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[what is this?]

100 Best Chess Games of the 20th Century,Ranked! by GM A. Soltis, McFarland 2000. A beauty pageant of chess games! All ranked and annotated. Soltis' choice of the best played games from the last 100 years. He evaluates thousands of candidates and in the end, these are the 100 beauties that made the show. The games were judged primarily for their moves and ranked based on -Soundness (Accuracy of the attack and precision of defense, Very few if any second-best moves, etc.) -Aesthetics (This criteria is highly personal, it does not necessarily mean "brilliant", what one player may call brilliant another can call "routine mayhem." For the author, the criteria of brilliance do not necessarily intersect with those of a well played game. For example, demonstrations of great strategic depth, such as games #16, 40, 54, 77 and 84 can be praised many ways-but not perhaps as "brilliant." Defining the word is difficult.) -Originality -Opposition -Breadth/depth "No attempt was made to break ties and no particular significance should be attached to the order of games that received the same score. No attempt was made to balance the selection according to period, nationality of players, or opening." --The Author <Players die, the tournaments are forgotten, but the games of the great artists of the board remain for posterity, making eternal remembrance of their creators.> -- Mikhail Tal <Every great player has a game which became his visiting card to chess history.> -- Y. Razuvaev These are they... 101 games, 1902-1999 Birth of Modern Chess & The Romantic Era <"The game is so ancient that, by that distinction alone, seems taken beyond the category of games altogether, and it has been said that it probably would have perished long ago, had it not been destined to live forever."> -Henry Edward Bird The God Euphron created the game of chess, and Ares presented it as a gift to the forest nymph Caissa in an attempt to win her affection, tells one greek-mythology inspired story. Centuries before that, Damiano believed and wrote in his book that the game was invented by King Xerxes I of Persia. Chess has a deeply rich history but truth is, its precise origins remain a mystery. It is impossible to say when the game was first brought into this world for none of these stories have any solid foundation for their support. It is a pastime of very remote antiquity. Most historians agree it first made its appearance in 6th Century India, a game then known as Chaturanga played between four individuals, moves decided by dice. Chaturanga was possibly inspired by an even older Indian dice-playing game called Ashtapada. For the Indians, the game was invented by a queen of Ceylon (Lanka). The game then spread to Persia (now Iran) where it was modified into a two player game called Shatranj; and southern Europe, where it evolved in 15th century Spain into the style we play it today. http://history.chess.free.fr/origin... <The Birth of Modern Chess, A brief history> Before chess was chess, it was this: http://www.chess-poster.com/english... 1220- Chess is no longer played with dice to determine moves. 1275- Option of pawn two-square advance first introduced in Italy. 1422- Manuscript states that stalemate is a draw. Before this time, it was considered a loss for the side being stalemated. 1455-1600(?)- Castling is played as two separate moves, later introduced as single-move by Ruy Lopez in his mid-16th century manuscript. 1475- Beginning of modern chess takes place in southern Europe: Vizier replaced by Dama (Queen) and Elephant replaced by Alfil (Bishop). Bishop promoted to advance/retreat any number of diagonal cells & Queen obtains power of moving along all lengths of diagonals, ranks and files. 1490- Special pawn capture "En Passant" is introduced. 1497- Lucena publishes the modern rules in 'Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez con cl Iuegos de Partido' Salamanca, Spain. Early 1500(?)- Pawn promotion to higher power takes effect. Before this time, upon reaching the 8th rank, a pawn was only allowed promotion to bishop. <The Romantic Age> Although Ruy Lopez de Segura-born circa 1530-was the first analyst, it is said that the modern age began with Philidor, the first profound thinker. I leave you with what is perhaps Philidor's best known game followed by some historically interesting 19th century romantics-(In playing over these games, it is best not to ask too many questions about the defender's play, for defensive technique was in the dark ages and little understood even by the best players.) 42 games, 1790-1899 Chess Informant: 100 Golden Games + 10 Best Every game that received golden game status from the first publication in 1966-to present. *In 2008, Informant put out 'Best of the Best 1000' to celebrate their 100th issue and nominate the 10 best golden games. Those are at the top of this list. For the 10 best of vol. 1-24: Game Collection: Chess Informant: 640 Best Games - Part 1 Game Collection: Chess Informant: 640 Best Games - Part 2 Game Collection: Chess Informant: 640 Best Games - Part 3 The 100 Golden: 100 games, 1966-2007 Mexicans vs. the World Elite Mexicans defeat the best. Includes victories over world-class calibers Anand, Shirov, Alekhine, Tal, And of course, the immortal "Windmill" combination over Lasker. Victorias de jugadores Mexicanos sobre calibres mundiales de la talla de Anand, Shirov, Alekhine, Tal, etc. Y a huevo, la inmortal del Molino sobre Lasker. 34 games, 1925-2010 Repetición de amores E arte de axedres x Lucena <Repeticion de amores E arte de axedres con CL juegos de partido> "Discourse on love and art of chess with 150 positions" published in Salamanca, Spain in 1497 by Lucena... and the rest is history. This ancient book is the Pachamama of all texts on the modern game. In the last quarter of the XV Century, the rules of modern play had already been in use but for the first time they were unified into a book. 150 compositions. 75 in the old rules (Shatranj or "del viejo" in the author's words) and 75 in the modern rules ("de la dama" in the author's words). I will attempt to decode all 75 diagrams in the modern rules and show them here; and those meant to be solved with the old rules that can also work under modern rules as well. <Nota bene> I found that diagrams #1,2,3,5,9 (all mate in one) appear to be "delayed mates" for the words of the author are very clear: <Lucena: "The white have the hand and has said he will check and mate black in two shots. not more or less."> Also, in position #2, black's pawn is moving up, so if you find yourself stuck on some, try solving with black at the bottom. juego de partido #1, pagina 100. mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #2, pg. 101 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #3, pg. 102 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #4, pg. 103 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #5, pg. 104 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #6, pg. 105 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #7, pg. 106 mate en dos de blancas white mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #8, pg. 107 mate en dos de blancas wht mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #9, pg. 108 mate en dos de blancas wht mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #10, pg. 109 juegan negras, mate en dos de blancas blk to play, wht mates in 2 click for larger view juego de partido #21, pg. 120 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #24, pg. 123 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 (delayed mate) click for larger view juego de partido #25, pg. 124 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #27, pg. 126 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #28, pg. 127 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #29, pg. 128 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #32, pg. 131 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #39, pg. 138 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #44, pg. 143 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #45, pg. 144 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #46, pg. 145 mate en 3 de blancas con peon wht checkmates with a pwn in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #47, pg. 146 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #48, pg. 147 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #49, pg. 148 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #50, pg. 149 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #51, pg. 150 mate en 3 de blancas w/m in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #53, pg. 152 mate en 3 de blancas w/m in 3(delayed mate) click for larger view juego de partido #54, pg. 153 mate en 3 de blancas con peon del b6 wht mates in 3 with b6 pawn click for larger view juego de partido #55, pg. 154 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view juego de partido #58, pg. 159 mate en 3 de blancas con peon de b6 wht mates in 3 with b6 pwn click for larger view juego de partido #59, pg. 160 mate en 3 de blancas wht mates in 3 click for larger view pg. 178 mate en 4 click for larger view pg. 179 mate en 4 con peon d5 mate in 4 with d5 pawn click for larger view wht mates in 5 (The original smothered mate. First example ever.) click for larger view 3 games, 1475-1515