General Description
Adolf Anderssen was one of the strongest players of his time, and many consider him to have been the world's strongest player after his victory in the London 1851 chess tournament. Lionel Kieseritzky lived in France much of his life, where he gave chess lessons, and played games for five francs an hour at the Café de la Régence in Paris. Kieseritzky was well known for being able to beat lesser players despite handicapping himself—for example, by playing without his queen.
Played between the two great players at the Simpson's-in-the-Strand Divan in London, the Immortal Game was an informal one, played during a break in a formal tournament. Kieseritzky was very impressed when the game was over, and telegraphed the moves of the game to his Parisian chess club. The French chess magazine La Régence published the game in July 1851. This game was nicknamed "The Immortal Game" in 1855 by the Austrian Ernst Falkbeer.
This game is acclaimed as an excellent demonstration of the style of chess play in the 19th century, where rapid development and attack were considered the most effective way to win, where many gambits and counter-gambits were offered (and not accepting them would be considered slightly ungentlemanly), and where material was often held in contempt. These games, with their rapid attacks and counter-attacks, are often entertaining to review, even if some of the moves would no longer be considered the best by today's standards.
In this game, Anderssen wins despite sacrificing a bishop (on move 11), both rooks (starting on move 18), and the queen (on move 22) to produce checkmate against Kieseritzky who only lost three pawns. He offered both rooks to show that two active pieces are worth a dozen inactive pieces. Anderssen later demonstrated the same kind of approach in the Evergreen Game.
Some published versions of the game have errors, as described in the annotations.
The town of Marostica, Italy has replayed the Immortal Game with live players, dressed as chess pieces, every year from 2 September 1923.
Read more about this topic: Immortal Game
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