The Immortal Draw

The game, move by move

A bishop given on move three

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nc3 The Vienna Game
4. 2… Bc5 Bc5
5. 3. Na4 Na4 — the knight to the rim Attacking the bishop from a square nothing defends. It is the move the whole game is an answer to, and it costs White the knight nine moves later.
6. 3… Bxf2+ Bxf2+ — the bishop, on move three A bishop for a pawn, and it is not a combination so much as an argument: the king has to take, and once he has, he cannot castle and cannot stop walking.
7. 4. Kxf2 He has to take it
8. 4… Qh4+ Check from h4
9. 5. Ke3 Ke3 — forwards g3 loses the queen to Qxg3, so the king walks up the board on move four.
10. 5… Qf4+ Check from f4

The king walks to b3

1. 6. Kd3 Kd3
2. 6… d5 d5, opening the diagonal
3. 7. Kc3 Kc3
4. 7… Qxe4 The queen takes e4
5. 8. Kb3 Kb3 — five king moves in seven
6. 8… Na6 Na6, bringing the last piece
7. 9. a3 a3, making a square
8. 9… Qxa4+ The queen, given on a4 She takes the knight and offers herself. Declining loses everything; taking walks the king onto the a-file.

A queen and two knights

1. 10. Kxa4 The king takes the queen
2. 10… Nc5+ Nc5+ — the knight, with check The third piece given away in nineteen half-moves, and each one has been a check the king had to answer with his feet.
3. 11. Kb4 Kb4
4. 11… a5+ a5, with check
5. 12. Kxc5 The king takes the knight on c5 A white king on c5 on move eleven, a queen and two pieces up, and he is the one in trouble.
6. 12… Ne7 Ne7, the last piece out
7. 13. Bb5+ Check from b5
8. 13… Kd8 Kd8
9. 14. Bc6 The bishop to c6, blocking
10. 14… b6+ b6, with check
11. 15. Kb5 Kb5
12. 15… Nxc6 The knight takes the bishop on c6

Nothing left but checks

1. 16. Kxc6 And the king takes the knight The fourth piece. The white king is on c6 on the sixteenth move, and what Black has left is one bishop.
2. 16… Bb7+ Bb7+ — the first of the last checks
3. 17. Kb5 Kb5
4. 17… Ba6+ Ba6+ — and the other square
5. 18. Kc6 Kc6
6. 18… Bb7+ Bb7+ — and it is a draw The bishop goes back to b7 and the position has occurred before. White cannot leave the two squares without being mated and Black has nothing but the two checks; there are two legal moves and both of them repeat. So they agreed it, and the game has been printed under this name ever since.