List of Chess Games - 1800s

1800s

• 1834: La Bourdonnais–McDonnell, 50th Match Game, London. Reuben Fine in The World's Great Chess Games describes it as the first great immortal game of chess. The victor trades Queen for two minor pieces and a promising position.
• 1834: McDonnell–La Bourdonnais, 62nd Match Game, London. Perhaps the most famous win of the match (considered an unofficial world championship), La Bourdonnais shows how a rolling pawn mass can overwhelm all of his opponent's major pieces.
• 1843: Staunton–St. Amant, Paris. Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant resigns in this unofficial world championship match game with Howard Staunton, in which Staunton remarked, "The latter portion of this game is conducted with remarkable skill by both parties."
• 1844: Hoffmann–Petrov, Warsaw. Petrov wins with a queen sacrifice and a relentless king hunt, in a game known as "Petrov's Immortal."
• 1851: Anderssen–Kieseritzky, London "The Immortal Game" Kieseritzky neglects his development and Anderssen sacrifices his queen and both rooks for a win.
• 1852: Anderssen–Dufresne, Berlin "The Evergreen Game" Anderssen mates with what Savielly Tartakower called " combination second to none in the literature of the game."
• 1857: Paulsen–Morphy, New York Morphy gains an advantage in development and transforms it into a powerful kingside attack with a surprising queen sacrifice.
• 1858: Morphy–Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard, Paris "The Opera Game" Morphy wins brilliantly in this legendary miniature, mating on the 17th move with his last two pieces.
• 1872: Hamppe–Meitner, Vienna, the "Immortal Draw" between Carl Hamppe and Philipp Meitner, involving an enigmatic queen sacrifice.
• 1889: Lasker–Bauer, Amsterdam, a game between Emanuel Lasker and Johann Hermann Bauer was the first example of the famous double bishop sacrifice.
• 1895: Pillsbury–Tarrasch, Hastings A brilliant game from Pillsbury's surprising victory at the great Hastings 1895 tournament. The young chess genius managed to take clear first over Lasker, Steinitz, Tarrasch, Chigorin, and other top players of the time.
• 1895: Steinitz–von Bardeleben, Hastings This game is famous for an amazing thirteen-move mating combination, which Steinitz didn't get the chance to play all the way through. Von Bardeleben, seeing what was about to happen, opted to leave the playing area and lose on time. Steinitz then demonstrated the beautiful combination for the onlookers.
• 1895: Pillsbury–Gunsberg, Hastings The final round game with which Pillsbury clinched first place. The game reaches a simple endgame that appears to be a dead draw, but Pillsbury is able to work his magic and wins with amazing combinative play.
• 1895: Pillsbury–Lasker, Saint Petersburg Lasker won the brilliancy prize for this amazing game.