Chess Lists

A much better list is here.

Longest decisive computer games
All the longest decisive games were, of course, computer vs. computer games with unbroken pawn structures and long, boring midgames. The longest possible game of chess is about 5900 moves.

Spike 1.0a Mainz - Fruit 2.2 Uri (2005, CEGT 40/40 2Ghz, 1-0)
300 moves. Would've continued much longer but for the 300-move limit of the tournament. I let Fritz 10 play from the final position until mate and the game result was 1-0, 326 moves.

Zap!Chess Paderborn x64 2CPU - Hiarcs 11 2CPU (2006, AMD4600WIN64 18'/40+18'/40+18/40 1, 0-1)
274 moves. A silly midgame with no action from move 84 to 129, until white broke the monotony by trading a rook for a bishop, and ended up losing the game for it much later.

Ufim 6.00 - Glaurung 0.2.3 (2005, CEGT 40/40 2Ghz, 1-0)
274 moves. A bizarre game in which the strong pieces danced around an island of immobile pawns in the center.

CM10th Yoda 2.5 - Gandalf 6.0 (2005, CEGT 40/40 2Ghz, 1-0)
270 moves. Not a single pawn was lost until move 202, and not another one was lost until the game's end, which should've been called a draw.

Longest decisive human games
Petrosian, Tigran - Milanovic, Danilo (2005, VI Ciudad de Dos Hermanas Internet, 0-1) link
199 moves. All pawns remain until move 105. Virtually no action again from move 128 until move 146. Finally, Milanovic trades his strong pieces to give his pawns a chance and succeeds.

Stepak, Yedael - Mashian, Yaakov (1980, Tel Aviv, 1-0) link
193 moves. Locked pawn structure, with very slow action after move 65. Finally, two promoted pawns duel with white's extra pawn proving decisive.

Longest drawn human games
Nikolic, Ivan - Arsovic, Goran (1989, Belgrade, ½-½) link
269 moves. Engaging play all the way until move 95, but the rest of the game consists of each player hoping the other will make a silly mistake.

Herrera, Martin - Gonzalez, Bolivar (2004, Internet Section 09B g/8'+2" blitz 4, ½-½)
211 moves. A blitz game with a pointlessly long rook vs. rook endgame.

Possible best games of all time
Kasparov, Garry - Topalov, Veselin (1999, Wijk aan Zee, 1-0) link
Perhaps the most analytically complex game ever played by humans. A masterpiece, and "Kasparov's Immortal."

Byrne, Donald - Fischer, Robert (1956, Rosenwald Memorial, 0-1) link
The "Game of the Century", exciting, surprising, and brilliant at all times.

Bronstein, David - Ljubojevic, Ljubo (1973, Petropolis, 1-0) link
A complicated and brilliant game. A modern masterpiece.

Reti, Richard - Alekhine, Alexander (1925, Baden Baden, 0-1) link
A bizarre opening and a stunning queenless attack.

Ivanchuk, Vassily - Yusupov, Artur (1991, Brussel, 0-1) link
One of the greatest attacks in all chess history.

Tal, Mikhail - Aronin, Lev (1957, Moscow, ½-½) link
More than a dozen exclaims (surprising, good moves) from both players ultimately results in an unsettling draw.

Botvinnik, Mikhail - Capablanca, Jose (1938, Netherlands, 1-0) link
Botvinnik's immortal game, defeating the nearly indefeatable Capablanca.

Lilienthal, Andre - Ragozin, Viacheslav (1935, Moscow, 0-1) link
A slow-burning masterpiece of patient development and strategy. No mistakes; merely, a great strategy barely bested by an even greater strategy.

Bogolyubov, Efim - Alekhine, Alexander (1922, Hastings, 0-1) link
An incredibly unusual game of tight tactics that ends in a near win by black.

