Immortal Game

The Immortal Game is Adolf Anderssen's victory over Lionel Kieseritzky, played in London in 1851. It was an informal encounter, outside the London tournament. It became famous for the amount of material Anderssen allowed his opponent to capture: a bishop and both rooks. The queen sacrifice and checkmate that complete its best-known version, however, belong to a traditional continuation whose execution over the board is disputed.

The interest lies not just in how much material disappears, but in where the surviving pieces stand. The captures take Black's queen and one bishop far from their king, while Anderssen keeps his knights and remaining bishop close to it. Kieseritzky's material gains do not in themselves resolve the danger to his king. The traditional finish takes that contrast to its extreme: White gives up the queen and the minor pieces deliver mate.

The opponent's account

Kieseritzky himself published the game in the July 1851 issue of La Régence. His notes praise Anderssen's play and conclude by acknowledging his remarkable talent. The defeated opponent thus also helped preserve and circulate the victory.

His score ends at 20.Ke2. That endpoint does not by itself establish a resignation at that moment: on 19 July 1851, the Chess Player included one further reply by Black and announced mate in three without giving the individual moves. The difference between these accounts requires us to distinguish where a publication stops from what is known to have been played.

In August 1855, an unsigned article in the Wiener Schach-Zeitung already bore the title “Eine unsterbliche Partie”, meaning “An immortal game”. This is a documented early use, not proof of who invented the name. Admiring the conception and beauty of the combination does not require treating all the preceding play as flawless.