The games with names
These games have names, and all of them can be played through on this site.
| The name | The game | Where the name comes from |
|---|---|---|
| The Immortal Game | Anderssen vs. Kieseritzky, London 1851 | the Austrian Ernst Falkbeer, four years later |
| The Evergreen Game | Anderssen vs. Dufresne, probably Berlin 1852 | Wilhelm Steinitz, who in 1879 called the move 19.Rad1 an evergreen in Anderssen's laurel wreath |
| The Opera Game | Morphy vs. the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, Paris 1858 | the place: a box at the opera, during the performance |
| The Game of the Century | Donald Byrne vs. Bobby Fischer, New York 1956 | Hans Kmoch, in the magazine Chess Review |
| Kasparov's Immortal | Kasparov vs. Topalov, Wijk aan Zee 1999 | Anderssen's Immortal Game |
According to Kieseritzky's own report, he resigned a few moves earlier, so it isn't certain that the mate was played on the board.
Famous for other reasons
Other games are famous for what they meant. In game six in 1997, the computer Deep Blue beat world champion Garry Kasparov, and with it won a match against a reigning world champion at regular tournament time controls for the first time. Bobby Fischer played the Queen's Gambit for the first time in a serious game in the 1972 world championship match, and when the game was over his opponent, Boris Spassky, applauded.
There's more about the players in all of these games among the great chess players.
Choose for yourself
Which game is the most famous can't be worked out. You can play through all the famous games on this site, move by move with explanations, and make up your own mind.
Sources
- The game pages on this site and their sources: the Immortal Game, the Evergreen Game, the Opera Game, the Game of the Century, Kasparov vs. Topalov 1999, Deep Blue vs. Kasparov 1997, Fischer vs. Spassky 1972
- Every game's moves are checked by chess.js and compared across several sources (see the game pages)
The facts on this page come from the sources above and, where possible, were checked across several sources. Where the sources disagree, we say less or say what each one says. A number that is an estimate says whose it is, and a counted number comes with its date.
Updated November 14, 2026