Petrosian, Tigran - Unzicker, Wolfgang (1960, Hamburg, 1-0) link
Black made several questionable moves, but in the end Petrosian found some incredible superior moves than computers still don't find today.

Tal, Mikhail - Fischer, Robert (1959, Yugoslavia, 1-0) link
Creative and daring play by Tal finally puts Fischer in zugzwang.

Capablanca, Jose - Marshall, Frank (1918, New York, 1-0) link
A brand new trap invented by Marshall, creatively defended by Copablanca, and a surprising ending. Brilliance on both sides.

Spassky, Boris - Bronstein, David (1960, URS, 1-0) link
A daring game by Spassky. For example, to gain one tempo, he sacrifices a rook!

Rotlwei, George - Rubinstein, Akiba (1907, Lodz, 0-1) link
This is truly the ART of chess.

Polugaevsky, Lev - Nezhmetdinov, Rashid (1958, Sochi 28th RSFSR, 0-1) link
Though Polugaeyevsky's opening is unsound, this is a terrifying claustrophobic and bidirectionally manipulative game.

Tate, Emory - Ashley, Maurice (1993, New York, ½-½) link
Ashley barely weathers Tate's attack until he finds a magical combination that leads to a humorous ending.

Best short games of all time
Less than 25 moves.

Morphy, Paul - Karl, Duke (1858, Paris, 1-0) link
The famous "Opera Game" between inexperienced players ends up being an excellent and beautiful early model of development and attack. White mates on move 16 with his only two remaining strong pieces!

Glucksberg - Najdorf, Miguel (1929, Warsaw, 0-1) link
Black sacrifices several pieces to mate with a pawn.

Pillsbury, Harry - Winawer, Simon (1896, Budapest, 1-0) link
A beautiful and totally original game in its time.

Reti, Richard - Tartakower, Savielly (1910, 1-0) link
An incredible sucker punch from nowhere.

Lasker, Edward - Thomas, George (1912, 1-0)
After ten reasonable moves, white forces an 8-move mate with move 11. Could've also ended with a mate by long castle. Very unique and innovative.

Canal, Esteban - [anonymous] (1934, Simultaneous, 1-0) link
A terrific, sacrificing Boden's mate.

Geet, Dirk - Guyt (1967, Paramaribo, 1-0) link
A bizarre and relentless kingside attack proves successful.

Janowski, David - Samisch, Friedrich (1925, Marienbad, 1-0) link
Justifiably winner of the 1st Brilliancy Prize.

Reti, Richard - Capablanca, Jose (1928, Berlin, 0-1) link
In 1928, Capablanca plays like a supercomputer. After one minor long-term strategical weakness, Capablanca crushes Reti.

Best moves
Robert Fischer's 11...Na4!! against David Byrne at New York, 1956. link
Though the real shocker appears to be 17...Be6!! (Fischer loses his queen for apparently nothing), move 17 is really just a continuation of the plan begun with Na4; an incredibly long plan, with much complexity, and without any assurance - only an intuitive understanding of strategy that did finally work.. on move 41!

Akiba Rubinstein's 22...Rxc3!! against Goerge Rotlewi at Lodz, 1907. link
Black sacrifices his queen, then his rook in the next move, and finishes with a brilliant combinatin that forces white to resign.

Frank Marshall's 23...Qg3!! against Stepfan Levitsky at Breslau, 1912. link
By suiciding his queen in front of 3 pawns and white's queen, Marshall actually wins the game. Levitsky had the dignity to resign rather than play through it, and spectators showered the board with gold coins to reward Marshall for his brilliance.

Garry Kasparov's 24. Rxd4!! against Veselin Topalov at Wijkaan Zee, 1999. link
Kasparov sacrifices a rook to begin a king hunt that takes about 20 moves to realize, one of the longest combinations in all of chess.

Viacheslav Ragozin's 27...Rxe3!! against Andre Lilienthal at Moscow, 1935. link
Ragozin sacrifices a lot of material starting here for a strategic payoff that doesn't become clear for another dozen moves!

