MNb wrote on 02/22/06 at 03:31:08:

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
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
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

A game I really like but seems to have been forgotton by most:

Karpov-Uhlmann
Madrid 
1973

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.

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.

@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!

CraigEvans wrote on 02/21/06 at 10:32:05:


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

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.......

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 

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.