# Famous chess games for human chess game? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** chess\ **Created:** [June 17, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397 "2012-06-17T03:59:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/1 "2012-06-17T03:59:55Z")
A friend of mine is putting on a human chess match as a performance. He’s recruiting stage combat types (we live in a good location for that) to choreograph the fights ahead of time, and so he has to have a particular chess game selected in advance, so that each fight can be individually choreographed. He’d like to select a famous chess game, so as to bring out the chess nerds in addition to the theatre nerds, but he doesn’t know the game well enough to know the right historical chess game off the top of his head. Any advice, Dopers? Criteria: –High body count. They’ve got to get people together to rehearse and to show up, and it’s nice if everyone can have at least one fight (kings excepted, they’re organizing the event and will be happy to show regardless. I realize that there may not be a famous match in which every single piece captures another or is captured itself, but it would be nice to get close to it to maximize the people who get fights. –In a related note: each side has at least one individual piece with several captures. It doesn’t matter which piece, but it allows them to tell a story with it and build characters and characterization. It also doesn’t matter whether that piece survives to the end of the game or not. –Fast pace. A capture every couple moves or so, with few long stretches between captures. The event is at least as much about stage combat as it is chess, so a fast tempo is important. –Dramatic comebacks, unusual moves, and other exciting moments. Surprise checkmates are probably bad because they don’t have a good climatic build-up. –A famous or otherwise important chess game. Famous players, ideally at least one who’s a recognizable name. Kasparov, Karpov, or Fisher would be great. Otherwise, it would be great if it features a dramatic comeback or other exciting move. I thought about Bobby Fisher’s 1956 brilliancy against Bryne but it’d be nice to have a game with a little higher body count for Black. That Fisher game is still my best suggestion, but I’m not married to it and I certainly don’t know enough individual games to give a good recommendation. Any thoughts? Are there better games to use for this situation? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/2 "2012-06-17T04:16:10Z")
> **[Immortal Game](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_game)** > > The Immortal Game was a game of chess, played in 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It was played while the London 1851 chess tournament was in progress, an event in which both players participated. However, the Immortal Game was itself a casual game, not played as part of the tournament. Anderssen won the game by allowing a double rook sacrifice, a major loss of material, while also developing a mating attack with his remaining minor pieces. Despite losing the game, Kieseritzky ... ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/3 "2012-06-17T08:16:55Z")
How about Paul Morphy’s [Opera Game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_game)? Relatively simple, lots of action and finishes with a queen sacrifice and mate. And it was played during an actual opera performance which could perhaps be worked into the enactment. Apparently the game created quite a stir. > [@](#): > > As the game progressed, the two allies conferred loudly enough with each other, debating their moves against the American genius, that it attracted the attention of the opera performers. Madame Penco, who had the role of the Druidic priestess in Norma, kept looking into the Duke’s box, to see what all the fuss was about, even as she was performing the opera. Then the performers who were the Druids, marched about, “chanting fire and bloodshed against the Roman host, who, they appeared to think, were in the Duke’s box”, Edge recounted. > > It is doubtful if the distracted opera singers had a good enough view of what was going on. Comically, Morphy created this brilliant game while spending his time trying to overcome his blocked view of the opera, while the performers tried to catch glimpses of what was going on in the Duke’s box. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/4 "2012-06-17T15:16:42Z")
Both good suggestions; high body count, exciting finish, and short, much shorter than Fisher v. Bryne. Thanks! Anyone have others? ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/5 "2012-06-17T15:28:55Z")
I like Anderssen’s other famous game, the [Evergreen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evergreen_Game). ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/6 "2012-06-17T15:34:40Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Both good suggestions; high body count, exciting finish, and short, much shorter than Fisher v. Bryne. Thanks! Anyone have others? By the way, Fischer had exciting games with both Byrne brothers. Which one were you thinking of? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/7 "2012-06-17T18:28:39Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > By the way, Fischer had exciting games with both Byrne brothers. Which one were you thinking of? His 1956 game, his brilliancy at age 13. Queen sacrifice to win. It’s a long game, though, and I like the suggestions here better. I had no idea he had another famous game with a Bryne! ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/8 "2012-06-17T18:40:35Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > His 1956 game, his brilliancy at age 13. Queen sacrifice to win. It’s a long game, though, and I like the suggestions here better. I had no idea he had another famous game with a Bryne! Donald: [Donald Byrne vs Bobby Fischer (1956) The Game of the Century](http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008361) Robert: [Robert Byrne vs Bobby Fischer (1963) The Brilliancy Prize](http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008419) ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/9 "2012-06-17T18:54:22Z")
Wow! Both great games. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/10 "2012-06-17T19:10:48Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Wow! Both great games. Glad those appealed to you. You might enjoy playing through some of the games at [Best Chess Games of All Time](http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1001601) It would take a chess-savvy crowd to appreciate the Immortal Zugzwang game by Nimzovich, but it is a truly amazing game. [Immortal Zugzwang Game - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immortal_Zugzwang_Game) ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/11 "2012-06-18T05:15:16Z")
I have to say, the game replays with commentary on that site are fantastic. Great feature. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/12 "2012-06-19T18:34:18Z")
> [@Lantern](#): > > How about Paul Morphy’s [Opera Game](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_game)? > > Relatively simple, lots of action and finishes with a queen sacrifice and mate. > > And it was played during an actual opera performance which could perhaps be worked into the enactment. Apparently the game created quite a stir. This was my immediate thought as well. I think you are unlikely to find a famous, short game with many more captures in it. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-chess-games-for-human-chess-game/625397/13 "2012-06-19T20:57:59Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > This was my immediate thought as well. I think you are unlikely to find a famous, short game with many more captures in it. Indeed. All White has at the finish is a Rook, Bishop and some pawns - but it’s enough! 😃 More captures or not, you’re also unlikely to find a better-known short game ending in mate. Tartakower versus Reti, in [this](http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1250654) game, ran into an eleven-move mate with a Queen sac, but that was more a case of a strong player treading on a banana skin than an exhibition of attacking play.