Anderssen, on the Other End

The game, move by move

The Bishop’s Gambit

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. f4 The King’s Gambit
4. 2… exf4 Accepted
5. 3. Bc4 The Bishop’s Gambit Four moves in, and this is the Immortal Game’s position with the colours the other way round. Anderssen is the one giving the check this time.
6. 3… Qh4+ Check, on move three
7. 4. Kf1 The king steps aside The same answer Anderssen would give in 1851: no castling, and a king that has to be tucked away by hand later.

The queen sent home

1. 4… Bc5 The bishop out
2. 5. d4 Taking the centre White answers a queen on h4 by building in the middle rather than by chasing her.
3. 5… Bb6 Out of the way
4. 6. Nf3 Developing with tempo
5. 6… Qe7 The queen retreats From h4 to e7, three moves after coming out. The check has bought Black nothing but a lost tempo and a king that cannot castle either.
6. 7. Nc3 The second knight
7. 7… Nf6 Out at last
8. 8. e5 The pawn goes forward e5 hits the knight and shuts the black queen out of the centre in the same move.
9. 8… Nh5 To the rim The knight has one square, and h5 is the square it gets taken on eleven moves from now.
10. 9. Nd5 The knight to d5 It cannot be taken and it will not move again until it delivers a check that also blocks one.
11. 9… Qd8 Home again The queen is back on d8 on move nine. Anderssen has moved his queen four times and developed two pieces.

Both centres broken open

1. 10. g4 Offering the g-pawn g4 hits the knight on h5 and dares the f-pawn to take it in passing.
2. 10… fxg3 Taken in passing The f4 pawn takes on g3 — the only capture in this library that lands on a square the captured pawn never stood on.
3. 11. Bg5 The bishop to g5 Pinning nothing yet, and asking about the black queen and the f6 square at once.
4. 11… f6 f6, to break the pin
5. 12. exf6 Opening the file
6. 12… gxf6 Taken back
7. 13. Ne5 The knight to e5 Where it stands for four moves doing nothing visible, and from where, at the very end, it plays the only move of the game that matters.
8. 13… O-O Castling, late Black finally gets his king off the middle file. It is on g8 for exactly three half-moves.

Mated in the middle

1. 14. Qxh5 The knight, taken A whole piece for the queen, and the g-file and h-file are both about to open.
2. 14… fxg5+ The bishop, and a discovered check The pawn takes on g5 and steps off the f-file, and the rook on f8 gives check down it. Black is a piece up and giving check.
3. 15. Nf6+ Blocked, with check The knight from d5 lands on f6: it blocks the check on the f-file and gives one of its own on the diagonal. Two checks answered and given by one move.
4. 15… Kg7 The king steps up
5. 16. Qxh7+ The queen takes h7 Offering herself beside the king, so that the knight on f6 stays where it is and the king has to decide which piece to eat.
6. 16… Kxf6 He takes the knight And walks onto the square four white men are pointed at. Taking the queen instead was legal.
7. 17. Ng4# Checkmate The knight steps from e5 to g4 and the king on f6 has nowhere. The queen on h7 holds e7, f7, g7, g6 and f5; the bishop on c4 holds e6 and f7; the pawn on d4 and the knight itself hold e5; and g5 is Black’s own pawn.