Anderssen Without a Rook

The game, move by move

The Kieseritzky 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. Nf3 The knight out
6. 3… g5 g5, holding the pawn
7. 4. h4 h4, breaking the chain
8. 4… g4 The pawn goes past
9. 5. Ne5 The Kieseritzky The knight steps to e5 rather than being chased to g1, and the whole opening is named after the man Anderssen mated in the Immortal Game.
10. 5… Nf6 Developing
11. 6. Bc4 The bishop at f7
12. 6… d5 d5 — the counter A pawn given back to open lines, exactly as in the Falkbeer. Black is not going to be allowed to keep it.

A rook given up

1. 7. exd5 Taken
2. 7… Bd6 The bishop to d6
3. 8. d4 The big centre
4. 8… Nh5 The knight to h5 On its way to g3, which is the square it wins the game from.
5. 9. Bb5+ Check, from b5
6. 9… c6 Blocked with the pawn
7. 10. dxc6 Taken in passing on c6
8. 10… bxc6 Recaptured
9. 11. Nxc6 The knight takes on c6
10. 11… Nxc6 Taken back
11. 12. Bxc6+ And the bishop takes, with check
12. 12… Kf8 The king steps aside Kf8 gives up castling and the rook in the corner. The alternative was worse.
13. 13. Bxa8 The rook, taken White is an exchange and a pawn up on move thirteen, with a bishop sitting in the corner where the rook used to be. It takes four moves to get it out again, and by then the game is decided.

Everything at the corner

1. 13… Ng3 The knight to g3 Where it stays for the rest of the game. From g3 it covers h1 and f1 — the two squares White’s king has left.
2. 14. Rh2 The rook to h2 The only way to hold the rook, and it takes the h1 corner away from the king for good.
3. 14… Bf5 The bishop out
4. 15. Bd5 The bishop comes back
5. 15… Kg7 The king walks to g7 Black tucks his king away by hand and connects the rook. It takes two moves and nothing can be done about it.
6. 16. Nc3 The last piece out
7. 16… Re8+ Check, down the e-file
8. 17. Kf2 Kf2
9. 17… Qb6 The queen to b6 Onto the diagonal that points at f2 — and every white piece is on the other side of the board.
10. 18. Na4 The knight goes hunting
11. 18… Qa6 The queen to a6 Along the rank, and now the diagonal a6–f1 is what she is on. The square she is aiming at is the one White’s king will need.
12. 19. Nc3 The knight comes back
13. 19… Be5 The bishop to e5 The last piece to arrive, on the diagonal that ends at g1.
14. 20. a4 a4, still on the other wing White has been a rook up for ten moves and has not made a threat since.

The queen as well

1. 20… Qf1+ The queen, on f1 Offered to a queen who has to take her: every other reply to the check loses on the spot.
2. 21. Qxf1 Taken
3. 21… Bxd4+ The bishop takes d4, with check
4. 22. Be3 Blocked with the bishop The only interposition — and it puts a bishop on e3, which is where the rook is coming.
5. 22… Rxe3 The rook takes it
6. 23. Kg1 Kg1
7. 23… Re1# Checkmate The rook steps back to e1 and the check comes from the bishop on d4 that it has just stopped blocking. f1 is White’s own queen, g2 his own pawn, h2 his own rook; f2 is the bishop’s; and h1 belongs to the knight that came to g3 twenty half-moves ago.