ChessTerra.com

The Original Immortal Game

September 1, 2017 ChessTerra Chess Lectures

♛

Agadmator on the game that started it all

Before the Evergreen Game, before Morphy's Opera Game, there was the original: Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, London 1851. Agadmator walks through "The Immortal Game" move by move.

The game

It opens with a King's Gambit Accepted, specifically the Bishop's Gambit with the Bryan Countergambit (ECO C33). Kieseritzky greedily takes material; Anderssen keeps developing and attacking. The critical moment is 18...Bxg1, which Wilhelm Steinitz, the first official World Champion, later identified as the move where Black's defeat began. From there Anderssen sacrifices both rooks and his queen and mates with three minor pieces.

Who should watch

Every chess fan should know this game. Agadmator's relaxed, story-first style makes it an easy way in, whether you're new to chess or revisiting a classic.

Quick answers

When was the Immortal Game played?: 21 June 1851, in London.
Which move did Steinitz criticize?: Black's 18...Bxg1.

Another breakdown of the same game: The Immortal Game.

Ready to play?

Play and learn chess for free on Chess.com

Play on Chess.com →

#agadmator Adolf Anderssen vs Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritzky
“The Immortal Game” (game of the day Sep-05-2007)
London (1851), London ENG, Jun-21
King’s Gambit: Accepted. Bishop’s Gambit Bryan Countergambit (C33)

1. e4 e5 2. f4 ef4 3. Bc4 Qh4 4. Kf1 b5 5. Bb5 Nf6 6. Nf3 Qh6 7. d3 Nh5 8. Nh4 Qg5 9. Nf5 c6 10. g4 Nf6 11. Rg1 cb5 12. h4 Qg6 13. h5 Qg5 14. Qf3 Ng8 15. Bf4 Qf6 16. Nc3 Bc5 17. Nd5 Qb2 18. Bd6 Bg1 It is from this move that Black’s defeat stems. Wilhelm Steinitz suggested in 1879 that a better move would be 18… Qxa1+; likely moves to follow are 19. Ke2 Qb2 20. Kd2 Bxg1. 19. e5 Qa1 20. Ke2 Na6 21. Ng7 Kd8 22. Qf6 Nf6 23. Be7#

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
If you realllly enjoy my content, you’re welcome to support me and my channel with a small donation via PayPal.
Link to PayPal donation https://www.paypal.me/agadmator

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agadmatoryoutube
Twitter: https://twitter.com/agadmator
Lichess: agadmator
Chess.com: agadmator
Skype: agadmator
League of Legends: agadmator 🙂
Hearthstone: agadmator

Daily Puzzle

Loading the puzzle…

More daily puzzles →

♟ More videos — same opening

Danya Defeats Exposed Cheater | Ruy Lopez Bird Variation | GM Naroditsky Theory Speedrun

Danya Defeats Exposed Cheater | Ruy Lopez Bird Variation |…

The Real Value of a Chess Piece || Adams vs Shankland || London Chess Classic 2025

The Real Value of a Chess Piece || Adams vs…

The King’s Indian is actually EASY if you learn this

The King’s Indian is actually EASY if you learn this

“The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars” || McShane vs Theodorou || London Chess Classic 2025

“The Darker the Night, the Brighter the Stars” || McShane…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

<div id="puzzlebot-container"></div>

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.min.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.js"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/@chrisoakman/chessboardjs@1.0.0/dist/chessboard-1.0.0.polyfills.min.js"></script>

<script>
  var board = null;
  var game = new Chess();

  function onDragStart(source, piece, position, orientation) {
    // do not allow dragging when game is over
    if (game.game_over()) return false;

    // only allow white pieces to be dragged
    if (piece.search(/^b/) !== -1) return false;
  }

  function onDrop(source, target) {
    // see if the move is legal
    var move = game.move({
      from: source,
      to: target,
      promotion: "q" // always promote to a queen for example simplicity
    });

    // illegal move
    if (move === null) return "snapback";

    // update the board position
    board.position(game.fen());

    // get a random move from the engine
    window.setTimeout(makeRandomMove, 250);
  }

  // make a random move
  function makeRandomMove() {
    var possibleMoves = game.moves();

    // game over
    if (possibleMoves.length === 0) return;

    var randomIndex = Math.floor(Math.random() * possibleMoves.length);
    game.move(possibleMoves[randomIndex]);
    board.position(game.fen());
  }

  // initialize the chessboard
  function init() {
    var config = {
      draggable: true,
      onDragStart: onDragStart,
      onDrop: onDrop,
      position: 'start'
    };

    board = Chessboard('puzzlebot-container', config);

    makeRandomMove();
  }

  $(document).ready(init);
</script>

<script src="https://revolvermaps2.com/embed.js" data-site="z79wnx94gq4m" data-size="300" data-theme="custom" data-color="ffffff" data-land="d4a843" data-ocean="0f1a2e" async></script>