Rashid Nezhmetdinov's 24...Rxf4!! against Lev Polugaevsky at Sochi, 1958. link
Nezhmetdinov sacrifices his queen to begin a complex 9-move combination through the dense center.

Mikhail Botvinnik's 30.Ba3!! against Jose Capablanca at ARVO, 1938. link
Having no access to Capablanca's king, Botvinnik initates a series of sacrifices to gain access to the winning combination.

Boris Spassky's 14...Rh1!! against Bent Larsen at Belgrade, 1970. link
Black sacrifices a whole rook to gain one tempo for pushing his pawn, which ends up making all the difference.

Earliest recorded games
Castellvi, Francesco di - Vinyoles, Narciso (1490, Valencia, 1-0) link
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.h3 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 e6 8.Qxb7 Nbd7 9.Nb5 Rc8 10.Nxa7 Nb6 11.Nxc8 Nxc8 12.d4 Nd6 13.Bb5+ Nxb5 14.Qxb5+ Nd7 15.d5 exd5 16.Be3 Bd6 17.Rd1 Qf6 18.Rxd5 Qg6 19.Bf4 Bxf4 20.Qxd7+ Kf8 21.Qd8# 1-0

Louis, Lucena - Quintana (1515, Huesca ESP, 1-0)
1.c3 Nc6 2.d4 e6 3.e4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bh3 Bxh3 7.Nxh3 Qd7 8.Nf4 Nf6 9.Qf3 Bxf4 10.Bxf4 O-O-O 11.O-O Qh3 12.Bg5 Ng4 13.Qg2 Qxg2+ 14.Kxg2 f6 15.Bd2 Rhe8 16.Re1 Rxe1 17.Bxe1 Re8 18.Nd2 Nh6 19.Nf1 Nf5 20.Bd2 Nd6 21.h4 Ne4 22.Be3 g5 23.hxg5 fxg5 24.f3 Nd6 25.Bxg5 Re2+ 26.Kh3 Rxb2 27.Ne3 Nb5 28.Nxd5 Rc2 29.Re1 Nxc3 30.Re8+ Kd7 31.Nf6+ Kd6 32.Bf4+ 1-0

Biggest blunders
Marco resigns against Popiel with an obvious winning move staring him in the face. link

World Champion Vladimir Kramnik fails to defend against a mate in one from Deep Fritz in 2006. link

Bent Larsen's 20...exd5 against Sergio Giardelli at Pinamer in 2004. link

Levon Aronian's 24. exd4 against Peter Svidler at Moscow in 2006. link

Stuart Conquest's 87...Ke6 walks into a one-move mate from Alexander Cherniaev from Hastings in 2004. link

Glenn Lambert resigns in a winning position against Alexander Kotov at Lord John Cup in 1977. link

Igor Samarin resigns against Vladimir Antoshin, not seeing his own 2-move combination to crush his opponent. link

Adolf Anderssen's 29...Kf7 sets up a mate in one for Howard Staunton at London in 1851. link

Tigran Petrosian's 36. Ng5 loses his queen for nothing against David Bronstein at Amsterdam in 1956. link

Viswanathan Anand forced to resign after 6 moves against Alonso Zapata at Biel in 1988. link

Vassily Ivanchuck's 13...Bxf2+ against Liviu Nisipeanu at Las Vegas in 1999. link

Alexander Morozevich's 64. b5 against Teimour Radjabov at ACP Rapid in 2007. link

Famous games/matches
A longer list here

World Chess Championship 1972
Robert Fischer vs. Boris Spassky. At the height of the cold war, American Fischer defeats Soviet Spassky, ending 26-year Soviet domination.

Deep Blue - Kasparov, Garry (1996, Philadelphia, 1-0) link
For the first time, a computer beats a World Chess Champion, signaling the easy dominance of computers over all human players.

