Annotated chess game: The Evergreen Game

« TAP TO LOG IN

ANNOTATED GAME

The Evergreen Game
Anderssen (White) vs. Dufresne (Black)
Annotated by: dariustheking (1217)
Chess opening: Evans gambit (C52), compromised defence

Interactive

•

Show all comments

•

All annotated games

•

View chessboard as:

Today let me show you another masterpiece by the German Master Adolf Aderssen. This game was played between Anderssen and Dufresne in Berlin in 1852. The game was so enteraning and full of beautiful sacrifices that the first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz later identified this game as being "evergreen in Anderssen's laurel wreath". Since then this game has become famous in the history of chess as "The Evergreen Game".

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4	This is the Evan's Gambit- a popular opening in the 1800s, and is still played occasionally today. White gives up material to gain an advantage in development.
	2 comments marinvukusic (2161) on 16-Oct-07: Quoted from Wikipedia, which has a better annotation anyway - en.wikipedia.org archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: By decoying the bishop, White hopes to add impetus to his development - in particular his seizure of a major chunk of the centre. Lasker favoured declining the gambit by 4...Bb6, but this seems to smack of pusillanimity (Bill Hartston called it "craven").


4... Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d3	Black did not capture the Pawn on c3 as this would have given more development advantage to white.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: This move hopes to deflect the Q or B onto a poorish square, giving Black time to restore some balance. But Anderssen seems to have been one of those players who understood and valued the time factor in chess.


8. Qb3	Anderssen is not interested in the Pawn on c3. Instead, he eyes up on the black king.



8... Qf6 9. e5 Qg6	Obviously, Dufresne could not capture the e5 Pawn as he would have lost a piece: 9...Nxe5 10. Re1 d6 11. Qa4 forking the King and Bishop.



10. Re1 Nge7 11. Ba3 b5	Rather than defending his own position, Black offers a counter- sacrifice to activate his Queen's Rook with tempo. Here, 11... a6 would have been better.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: At worst Black probably would have been happy to relieve the pressure along the a2-g8 diagonal. Possibly Dufresne judged that 1...a6 would have been too slow.


12. Qxb5 Rb8 13. Qa4 Bb6	Here Black connot castle as he loses a piece after 13... 0-0 14. Bxe7 Nxe7 15. Qxa5.



14. Nbd2 Bb7	Dufresne gets the first opportunity in the game to castle, which he ignores. This delay in castling lands him a lot of trouble in the rest of the game.
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: A question of priorities. Ought Black get his last minor piece into the action whilst he has the chance, or bring his king into safety betimes? It seems likely Black thought it might later to be harder to "get in" the bishop move than to castle.


15. Ne4 Qf5 16. Bxd3 Qh5 17. Nf6+	This is a beautiful sacrifice to open up the lines for attacking the uncastled King.
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2332) on 16-Aug-08: Did Mr Dufresne see this coming? I strongly suspect he did (the 15...Qf5 move is suggestive), but thought the lines that would open up be a help to his own counterattack. That b7-bishop has a prominent role to play in Dufresne's idea. redfoxrising (2149) on 04-Jul-12: This is an advanced sacrifice that he may of seen, but no matter the pesky knight was either taken to stop the check or King to g8 which would allow another check and then taking his rook on b8. what would of happened if Kinged moved to d8?


17... gxf6 18. exf6 Rg8 19. Rad1 Qxf3	Taking the advantage of the pinned position of the g2 Pawn, Dufrense grabbed the f3- Knight. But he unconsciously set his foot on the cunning trap laid by Anderssen. Instead, 19... Qh3 would have given more resistance.
	2 comments lighttotheright (1200) on 16-Oct-07: This is one of my favorite games in history. Saying that, I really wish you had done a better job on this annotation. At least give us something original. Since you didn't...I will ****** 19. ...Bd4 would have led to a draw. White cannot take the bishop with the Queen. His only choice is to take it with either the Knight on f3 or the c pawn. I cannot find a good alternative other than to take the bishop. Yet if White takes the bishop, none of the mating combinations work and black can force a draw through repeat of a position. 19. ...Bd4 20. Nxd4 Rxg2+ 21. Kxg2 Nxd4 22. Re4 Qg4+ 23. Kf1 Bxe4 24. Bxe4 Qe2+ 25. Kg1 Qg4+ and it is a draw. Or 19. ...Bd4 20. cxd4 and now White's pawn gets in the way of his planned mating sequence. Now Dufrense grabbing the f3 knight idea works somewhat, 20. ...Qxf3 21. Be4 Rxg2+ 22. Kh1 Rxh2+ 23. Kxh2 Qxf2+ 24. Kh3 Bc8 for a potential attack on the white King again. 25. Bg2 (White doesn't have a choice, else Black wins quickly). 25. ...Qf4 and there is not much White can try. 26. Rxe7+ Nxe7 27. Re1 c5 now 28. Bxc5 is best. 28. ...Qh6+ 29. Kg3 Qg5+ 30. Kh3 Qh5+ 31. Kg3 Qg5+ ...and it is a draw. archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: I hadn't seen lighttotheright's comments before looking at this (I am rather fond of this game as well - full of tactical schemes, and if Dufresne's defensive technique was perhaps deficient, you have to admire the creativity of his counterattacking ideas). That Black had a drawing chance at this point is a vindication of his play so far.


20. Rxe7+ Nxe7 21. Qxd7+	This is the whole idea behind the Knight sacrifice on f3
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: The whole thing hangs on a knife-edge: White is threatened with mate in one. It can hardly be stopped other than by checkmating the Black king! redfoxrising (2149) on 04-Jul-12: This move is so sensational! King takes the queen!


21... Kxd7 22. Bf5+	Double checks are dangerous the force the king to move.
	1 comment redfoxrising (2149) on 04-Jul-12: Check! and o yea a discovered check! This is a most exciting chess game!


22... Ke8	22... Kc6 loses to 23. Bd7#.



23. Bd7+ Kf8 24. Bxe7#
	3 comments sarasani (1868) on 16-Oct-07: gee dude, check your spelling... archduke_piccolo (2332) on 04-Jul-08: Rather a rare type of mate, at that. Sometimes cited (along with the Immortal Game) as an exemplar not only of Anderssen's belligerent tactical style, but also of the deficient defensive techniques prevailing in the mid 19th century. In my view the loser here contributed a great deal by his own inventiveness and pugnacity to a high quality fighting game. One of the best. redfoxrising (2149) on 04-Jul-12: This waas a great game, I would like to see a fresh anotation of this game that just explains what happened and why. All the history from wiki and where ever leads to a most uninteresting anotation. I went thru the game and said nothing untill I saw the whole gamea second time. ( I then put in some comments after). This is a must see game! I'm glad I came across this game!