorite move. Black doesn't take on c3, where White's knight would otherwise get its best square, and makes White spend a tempo taking the pawn. Today the move is considered worse than the alternatives. 8. Qb3 The queen and the bishop on c4 aim straight at f7. 8… Qf6 9. e5 The pawn can't be taken: after 9…Nxe5 10.Re1 White wins material on the e-file. 9… Qg6 10. Re1 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5 Instead of looking after his own position, Black gives a pawn back to bring his rook out on the b-file with tempo. Annotators have criticized the move. 12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 The queen attacks the bishop on a5. Black can't castle now: then 14.Bxe7 wins a piece, because the knight on c6 can't protect both e7 and the bishop. 13… Bb6 14. Nbd2 Bb7 According to the annotators, Black should have castled at once. 15. Ne4 Qf5 A move that loses time. Emanuel Lasker suggested 15…d2, although White is clearly better then too. 16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+ A dramatic knight sacrifice. Modern analysis shows that, objectively, it lets a won position slip to roughly equal. With 17.Ng3 White would have won material in a simpler way. 17… gxf6 18. exf6 Rg8 The rook goes to the open g-file and pins the pawn on g2 to White's king. 19. Rad1 The evergreen move. White ignores the hanging knight on f3 and sets a deep trap instead. In 1895 Emanuel Lasker called it “one of the most subtle and profound moves on record,” but he later changed his mind. Analysts have argued about it for more than a hundred years. 19… Qxf3 The German master Paul Lipke wrote in 1898 that nobody would have played anything else here. White can't take back with 20.gxf3, because the pawn on g2 is pinned, and Black threatens both f2 and g2. 20. Rxe7+ The rook sacrifice that starts the finish. 20… Nxe7 The natural move loses at once. With 20…Kd8 Black could have put up more resistance, but White still wins. 21. Qxd7+ Now the queen is sacrificed, with check. Black takes it. 21… Kxd7 22. Bf5+ Double check: the bishop on f5 and the rook on d1 give check at the same time. Both pieces can be taken, but in a double check only the king can move. 22… Ke8 23. Bd7+ Kf8 Some sources give 23…Kd8 instead. The mate is the same. 24. Bxe7# Checkmate. The bishop on e7 is protected by the pawn on f6, the bishop on d7 covers e8, and the pawn covers g7. White has two bishops and a rook left; Black has a queen, two rooks and two bishops.
PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Probably a casual game"] [Site "probably Berlin"] [Date "1852.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Adolf Anderssen"] [Black "Jean Dufresne"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C52"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d3 8. Qb3 Qf6 9. e5 Qg6 10. Re1 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5 12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 Bb6 14. Nbd2 Bb7 15. Ne4 Qf5 16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+ gxf6 18. exf6 Rg8 19. Rad1 Qxf3 20. Rxe7+ Nxe7 21. Qxd7+ Kxd7 22. Bf5+ Ke8 23. Bd7+ Kf8 24. Bxe7# 1-0
Sources
- Wikipedia: Evergreen Game
- PGN Mentor, Anderssen.pgn
- Chessgames.com, Anderssen–Dufresne 1852
Wikipedia and PGN Mentor are identical move by move (47 half-moves). Chessgames has the same first 40 half-moves and stops at 20…Nxe7, with a note that the finish was given in the Schachzeitung's October 1852 issue. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.
Updated November 6, 2026
Adolf Anderssen has the white pieces, Jean Dufresne the black.