Byrne, Donald - Fischer, Robert (1956, Rosenwald Memorial, 0-1) link
The "Game of the Century", exciting, surprising, and brilliant at all times.

Morphy, Paul - Karl, Duke (1858, Paris, 1-0) link
Morphy's brilliant move kills the newspapers and prompts a shower of gold coins on the board.

Bogolyubov, Efim - Alekhine, Alexander (1922, Hastings, 0-1) link
A popular choice for greatest game ever.

Glucksberg - Najdorf, Miguel (1929, Warsaw, 0-1) link
In the "Polish Immortal", Najdorf sacrifices 4 pieces to mate with a pawn.

Kasparov, Garry - Topalov, Veselin (1999, Wijk aan Zee, 1-0) link
Perhaps the most brilliant game ever, this game achieved wide press coverage.

Kasparov, Garry - The World (1999, Internet, 1-0) link
Kasparov challenges the world to Internet chess (24 hrs for each player's move). Majority vote decided World Team moves. The World Team performed much better than expected, especially after their 10...Qe6, which had never been played before in a recorded game. In the endgame, Kasparov won only by having his lone pawn two squares more advanced than black's lone pawn.

Strange games
Some of these games are real, some are probably composed.

Medina-Garcia, Antonio - Gligoric, Svetozar (1968, Palma de Mallorca, 0-1) link
A legitimate game with a legitametly forced resignation and no captures!

Boyd, Stephen - Glimbrant, Torbjorn (1992, Alicante, ½-½) link
Black, in a losing position, forces white to capture his three remaining strong pieces and thereby forces a stalemate! Also see these games: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9, but especially these: 1 2 3.

Fischer, Robert - Petrosian, Tigran (1959, Zagreb, ½-½) link
A stimulating battle with a four-queen endgame!

Loo, Christophe Van de - Hesseling (1983, Holland, 1-0) link
A wild theoretical novelty with one of the longest king walks on record.

Belopolsky, Boris - Kogan, Boris (1984, Columbus, 1-0) link
Six queens arrive throughout the course of the game.

Nezhmetdinov, Rashid - Chernikov, Oleg (1962, Rostov, 1-0 link
A very unnecessary queen sacrifice on move 13 ultimately leads to very uncoordinated piece positions for black, and white finally takes advantage to win on move 33!

Hohmeister, Jens - Frank, Tena (1993, Bruchkoebel MVT, ½-½) link
A composed game. At move 13, every piece is stalemated!

Konstansky - Alekhine, Alexander (1913, Kazan, 0-1) link
A wild game that ends with a tower of black pieces mating white.

Blake, Joseph - Hooke (1891, London, 1-0) link
Black's king is forced to talk to white's side and be mated starting at move 8!

Sofrevski, Jovan - Geller, Efim (1968, Skopje, ½-½) link
An complete pawn wall divides the forces until move 107.

Lasker, Edward - Alekhine, Alexander (1913, London, 0-1) link
Another four queens game, wherein white is mated by two queens.

Adams, Edwin - Torre-Repetto, Carlos (1920, New Orleans, 1-0) link
White throws its queen away several times, but black never bites, and eventually white wins. Probably a joke game.

Wiede - Goetz, Alphonse (1880, Strassburg, 0-1) link
Black mates by underpromotion on move 7! See this mating technique in better games here and here.

Traxler, Karel - Samanek, Jan (1900, Osyky, 1-0) link
An entirely mirrored game until the last move by white, which mates.

Weenink, Henri - Gans, Louis (1930, Haarlem, 1-0) link
White wins with one of the most complex king walks ever.

Seirawan, Yasser - Jun, Xu (1988, Thessaloniki, ½-½) link
Black's f-pawn remains motionless until move 172!

Alekhine, Alexander - [anonymous] (1915, Moscow, 1-0) link
A five queen game. Also, this game and this game.

