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22 most instructive games ever played
Compiled by sydfhd
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Collection of best chess games ever played. Games are NOT ranked, they are sorted chronologically.

A witty queen sac for a mate.
Greco vs NN, 1623 
(B00) Uncommon King's Pawn Opening, 8 moves, 1-0

Pawns are the soul of chess!
A Smith vs Philidor, 1790 
(C24) Bishop's Opening, 33 moves, 0-1

Frenchman's most famous win.
McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834 
(B32) Sicilian, 37 moves, 0-1

This game lasted for 9 1/2 hours!
Saint-Amant vs Staunton, 1843 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 33 moves, 0-1

A relentless king hunt!
F A Hoffmann vs A Petrov, 1844 
(C53) Giuoco Piano, 20 moves, 0-1

The immortal game!
Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, 1851  
(C33) King's Gambit Accepted, 23 moves, 1-0

A lot of sacs(2 pawns, 2 knights, 1 rook, and queen sac!)
Anderssen vs Dufresne, 1852 
(C52) Evans Gambit, 20 moves, 1-0

The Gold Coin Game
S Levitsky vs Marshall, 1912 
(B23) Sicilian, Closed, 23 moves, 0-1

Great victory over a great opponent.
Lasker vs Capablanca, 1914 
(C68) Ruy Lopez, Exchange, 42 moves, 1-0

Extreme example of "weak square complex"
Alekhine vs Yates, 1922  
(D63) Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, 38 moves, 1-0

Immortal zugzwang game!
Saemisch vs A Nimzowitsch, 1923  
(E18) Queen's Indian, Old Main line, 7.Nc3, 25 moves, 0-1

wise as anything!
Reti vs K Treybal, 1923 
(A14) English, 29 moves, 1/2-1/2

a stirring upset againist a future world champion.
C H Alexander vs Botvinnik, 1946 
(C18) French, Winawer, 41 moves, 1-0

14-year-old evans at marshall chess club.
Evans vs C Pilnick, 1946 
(C13) French, 29 moves, 1-0

bogart lost by a mere pawn.
Koltanowski vs H Bogart, 1952 
(C01) French, Exchange, 41 moves, 1-0

Good defence can be as exiting and exhausting as attack.
Spassky vs D Ciric, 1962 
(B29) Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein, 29 moves, 1-0

Tal's peice sac on move 15!
Tal vs Gligoric, 1963 
(B99) Sicilian, Najdorf, 7...Be7 Main line, 43 moves, 1-0

Sustained initiative and a flurry of combinations by Tal.
Tal vs Smyslov, 1959 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 26 moves, 1-0

Famous in intuitive sac by tal.
Botvinnik vs Tal, 1960 
(E69) King's Indian, Fianchetto, Classical Main line, 47 moves, 0-1

A nice illustration of how to use the bishops to switch attacks
Smyslov vs Spassky, 1960 
(B05) Alekhine's Defense, Modern, 29 moves, 1-0

One of the games Kasparov won brilliantly.
Kasparov vs Karpov, 1990 
(C92) Ruy Lopez, Closed, 57 moves, 1-0

Kasparov busted by deep blue in just 19 moves!
Deep Blue vs Kasparov, 1997 
(B17) Caro-Kann, Steinitz Variation, 19 moves, 1-0

22 games

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