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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) The Best Game of all time (Read 12017 times)
Willempie
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #15 - 02/22/06 at 22:37:39
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MNb wrote on 02/22/06 at 03:31:08:
@Willempie:
Steinitz-Von Bardeleben is to be disapproved for no less than three reasons:
1 Black should have played 16...Kf7!
2 White could have improved with 16.Rad1! (Zaitsev).
3 White could have won straightforward with 15.Qa4+ Kf7 16.Ne5! (Geller).
The final combination is of course one of the most beautiful ever, but to objective standards it cannot be the best game ever.
4 PS The Von Bardeleben leaving the clock ticking story is probably fake.

I numbered your arguments for clarity..
1 Euwe thought 17 Qxe7+ (with 2 pawns for the exchange in an endgame) or Qe4 would work. Still afaik 17 Ng5+ (17 17 .. fxg5 18 Qf3+) works well. If this is correct that would render the points 2 and 3 to irrelevancy about correctness Wink
2 Afaik it doesnt get much better than in the main line after 16 Kf8 where white still has to sacrifice the exact same pawn for the exact same kind of initiative.
3 That is obviously not straightforward since it was Geller, who came up with it, not anyone who analysed this game in the 90 years before him (and trust me there were some analysis by decent players). I personally had to do a lot of Fritz assisted study to verify moves like 17 .. Qc6 and 15.. Kd8 16 Rac1 b6 (for which I havent seen anything convincing so far for white), so mayby Steinitz just played the best moves Wink
4 I would be very interested to know about that. If the leaving of the tournament hall is untrue that would shed a different light on Von Bardeleben's suicide
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
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Ruppert_T
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #14 - 02/22/06 at 19:19:55
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My two are:

Harry Pillsbury vs Siegbert Tarrasch Hastings 1895 Game Number 10

R.Fischer vs M.Najdorf World Team Olympics 1962
  
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RotGut
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #13 - 02/22/06 at 18:11:34
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A game I really like but seems to have been forgotton by most:

Karpov-Uhlmann
Madrid 
1973
  
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woofwoof
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #12 - 02/22/06 at 16:32:52
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Quote:

Short v Timman 1991 the Alekhine game where short marched his king up the board !


Short might have been inspired by the Teichmann-Players in Consultation, Glasgow 1902 game. White marches his king up the board in a middle-game mating attack.
  

"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong." - Murray Walker
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woofwoof
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #11 - 02/22/06 at 16:22:17
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Thanks for filling in the gaps Alumbrado! Yep! have to agree with your point. The game wasnt as spectacular or had the kind of quality as those mentioned by others so far, neither was Levitsky truly an equal to Marshall.  But that one move alone really immortalised the game.
  

"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong." - Murray Walker
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alumbrado
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #10 - 02/22/06 at 15:36:01
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The game was Levitsky-Marshall, Breslau 1912

All well and good, but just one move in an otherwise fairly mediocre encounter:

Levitsky,S - Marshall,F [B40]
DSB-18.Kongress Breslau (6), 1912

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Bg5 0-0 9.dxc5 Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bg4 Qd6 13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2 Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Qe2 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5 Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6 22.Qg5 Rxh3 23.Rc5 Qg3 0-1
  

If sometimes we fly too close to the sun, at least this shows we are spreading our wings.
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woofwoof
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #9 - 02/22/06 at 15:26:03
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There's this game played by Marshall against an opponent (cant remember his name). Marshall played black & produced one of the most amazing moves- a certain Q-Kt6 leaving his queen en prise to 3 pieces. The queen had to be taken if white wished to prolong the game, otherwise mate next move. 2 of those captures still leads to forced mate whilst the 3rd one leaves white a piece down with no compensation.

Legend has it that people showered Marshall with gold coins after the game, but Marshall in his book writes  that that was what literally happened.
  

"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong." - Murray Walker
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micawber
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #8 - 02/22/06 at 05:43:44
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Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My vote goes to
Geller-Euwe, Zürich 1953 for the daring the defence-strategy shown by the ex-Worldchampion.
(Bronstein: Moves like that should not be forgotten!  Wink
Another one that comes to mind is Anderssen-Dufresne, Berlin 1852 (the evergreen).


MNB: Lasker-Capablanca, Petersburg 1914 was a crushing strategic defeat for Capa.
MNB: I am interested: what is your source that von Barleben didn't leave the tournament hall
instead of resigning?

