LaviChess

The Immortal Game

A casual game between two players at a London tournament became one of the most famous games in chess. Adolf Anderssen gives away a bishop, both rooks and his queen, and still wins.

  • WhiteAdolf Anderssen
  • BlackLionel Kieseritzky
  • WhereLondon
  • WhenJune 21, 1851
  • EventCasual game, played during the London tournament of 1851
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningKing's Gambit Accepted, Bishop's Gambit (C33)
  • Length23 moves

In the summer of 1851, the world's first great international chess tournament was held in London. During a break in the tournament, two of the players, the German Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky, who lived in Paris, played a casual game that had nothing to do with the tournament. Nobody knows today exactly where they sat.

Kieseritzky lost, but he was so impressed that he sent the moves to his chess club in Paris. The game was published in the French magazine La Régence in July 1851. The name came four years later, when the Austrian Ernst Falkbeer called it the Immortal Game.

The players

Adolf Anderssen (1818–1879) was a mathematics teacher in Breslau, and he won the London tournament of 1851. After that win, many considered him the best player in the world. He is known for his bold attacks and sacrifices.

Lionel Kieseritzky (1806–1853) lived in France and gave chess lessons at the Café de la Régence in Paris, for five francs an hour. He was at his strongest when he gave weaker players a big handicap. Against masters, things went less well.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

abcdefgh87654321

Adolf Anderssen has the white pieces, Lionel Kieseritzky the black.

  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
  10. 10.
  11. 11.
  12. 12.
  13. 13.
  14. 14.
  15. 15.
  16. 16.
  17. 17.
  18. 18.
  19. 19.
  20. 20.
  21. 21.
  22. 22.
  23. 23.…
Open on the analysis board

Watch the game on the living board

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.

Play like AnderssenPlay like Kieseritzky

The moments that decided it

abcdefgh87654321
After 18.Bd6: both white rooks can be taken, and White doesn't care.
abcdefgh87654321
After 20.Ke2: Black is two rooks and a bishop up. Here Kieseritzky resigned, by his own account.

The end

abcdefgh87654321
The final position after 23.Be7#. White gave mate on move 23.

By Kieseritzky's own account, he resigned after 20.Ke2. An article by Friedrich Amelung from 1893 says that he probably played 20…Na6 and that Anderssen then announced the mate. The game is often given with the finish 20…Na6 21.Nxg7+ Kd8 22.Qf6+ Nxf6 23.Be7#, but the last moves are suspected never to have been played on the board.

Why the game is famous

The game is a textbook example of the Romantic chess of the 19th century, when bold attacks and sacrifices were valued more highly than careful defense. By today's standards both players made mistakes, but that matters less: White gives away a bishop, both rooks and the queen, and still wins.

The final position is beautiful in itself: all of White's minor pieces take part in the mate, and every square around the black king is shut off for exactly one reason. In 1996 the English chess writer Bill Hartston called the game an achievement “perhaps unparalleled in chess literature.”

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 e5 2. f4 The King's Gambit: White offers the f-pawn for quick development and an open f-file. It was one of the most popular openings of the 19th century. 2… exf4 3. Bc4 The Bishop's Gambit. It allows 3…Qh4+, so White loses the right to castle, but the queen also becomes a target once the knight comes to f3. 3… Qh4+ Check. White moves the king and can no longer castle. 4. Kf1 b5 The Bryan Countergambit, which Kieseritzky himself had analyzed. Black gives up a pawn to lure the bishop away. Today the move is not considered sound. 5. Bxb5 Nf6 6. Nf3 A developing move that also attacks the queen. Black has to move the queen again instead of developing. 6… Qh6 7. d3 Nh5 The knight threatens Ng3+ and protects the pawn on f4, but on the edge of the board it does little good. 8. Nh4 Qg5 9. Nf5 c6 Black chases the bishop on b5. 10. g4 Nf6 11. Rg1 White leaves the bishop where it is. If Black takes it, the queen gets shut in while White develops piece after piece. 11… cxb5 Black takes the bishop. The German grandmaster Robert Hübner has called this Black's decisive mistake. 12. h4 The pawn chases the queen, protected by the knight on f5. 12… Qg6 13. h5 Qg5 14. Qf3 Two threats: Bxf4, trapping the queen, and e5, attacking the knight on f6 and opening the queen's path to the rook on a8. 14… Ng8 Black parries the threats, but now every black piece except the queen is still on its starting square. 15. Bxf4 Qf6 16. Nc3 Bc5 A developing move that attacks the rook on g1. 17. Nd5 White answers with a counterattack: the queen is attacked, and Nc7+ threatens to fork king and rook. 17… Qxb2 Black takes a pawn and threatens to take the rook on a1 with check. 18. Bd6 The most famous move of the game. White lets both rooks go and thinks only of Black's king. Hübner has pointed out that White had safer ways to win, but this is the move that made the game immortal. 18… Bxg1 Black takes the first rook. In 1879 Wilhelm Steinitz suggested 18…Qxa1+ instead. 19. e5 A quiet move in the middle of the storm. The pawn blocks the diagonal so the queen can't defend the king, and White threatens Nxg7+ followed by Bc7#. 19… Qxa1+ The second rook falls, with check. 20. Ke2 Here Black's attack runs out. By Kieseritzky's own account, he resigned in this position. 20… Na6 This is how the game goes on in most versions. The knight covers c7. 21. Nxg7+ The knight captures with check, and the king is driven to d8. 21… Kd8 22. Qf6+ The queen is sacrificed too. If Black takes with the knight, it lets go of e7. After 22…Ne7 comes 23.Qxe7#. 22… Nxf6 23. Be7# Checkmate. White has given away a bishop, both rooks and the queen, and mates with the three minor pieces that are left: the bishop gives check, the knights shut the escape squares.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Casual game, played during the London tournament of 1851"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "1851.06.21"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Black "Lionel Kieseritzky"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C33"]

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

Download .pgn

Sources

  • Chessgames.com, Anderssen–Kieseritzky 1851
  • Wikipedia: Immortal Game
  • PGN Mentor, Anderssen.pgn

The moves compared move by move in three sources (Chessgames, Wikipedia, PGN Mentor): identical, 45 half-moves. The date, June 21, 1851, comes from Chessgames (its source: La Régence, July 1851). Wikipedia and Chessgames state that Kieseritzky, by his own account, resigned after 20.Ke2. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

All famous games

Updated November 6, 2026