Alterman, Boris - Deep Fritz (2000, KC Human-Machine, 1-0) link
Alterman builds a complete and straight wall of pawns on row 4 against the computer on move 26, and goes on to win.

Petrosian, Tigran - Aronin, Lev (1961, Moscow, 1-0) link
White's surviving pieces return home and on move 33, white has only one piece in play, but wins 12 moves later.

Harper, Bruce - Zuk, Robert (1971, Halloween Open, 0-1) link
White locks his king inside a total fortress of pieces for most of the game, and eventually loses.

Post, Ehrhardt - Nimzowitsch, Aron (1905, Barmen Masters B, ½-½) link
As of move 28, it's a four rooks game. A draw isn't necessary until 70 moves later.

Botvinnik, Bikhail - Gligoric, Svetozar (1956, Olympiad Moscow, 1-0) link
After an immediate kingside attack with pawns, the king is hunted to the opposite corner of the board!

Lipschutz, Samuel - Bird, Henry (1889, USA Congress New York, ½-½) link
White's king and pawns remain motionless and white's knight dances around B2 for nearly 100 moves.

Karpov, Anatoli - Kasparov, Garry (1993, Linares, 0-1) link
By move 22, all 7 of white's strong pieces return to the first row.

Clemens - Eisenschmidt (1890, Dorpat, 1-0) link
The four knights line up diagonally, and white checkmates by pulling the four knights into a tight square.

Janny - Gudju, Janny (1920, Bucharest, 1-0 link
Black's king is forced to capture white's pieces all the way to a1, where he is forced to resign.

Karpov, Anatoli - Kasparov, Garry (1985, Moscow, 1-0) link
White makes 18 consecutive white-square moves, and then wins.

Gundersen, Gunnar - Faul (1928, Melbourne, 1-0) link
Mate by en-pessant!

Ballard, W - Fagan, Louisa (188?, ?, 1-0) link
By move 28, white has given away all his pawns, only to mate on move 30!

Zhang, Zhong - Timoshchenko, Gennadi (2002, Bled Olympiad, ½-½) link
115 moves without either side losing a pawn or checking.

Alekhine, Alexander - Nenarokov, Vladimir (1907, Moscow Club Autumn, 0-1) link
By move 38, white has quadrupled pawns.

Reshevsky, Samuel - Treysman, George (1938, New York, 1-0) link
After move 18, white knight is at d6, and black's night at h8. Both stay there until the end, move 42.

Upmark, Johan - Jhansson, Robin (1995, Borlange, ½-½) link
A composed game showing the surprisingly complex, fastest possible stalemate. Art.

Vidmar, Milan - Maroczy, Geza (1932, Slovakia, ½-½) link
Two bishop underpromotions in one game.

[anonymous] - Abrahams, Gerald (1929, ENG, 0-1) link
Mate by long castle.

Mackenzie, George - Mason, James (1882, London, ½-½) link
72 consecutive queen moves by black.

Kudrin, Sergey - Douven, Rudy (1989, Palma de Majorca, 1-0) link
Three en-pessants in one game.

Britton - Crouch (1984, ?, ?)
Black checks white 43 consecutive times!

Pospisilova - Kopecek (1968, Brno, 0-1) link
A strange opening, strange middlegame trades, and the white king is chased to g7 before he resigns.

Hamppe, Carl - Meitner, Philipp (1872, Vienna, ½-½) link
The white king is immediately chased throughout the dangerous center and a draw is forced.

Day, Lawrence - Timman, Jan (1980, Malta, ½-½) link
White saves his own ass for a draw by underpromoting to a knight.

Winawer, Simon - Rosenthal, Samuel (1883, Tnmt London, ½-½) link
Drawn due to perpetual as early as move 9.

Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan (2004, Wijkaan Zee Corus Chess, ½-½) link
A violent, aggressive, and wild game ends suddenly in a draw with most pieces still on the board at move 25.

