Chess game

Tournament of the best chess game of all time

By Connie P. Jones

We want to know your opinion! What is the best game in history?

We are pleased to announce Chess.com’s “Best Chess Game” tournament. We’ve identified 16 of the biggest and most acclaimed games of all time and categorized them into our tournament category.

Every other day we’ll post a new battle on our social media pages, and YOU get to vote for which game you think is the best. We’ll tally the votes and update our range here. Stay tuned to see the full progress of the tournament!

How can I participate?

Easy! We will publish, every two days, a battle on Facebook, Twitterand instagram 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 6:00 p.m. Central European Time. If you want to vote, just follow the battle instructions and vote with a like, retweet or share. Votes will be counted when the next battle is posted and the winning game will advance to the next round of the tournament.

Easy, right?

Agreements:

Round of 16:

  • Byrne Fischer against Botvinnik-Tal (April 28)

  • Paul Morphy-Consultants against Short-Timan (April 30)

  • Anderssen-Kieseritzky vs. Botvinnik-Capablanca (May 2)

  • Aronian-Anand against Lasker Thomas (May 4)

  • Kasparov-Topalov against Carlsen-Ernst (May 6)


  • Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov against Steinitz-Von Bardeleben(May 8)


  • Rotlewi-Rubinstein vs. Bogoljubov-Alekhine (May 10)


  • Karpov-Kasparov against Larsen-Spassky (May 12)

What is the BEST chess game of all time?













Quarter-finals:

  • Byrne Fischer vs. Morphy-Allies (May 14)


  • Botvinnik-Capablanca vs. Aronian-Anand (May 16)


  • Kasparov-Topalov vs. Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov (May 18)


  • Bogoljubov-Alekhine vs. Karpov-Kasparov (May 20)

Semi-finals

  • Byrne-Fischer vs. Aronian Anand (May 22)


  • Kasparov-Topalov vs. Karpov-Kasparov (May 24)

Final:

  • Aronian-Anand vs. Karpov-Kasparov (May 28)

What games are competing?

Here is the list of games with all the masterpieces (with a link to our analysis table) to decide the BEST game.

  • Donald Byrne versus Bobby Fischer, New York, 1956

  • Garry Kasparov against Veselin Topalov, Wijk aan Zee, 1999 (video analysis)

  • Paul Morphy versus Allies, Paris, 1858 (analysis)

  • Polugaevsky vs. Nezhmetdinov, Sochi, 1958 (analysis)

  • Adolf Anderssen versus Lionel Kiesertitzky, London, 1851 (video analysis)

  • Georg Rotlewi versus Akiba Rubinstein, Lodz, 1907 (analysis)

  • Levon Aronian vs Viswanathan Anand, Wijk aan Zee, 2013 (analysis)

  • Anatoly Karpov versus Garry Kasparov, Moscow (Wch 16), 1985

  • Bent Larsen versus Boris Spassky, Belgrade, 1970 (analysis)

  • Edward Lasker versus George Thomas, London, 1912 (video analysis)

  • Efim Bogoljubov v Alexander Alekhine, Hastings, 1922 (analysis)

  • Mikhail Botvinnik vs. Jose Raul Capablanca, AVRO, 1938 (analysis)

  • Wilhelm Steinitz versus Curt von Bardeleben, Hastings, 1895 (analysis)

  • Nigel Short versus Jan Timman, Tilburg, 1991 (video analysis)

  • Mikhail Botvinnik versus Mikhail Tal, Moscow (Wch 6), 1960 (analysis)

  • Magnus Carlsen versus Sipke Ernst, Wijk aan Zee, 2004 (analysis)

If you have any questions or doubts, please post comments here.

Connie P. Jones
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