LaviChess

Steinitz vs. von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895

Former world champion Wilhelm Steinitz leaves all his pieces where they can be taken, then chases the black king with a rook that Black can't capture. Curt von Bardeleben never resigned. He walked away from the board and let his time run out.

  • WhiteWilhelm Steinitz
  • BlackCurt von Bardeleben
  • WhereHastings
  • WhenAugust 17, 1895
  • EventHastings 1895, round 10
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningItalian Game, Giuoco Piano (C54)
  • Length25 moves

In the summer of 1895, nearly all the world's best players gathered in the English seaside town of Hastings. The tournament ran from August 5 to September 2, and each of the 22 players met every other player once. It is counted among the strongest tournaments of the 19th century.

The game between Wilhelm Steinitz and Curt von Bardeleben was played in the tenth round, on August 17. It was very hot, the tournament book notes. Von Bardeleben hadn't lost a game in the tournament until then.

The tournament was a surprise win for the young American Harry Nelson Pillsbury, ahead of Mikhail Chigorin and world champion Emanuel Lasker. Steinitz finished fifth and von Bardeleben seventh. According to the magazine The Chess Monthly, von Bardeleben was so downcast after his loss to Steinitz that he would have left the tournament if he hadn't been talked into staying.

The players

Wilhelm Steinitz (1836–1900) was born in Prague and became the first official world champion. He held the title from 1886 to 1894, when he lost it to Emanuel Lasker. Steinitz showed that patient, positional play could beat the wild attacks that were in fashion, and the next generation of masters acknowledged what they had learned from him. He lost no match for 32 years, but lived in poverty all his life. At Hastings he was 59.

Curt von Bardeleben (1861–1924) was a German master and journalist from a noble family, born in Berlin. He shared first place at Leipzig 1888 and Kiel 1893, and edited the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung from 1887 to 1891. At Hastings he beat world champion Lasker.

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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Wilhelm Steinitz has the white pieces, Curt von Bardeleben the black.

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Play like Steinitz

Guess the moves Steinitz 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 SteinitzPlay like von Bardeleben

The moments that decided it

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After 17.d5: White gives up a pawn to open lines against the king in the center.
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After 22.Rxe7+: all four white pieces can be taken, but Black can't take any of them without losing.
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After 24.Rg7+: the rook checks again. If the king takes it, the black queen falls.

The end

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The final position after 25.Rxh7+. Black's time ran out.

Von Bardeleben never resigned. According to W.H.K. Pollock, who played in the tournament himself, he left the board after 25.Rxh7+ without resigning, and Steinitz was awarded the win when the time ran out. Afterward von Bardeleben explained to Steinitz that he had wanted to protest against the audience applauding the winners. One of the tournament's stewards recalled much later that Steinitz had to wait fifty minutes and then showed the spectators how he won in every variation. After 25…Kg8 26.Rg7+ Kh8 it is mate in nine moves: 27.Qh4+ Kxg7 28.Qh7+ Kf8 29.Qh8+ Ke7 30.Qg7+ Ke8 31.Qg8+ Ke7 32.Qf7+ Kd8 33.Qf8+ Qe8 34.Nf7+ Kd7 35.Qd6#. Black can avoid the mate only by giving up his queen.

Why the game is famous

The game won the tournament's first brilliancy prize. When Steinitz plays 22.Rxe7+, all his pieces can be taken, and yet Black can't take any of them. Then the rook gives check after check right in front of the black king, and Black has no good way to take it.

The ending has grown more and more dramatic in the retelling. The chess historian Edward Winter has gone through the sources from 1895, and they contain no scandal: the local papers in Hastings just gave the moves, and Pollock's short note is the oldest description of how the game ended. So one of the most famous games in chess has no resignation at all, just an empty chair and a clock that kept running.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 White prepares d4 to build a pawn center. The opening is called the Giuoco Piano, Italian for “the quiet game.” 4… Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ Check. White can trade bishops with 7.Bd2 or block with the knight, 7.Nc3, and leave the pawn on e4 to be taken. Steinitz chooses the latter. 7. Nc3 d5 Black doesn't take the pawn but strikes back in the center. 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. O-O Be6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bxd5 Three pairs of minor pieces are traded in three moves. What is left is an open e-file, and Black's king stands on it. 11… Bxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Re1 The knight on e7 is pinned to the king. If Black castles, the rook takes the knight. 14… f6 15. Qe2 Qd7 16. Rac1 c6 A mistake, according to later analysis. With 16…Kf7 Black would have stepped out of the pin and could have brought the rook from h8 into play. 17. d5 A pawn sacrifice. White opens lines against the king, which is still in the center. 17… cxd5 18. Nd4 Kf7 The king leaves the e-file, so the knight is no longer pinned. 19. Ne6 The knight breaks in on e6, in the middle of Black's camp. 19… Rhc8 20. Qg4 The queen threatens Qxg7+. 20… g6 21. Ng5+ Check. The knight can't be taken: after 21…fxg5 the queen on g4 takes the black queen on d7. 21… Ke8 22. Rxe7+ The famous move. Now all four white pieces can be taken: the rook on e7, the queen on g4, the knight on g5 and the rook on c1. Black is in check and has four moves. 22…Qxe7 and 22…Kxe7 lose material, and 22…Kd8 walks into 23.Qxd7#. 22… Kf8 Now Black threatens …Rxc1+ himself. White has to keep giving check. 23. Rf7+ The king can't take the rook, because the knight on g5 protects f7. 23… Kg8 24. Rg7+ Now the king can take, but after 24…Kxg7 the queen takes Black's queen on d7 with check. 24… Kh8 25. Rxh7+ The rook takes a pawn with check, and the knight protects h7. Here von Bardeleben left the board. He never came back.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Hastings 1895, round 10"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1895.08.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Wilhelm Steinitz"]
[Black "Curt von Bardeleben"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C54"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. O-O Be6 10. Bg5 Be7 11. Bxd5 Bxd5 12. Nxd5 Qxd5 13. Bxe7 Nxe7 14. Re1 f6 15. Qe2 Qd7 16. Rac1 c6 17. d5 cxd5 18. Nd4 Kf7 19. Ne6 Rhc8 20. Qg4 g6 21. Ng5+ Ke8 22. Rxe7+ Kf8 23. Rf7+ Kg8 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Rxh7+ 1-0

Download .pgn

Sources

  • Chessgames.com, Steinitz–von Bardeleben 1895
  • PGN Mentor, Steinitz.pgn
  • Wikipedia: Hastings 1895 chess tournament
  • Edward Winter: Steinitz v von Bardeleben

The moves compared in four sources (Chessgames, PGN Mentor, Wikipedia, Edward Winter): identical, 49 half-moves. The date and round from Chessgames, Wikipedia and Winter. How the game ended, without Black resigning, from W.H.K. Pollock's notes of 1895, quoted by Winter. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 6, 2026