In October 1956, a thirteen-year-old boy sat down against one of the strongest masters in the United States. Seventeen moves later he left his queen to be taken, on purpose. Twenty-four moves after that, his opponent was checkmated. The boy was Bobby Fischer, and before the year was out the game had a name it has kept ever since: the Game of the Century.
Donald Byrne (1930–1976) was one of the leading American masters of his day. He had won the U.S. Open Championship in 1953, and he would go on to represent the United States at three Chess Olympiads, in 1962, 1964 and 1968. He later taught as a university professor, and his brother Robert was also one of the country’s best players. In 1956 he was a formidable opponent for anyone.
Robert James “Bobby” Fischer (1943–2008) was thirteen. Three months earlier he had won the U.S. Junior Championship, and that earned him an invitation to this tournament, where he would face the country’s elite for the first time. What came next is chess history: the following year, aged fourteen, he won the U.S. Championship; at fifteen he became a grandmaster; and in 1972 he became world champion. But in October 1956, none of that had happened yet.
The game was played on 17 October 1956 in New York, in the Rosenwald Trophy tournament, which had drawn many of the strongest players in the country. It is usually said to have been played at the Marshall Chess Club, although the tournament was announced at the time as starting at the Manhattan Chess Club. The tournament director, Hans Kmoch, published the game in Chess Review and called it “the Game of the Century”, describing it as “a stunning masterpiece of combination play”. It won the tournament’s first brilliancy prize.
One curiosity: the chess historian Edward Winter has shown that the central idea of this game — ignoring the attack on the queen and playing …Be6 against a king stranded on f1 — had already appeared in a game played in Warsaw in 1942, the year before Fischer was born. Great combinations are rarely completely new. What made this one famous is who played it, against whom, and how completely it worked.
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.d4 O-O 5.Bf4 d5 — By a roundabout move order, the game has reached the Grünfeld Defence: Black lets White build a big pawn centre, planning to attack it later.
6.Qb3 dxc4 7.Qxc4 c6 8.e4 Nbd7 9.Rd1 Nb6 10.Qc5 Bg4 — White has the centre and the more active queen. Black has castled and is bringing out his pieces. White’s king, though, is still on e1, and the bishop on f1 has not yet moved.
11.Bg5? — This is the move that starts White’s troubles. The bishop moves for the second time while the king is still uncastled and the other bishop still undeveloped. A quiet move such as 11.Be2 would have kept the balance; after 11.Bg5, a modern engine already rates Black clearly better.
11…Na4!! — A knight offered on a square where White’s knight can take it.
The point is the pawn on e4. If 12.Nxa4, then 12…Nxe4, and the black knight lands in the middle of the board attacking both the white queen on c5 and the bishop on g5 — White loses material either way. Byrne chose the best reply, 12.Qa3, but after 12…Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nxe4 Black has won the e-pawn anyway.
14.Bxe7 Qb6 — White takes a pawn back, attacking both the queen and the rook on f8. Fischer saves the queen and leaves the rook where it is. 15.Bc4 Nxc3 16.Bc5 Rfe8+ 17.Kf1 — The white bishop attacks the queen once more, the black rook checks along the e-file, and the white king is pushed to f1. It will never get to castle.
The queen is under attack, and every book says a queen under attack must move. Fischer plays 17…Be6!! instead, offering it. The bishop on e6 attacks White’s bishop on c4, and behind that lies the stranded white king.
This is not a gamble. According to a modern engine, 17…Be6 is the only good move in the position: every alternative leaves White better. And taking the queen is not White’s best reply either. The two famous alternatives both fail:
Byrne took the queen.
18.Bxb6 Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Nxd4+ — What follows is a pattern known as the windmill. The white king is trapped between f1 and g1, and Black’s knight and bishop take turns giving check: first the knight checks directly, then it jumps away and uncovers a check from the bishop on c4.
21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nc3+ 23.Kg1 axb6 — Each discovered check gives the knight a free move. It has used them to pick up a pawn and settle on c3, attacking the rook on d1. Only then does Fischer take back the bishop on b6.
24.Qb4 Ra4 25.Qxb6 Nxd1 — And the rook falls too. Count the material now.
White has a queen, a rook and a knight. Black has two rooks, two bishops and a knight. Fischer has given up his queen and come out with more than enough for it — and every one of his pieces is active, while White’s rook on h1, shut in by its own king, has not moved once in the whole game.
26.h3 Rxa2 27.Kh2 Nxf2 28.Re1 Rxe1 29.Qd8+ Bf8 30.Nxe1 Bd5 31.Nf3 Ne4 32.Qb8 b5 — Fischer mops up more pawns and arranges his pieces so that each one protects another.
This is the quiet heart of the endgame. White still has the most powerful piece on the board, but it has no targets: every black piece and pawn is covered. Meanwhile the black rook, bishops and knight are free to go after the white king.
33.h4 h5 34.Ne5 Kg7 35.Kg1 Bc5+ 36.Kf1 Ng3+ 37.Ke1 Bb4+ 38.Kd1 Bb3+ 39.Kc1 Ne2+ 40.Kb1 Nc3+ 41.Kc1 Rc2# — From move 35 onwards the mate is forced. Check after check drives the white king from g1 across to the queenside, where the rook delivers mate on c2. (41…Ba3 would have been mate too.)
According to a story Byrne liked to tell, he had long since seen that the game was lost, and asked some of the other players whether it would be a fitting tribute to the boy’s play to let him finish it with checkmate, rather than resigning. The game did end in checkmate.
It is worth remembering that Byrne was not a weak player who blundered. He was one of America’s best masters, and the move that cost him the game, 11.Bg5, looked perfectly natural. Against a thirteen-year-old who saw everything, that was enough.
For two more of the greatest games ever played, see the Immortal Game and the Opera Game.
Chess pieces: “cburnett” set by Colin M. L. Burnett, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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