Miles-Hubner was created thx to Miles unique perspective of the board. He was playing lying down due to a back-injury. Was it Korchnoi who said a chessplayer has no right to be ill?  Smiley
  
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MNb
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #7 - 02/22/06 at 03:31:08
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@Willempie:
Steinitz-Von Bardeleben is to be disapproved for no less than three reasons:
Black should have played 16...Kf7!
White could have improved with 16.Rad1! (Zaitsev).
White could have won straightforward with 15.Qa4+ Kf7 16.Ne5! (Geller).
The final combination is of course one of the most beautiful ever, but to objective standards it cannot be the best game ever.
PS The Von Bardeleben leaving the clock ticking story is probably fake.

@Woofwoof:
About the same is the case for Spassky-Bronstein: the famous 15.Nd6 is neither correct nor necessary. Black should have played 15...Bxd6 and White could have maintained an advantage with 15.Rf2.

Another one not mentioned yet: that Ivantsjuk-Sjirov game with Qg7!!
The best rooks endgame I have ever seen:
Nimzovitsj-Spielmann, Carlsbad 1929. This game is even more brilliant, as it decided on the tournament win, played in the two for the last round. A draw would have changed N and S on 1st and 2nd place!
  

The book had the effect good books usually have: it made the stupids more stupid, the intelligent more intelligent and the other thousands of readers remained unchanged.
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #6 - 02/21/06 at 15:07:49
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i dont' know the players but whoever first played fools or scholars mate !!

Smiley Or alternatively any game that I won !

Short v Timman 1991 the Alekhine game where short marched his king up the board !

All the best

Andrew
  
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woofwoof
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #5 - 02/21/06 at 14:47:03
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CraigEvans wrote on 02/21/06 at 10:32:05:
Best game ever? Miles-Hubner, Tilburg 1985:
1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Qh4 3.Nf3 Qa4 4.Nc3 Qa5 1/2 - 1/2

A modern classic  Grin


Draw in 4 moves? Hmmm... I will up you......1 move win by white=> Fischer-Polugaevsky 1970 (iirc) 1.P-QB4 1-0!  Grin

Seriously now, there are actually many games vying for best ever, some of which has already been mentioned. But how about Spassky-Bronstein 1960 - nice attacking display by white, his rook sac for tempo was simply sublime. Or another would be Botvinnik-Capa AVRO 1938, That endgame technique by Botvinnik was classic.   Fischer-Larsen 1971 1st game was very very exciting & double-edged. Just to name a few.......

  

"I don't make mistakes. I make prophecies which immediately turn out to be wrong." - Murray Walker
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Willempie
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #4 - 02/21/06 at 13:15:49
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Steinitz-Von Bardeleben
There is not really much room for improvement on the white side, while black didnt make any real error (except of course for leaving the board).
  

If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
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CraigEvans
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #3 - 02/21/06 at 10:32:05
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Best game ever? Miles-Hubner, Tilburg 1985:
1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Qh4 3.Nf3 Qa4 4.Nc3 Qa5 1/2 - 1/2

A modern classic  Grin
  

"Give a man a pawn, and he'll smell a rat. Give a man a piece, and he'll smell a patzer." - Me.

"If others have seen further than me, it is because giants have been standing on my shoulders."
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #2 - 02/21/06 at 04:41:32
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I know a thread like this will attract lot of great attacking games. Byrne – Fischer and Kasparov – Topalov will be again and again mentioned.

But my favorite is this Grim Defense  (to borrow Dr.Nunn’s words) in Kramnik - Anand. It takes lot of nerves and great precision to play like this. 

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018767

BTW – I used to be a great fan of Byrne – Fischer. As I grew grayer and balder, I realized, any decent player would have come out with that queen sac in that position. The position doesn’t warrant the genius of Fischer. It’s a great game played by a 13-year-old child prodigy. But, "Game of the century", even after discounting age factor and basing the opinion on objective criteria?  Embarrassed I beg to differ. This, Kramnik – Anand is a better candidate, imo.
  

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MNb
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Re: The Best Game of all time
Reply #1 - 02/21/06 at 03:11:23
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Capablanca-Spielmann, Bad Kissingen 1928 (yes, I am very subjective). This game costed Capa the tournament win. I am not aware of any other Capa game before 1937, in which he was crushed like that.

If I had to be objective, probably Kasparov-Karpov, WCh Sevilla (2). It is very rare to see Kasparov defend as White and lose.
Bronstein-Ljubojevic, Petropolis 1973 is also a killer game. White sacced a rook and an exchange. Moreover he played with his king in the open air. Still his attack decided.

Oh help, now I think of all those other fantastic games ... it is in fact impossible to chose.
  

The book had the effect good books usually have: it made the stupids more stupid, the intelligent more intelligent and the other thousands of readers remained unchanged.
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