The Greatest Chess Games Ever Played

Paul Morphy vs Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard

Paul Morphy defeats two opponents during an opera intermission with textbook development and two devastating sacrifices — checkmate in 17 moves.

Adolf Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritzky

Anderssen sacrifices both rooks, his bishop, and his queen — then checkmates with three minor pieces in the most dazzling 19th-century attack ever played.

Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne

Anderssen lures his opponent into capturing a queen and both rooks, then checkmates with a lone bishop — the pinnacle of romantic-era combination chess.

Paul Morphy vs Louis Paulsen

Morphy sacrifices his queen on move 17 for a bishop and pawn, then delivers checkmate with rooks and bishop in one of the most shocking combinations of the 19th century.

Friedrich Sämisch vs Aron Nimzowitsch

Nimzowitsch creates such a perfect blockade that every White move worsens his position — White resigns in zugzwang without Nimzowitsch ever capturing a single piece.

Alexander Alekhine vs Richard Réti

Alekhine defeats hypermodern pioneer Réti with a spectacular queen sacrifice and bishop maneuver, producing a game Kasparov later described as 'the most beautiful ever played in the first half of the 20th century'.

Donald Byrne vs Robert James Fischer

Thirteen-year-old Bobby Fischer sacrifices his queen on move 17 and runs Byrne's position ragged — announced as 'The Game of the Century' by chess journalist Hans Kmoch.

Robert James Fischer vs Boris Spassky

Often called the most beautiful World Championship game ever played — Fischer wins with such precision that Spassky, a Soviet champion, publicly applauds before sending in his resignation.

Mikhail Tal vs Vasily Smyslov

Tal sacrifices a knight on move 9 against the former world champion, creating complications so deep that Smyslov — one of chess's greatest positional players — never finds the right defense.

Robert Byrne vs Robert James Fischer

Fischer plays 21...Nd3!! — a knight move that creates simultaneous threats so devastating that Byrne resigns on the spot, before the combination is even completed.

Yefim Geller vs Max Euwe

Geller sacrifices two pieces in succession against former world champion Euwe, producing a Candidates Tournament brilliancy that earned a beauty prize and influenced opening theory for decades.

Mikhail Botvinnik vs Mikhail Tal

Playing as Black, Tal sacrifices a knight on move 21 with no obvious compensation, creating a whirlwind of complications that cost Botvinnik the World Championship — chaos was Tal's greatest weapon.

Garry Kasparov vs Veselin Topalov

Kasparov sacrifices a rook on move 24 and sends his king marching toward the enemy position — a combination so deep that Topalov spent 57 minutes thinking before resigning.

Veselin Topalov vs Alexei Shirov

Alexei Shirov plays 47...Bh3!! — a bishop sacrifice widely called the most beautiful single move ever played — converting a drawn endgame into a win that stumped computers.

Deep Blue (IBM) vs Garry Kasparov

IBM's supercomputer Deep Blue defeats world champion Garry Kasparov in the decisive game of their 1997 rematch — the first time a machine won a match against a reigning world champion.

Nigel Short vs Jan Timman

Nigel Short marches his king from g1 to d6 — across the entire board, with queens and rooks still active — in one of the most theatrical king walks ever seen in elite chess.

Judit Polgar vs Anatoly Karpov

Judit Polgar defeats former world champion Anatoly Karpov with a stunning queen sacrifice on move 22, proving herself among the world's elite at just 17 years old.

Garry Kasparov vs Anatoly Karpov

Kasparov clinches the 1985 World Championship with a brilliant attacking game, ending Karpov's decade-long dominance and beginning the greatest rivalry in chess history.

Vassily Ivanchuk vs Artur Yusupov

Ivanchuk unleashes a queen sacrifice on move 33 in a must-win Candidates match game, producing a combination so deep that commentators struggled to find the winning line even after the game ended.

Levon Aronian vs Viswanathan Anand

Aronian uncorks a stunning queen sacrifice against the World Champion on move 23, producing a combination that won the 2013 Brilliancy Prize and reduced Anand's position to rubble.

Magnus Carlsen vs Sergey Karjakin

After 12 drawn classical games, Magnus Carlsen delivers a precision masterpiece in the rapid tiebreak to retain his World Championship title, showing why he's the greatest endgame player of his era.