Chigorin, Mikhail - Schlechter, Carl (1905, Ostend, ½-½) link
On move 45, white opts to force a draw by simultaneously getting his king out of check and putting the other king in check, which forces a zugzwang draw on the next move.

Horowitz, Israel - Pavey, Max (1951, New York, ½-½) link
Black ends the game with a combination that finishes with himself far superior in material, but accidentally stalemating white.

MacDonnell, George - Anderssen, Adolf (1862, London, ½-½) link
An incomprehensible game from start to finish, ending with a charming forced draw.

Petrosian, Arshak - Hasaj (1970, Schilde, ½-½) link
Severely down on material, black builds a literally impenetrable wall with 7 pawns and a bishop. Possibly the funniest game ending I've ever seen.

Casper - Heckert (1975, East German Championship, 1-0) link
Two queen promotions on move 7.

Chigorin, Mikhail - Caro, Horatio (1898, Vienna, 1-0) link
Black exposes and chases the white king early on, but fails to mate and finally loses.

Kujoth, Richard - Fashingbauer (1950, Milwaukee, 1-0) link
White spends nearly all of his first dozen moves on four pawns, and wins on move 16!

Luther, Thomas - Thinius, Marco (2004, Hoeckendorf, ½-½) link
The game finishes with a diamond of knights.

Ponomariov, Rulan - Anand, Viswanathan (2003, Cap D'Agde, 0-1) link
On move 27, black's bishop is trapped among 4 of its own pawns.

Korchnoi, Viktor - Petrosian, Tigran (1974, Odessa, 1-0) link
At move 25, most of white's pieces are lined up on the 2-file, and yet white wins on move 51.

Steel, Robert - [anonymous] (1886, Calcutta, 1-0) link
The white king walks up to a7 to assist with the win.

Morozevich, Alexander - Volokitin, Andrei (2006, Biel International Festival, 1-0) link
At move 14, there are 7 pieces on the e-file. At move 33, it's black's queen against white's rook and knight, and white patiently works toward a win on move 85.

Most consecutive hits
Habibi, Ali - Weber, K (1990, Baden-Baden op 4, 1-0)
12 consecutive hits and a very strange opening.

Miralles, Gilles - Begovac, Franja (1995, Switzerland, ½-½)
11 consecutive hits. A clumsy game.

The History of Chess
Major events, listed chronologically.
c. 600 A.D. Ancient chess is invented in India.
1173. Algebraic chess notation introduced.
c. 1475. Ancient chess rules evolved into modern rules.
1497. Earliest surviving chess theory book: "Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess" by Luis Ramirez.
1170. The Turk fools people as the first chess-playing machine, when in fact a strong player hid inside and controlled the pieces.
1783. Philidor plays three games simultaneously without seeing the boards.
1851. First modern chess tournament held, in London, and won by underdog Adolf Anderssen.
1886. First official World Chess Championship held, won by Wilhelm Steinitz.
1916-1924. Cuban José Raúl Capablanca challenges German dominance of chess with an 8-year streak of undefeated tournament play.
1948. FIDE takes over the World Champion tournaments. The first is won by Mikhail Botvinnik, who begins Russian dominance of chess.
1972. Robert Fischer (USA) defeats Boris Spassky (USSR) for the World Championship in the "Match of the Century", bringing chess unprecedented popularity. For several years, Fischer played at 100 Elo points above his competitors.
1985. Garry Kasparov takes and holds the title of World Champion for two decades and achieves the highest-ever Elo rating held by a human: 2851.
1996. A computer beats a reigning world champion: IBM's Deep Blue beats Garry Kasparov in 1 game, though Kasparov won the match. The next year, an upgraded Deep Blue wins the rematch 3½–2½. Kasparov invents Arimaa, a chess variant more difficult for computers to play.
2006. Several top players, including World Champion Kramnik, thoroughly lose matches to computer players. Consumer software can dominate all human players from now on.