The Immortal Game

This game was played between two great players, Adolf Anderrsen and Lionel Kieseritzky.

Anderrsen playing white chose to play the King's Gambit which was accepted by Black. Anderrsen sacrificed his two rooks, one bishop and his queen to mate Black.

1. e4 e5
2. f4 exf4
3. Bc4 Qh4+?!
4. Kf1 b5
5. Bxb5 Nf6
6. Nf3 Qh6
7. d3 Nh5
8. Nh4 Qg5
9. Nf5 c6
10. g4 Nf6
11. Rg1! cxb5?
12. h4! Qg6
13. h5 Qg5
14. Qf3 Ng8
15. Bxf4 Qf6
16. Nc3 Bc5
17. Nd5!? Qxb2
18. Bd6! Bxg1?
19. e5! Qxa1+
20. Nxg7+ Kd8
21. Qf6+! Nxf6
22. Be7#

Fischer-Spassky Game 6 - The match Of the Century

In the sixth game, for the first time in his life, Fischer opened with 1. c4, nullifying Spassky's extensive opening preparation. Yet again, Spassky played passively. After 1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. cxd5 Nxd5 9. Bxe7 Qxe7 10. Nxd5 exd5 11. Rc1 Be6 12. Qa4 c5 13. Qa3 Rc8 14. Bb5 a6 15. dxc5 bxc5 16. O-O Ra7 17. Be2 Nd7 18. Nd4 Qf8 19. Nxe6 fxe6 20. e4 d4 21. f4 Qe7 22. e5 Rb8 23. Bc4 Kh8 24. Qh3 Nf8 25. b3 a5 26. f5, White had a crushing attack.

The game continued 26... exf5 27. Rxf5 Nh7 28. Rcf1 Qd8 29. Qg3 Re7 30. h4 Rbb7 31. e6 Rbc7 32. Qe5 Qe8 33. a4 Qd8 34. R1f2 Qe8 35. R2f3 Qd8 36. Bd3 Qe8 37. Qe4 Nf6 38. Rxf6 gxf6 39. Rxf6 Kg8 40. Bc4 Kh8 41. Qf4 1-0

After this game, Spassky joined the audience in applauding Fischer's win. Psychologically, he had already lost the match. He would later reluctantly refer to this game as the best of the match.

Anand

Viswanathan Anand was born on 11 December 1969 (1969-12-11) (age 40) in Mayiladutharai, Tamil Nadu, India. He is the undisputed World Chess Champion from 2007 till today. He defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. With this win he became the world's first chess player to have won the World chamionship in all three formats: knockout, tournament and match. He defended his title once again against Topalov in a twelve match series in 2010. He became a grandmaster in 1988 at the age of 19. He is proud of the fact that his mother taught him chess. Anand held the FIDE World championship for two years from 2000 to 2002. He was the first recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award which was awarded in 1991-92, India's highest sporting honour. He has also been awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award.

Anand wins!!

Anand won in the 12th and final round against Topalov. He played black in this round and won. This was the one and only win by black. Topalov exchanged the queen for a rook and a bishop. He resigned after Anand's 56th move Qg7. This move is winning a piece for Anand.

Algebraic Notation

In chess one can record moves using symbols. There are symbols for different things in chess.

For example : square names, pieces, analyzing symbols, etc.

Square names- The horizontal rows are called ranks and the vertical ones are called files.

The ranks are given the numbers from 1-8 and the files are given the alphabets a-h. So to note down a name of a square Note down the rank no. and file name.
For example : Rank number = 6, File name = f
Then the square name is f6. Note that the letter in the name of the square is written in lower caps. This rule must be followed.
The symbol for the pieces is written in capitals.
King-K
Queen-Q
Rook-R
Knight-N
Bishop-B
Pawn-(the square should alone be given).

Special Moves :Castling

Castling as I said before consists of rook and king. In this the rook and the king more or less swap places. The king moves 2 squares away from its initial position and the rook moves next to it (king) on the other side. However there are some requirements for this special move to be played.

Castling is permissible only if all of the following conditions hold:

1. The king has not moved (prior to castling);
2. The chosen rook has not moved (prior to castling);
3. There must be no pieces between the king and the chosen rook;
4. The king is not in check.
5. The king must not pass through a square that is under attack by enemy pieces.
6. The king must not end up in check (true of any legal move).
7. The king and the chosen rook must be on the same rank.

Special Moves :Pawn Promotion

Pawn promotion is a simple and important part in chess. As the name suggests, a player can promote the pawn into any other piece (queen, bishop, knight or rook) upon the condition that the promoting pawn reaches the last rank or the last row. A player may already have one queen but, he can have more than one queen.The same applies for all the other pieces other than the king. A pawn cannot be promoted into a king.

Special Moves : En Passant

There are three special moves. They are pawn promotion, en passant, castling.

Pawn promotion and en passant are special moves of pawns whereas castling consists of the king and the rook.

En passant : This is a capturing move. In this if a pawn moves two squares forward the hostile pawn which is just next to pawn (after it is moved) can capture it. The pawn should be kept on the square in front of the initial position. You will understand better with the picture.