Napoleon’s Game

The game, move by move

Knights first

1. 1. Nc3 A knight, not a pawn It has a name — the Van Geet — and almost no adherents. Whoever composed this game wanted it to look unlike everybody else’s.
2. 1… e5 A pawn to the centre
3. 2. Nf3 The second knight
4. 2… d6 Propping up e5
5. 3. e4 The king’s pawn, late
6. 3… f5 A pawn to f5 Black opens the file her own king is standing on. Every one of the twenty-one half-moves left in the game is about that file and the diagonal beside it.
7. 4. h3 A small move h3 keeps the black pieces off g4 and does nothing else. It is the only slow move White plays.
8. 4… fxe4 Taking on e4

Both knights forward

1. 5. Nxe4 Recaptured with the knight The knight from c3 lands on e4, where it is a nuisance for the rest of the game.
2. 5… Nc6 A knight out
3. 6. Nfg5 The other knight to g5 Both knights are now aimed at f7 and e6, and neither of them can be taken.
4. 6… d5 d5, hitting the knight Black gains a tempo on e4 — and opens the diagonal her own king is on to the square White’s queen is about to use.
5. 7. Qh5+ Check, from h5 The queen slides out along the diagonal the f-pawn abandoned on move three. It is the first check of the game and there are six more.
6. 7… g6 Blocked with the pawn g6 is held by the pawn on h7, so the queen cannot take it — she has to come back.

The king walks up

1. 8. Qf3 The queen to f3 Back to hold the knight on e4 and to look down at f7. Both knights and the queen are now pointed at the same corner of the board.
2. 8… Nh6 A knight to the rim Nh6 covers f7 and f5. It is the only defensive move Black finds, and it is answered by ignoring f7 altogether.
3. 9. Nf6+ Check, from f6 The knight steps in front of the king, from e4.
4. 9… Ke7 The king steps up instead And here is the move that gives the game away as a story: Qxf6 simply takes the knight — e7 is empty, because that pawn went to e5 on move one — and Black is a piece up with nothing wrong. The king walks forward instead, and from here he does not stop.
5. 10. Nxd5+ Taking d5, with check The knight collects the pawn and checks from d5, which is where the king takes it two moves later.
6. 10… Kd6 Forward again The king is on the sixth rank on move ten with every piece he owns still behind him.

Mated on d4

1. 11. Ne4+ Check, from the other knight g5 to e4. The two knights have swapped roles — and this one blocks his own queen’s diagonal to d5, which is the point.
2. 11… Kxd5 The king takes the knight d5 is free exactly because White’s own knight stepped onto e4 and cut the queen’s line to it. A piece given away to move a king one square further from home.
3. 12. Bc4+ The bishop, offered It comes out for the first time in the game, checks, and is there to be taken. Declining leaves the king on d5 with the mate coming anyway.
4. 12… Kxc4 Taken Two pieces given away, and a black king on c4 twelve moves in.
5. 13. Qb3+ Check, from b3 The queen crosses the third rank. b3 is guarded by the pawn on a2, so she cannot be taken, and there is one square left.
6. 13… Kd4 Into the middle of the board d4, on move thirteen, with thirteen of his own men still on the board behind him and not one of them able to help.
7. 14. Qd3# Checkmate The queen moves one square. She takes c3, c4, d5 and e3; the knight on e4 takes c5 and cannot be captured; Black’s own pawn on e5 fills the last square, and the pawn on c2 means the queen cannot be taken. Mated on d4.