The stories behind great games and how each move becomes a work of art.
Efim Geller vs Kogan
21-year-old Efim Geller sacrificed his rook for a knight on move 16, launching a devastating kingside attack that drove Black's king into a mating net.
Robert Fischer vs Pal Benko
Bobby Fischer demolished Pal Benko in just 21 moves during his historic 11-0 sweep of the 1963/64 US Championship.
Magnus Carlsen vs Sipke Ernst
Wijk aan Zee in January is North Sea gray, the kind of light that makes the pieces look heavier. In the 2004 Corus Group C, a 13-year-old Magnus Carlsen arrived as a promising IM and, by the penultima...
Paul Morphy vs Adolf Anderssen
Paris, late 1858. Between their formal match games, Morphy and Anderssen also played a number of off-the-record skittles. This celebrated casual sparkler—later nicknamed “Keep Your Eye on the Paul”—be...
Adolf Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritzky
On June 21, 1851, amid the bustle of London’s Great Exhibition and between rounds of the world’s first international chess tournament, Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky sat down for an informal s...
Paul Morphy vs Duke Karl / Count Isouard
Paris, late 1858. In a private box at the Théâtre-Italien, America’s meteoric prodigy Paul Morphy sat opposite two titled patrons of the game—Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, and Count Isouard de Vauvenarg...
Donald Byrne vs Robert Fischer
On the evening of October 17, 1956, inside New York’s Marshall Chess Club, a 13-year-old Bobby Fischer conjured a queen sacrifice so audacious that Chess Review editor Hans Kmoch immediately christene...