The Immortal Draw is a
chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
game played in 1872 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
by
Carl Hamppe and
Philipp Meitner Philipp Meitner (24 August 1839, Vienna – 9 December 1910, Vienna) was an Austrian lawyer and chess master. His most famous game was the " Immortal Draw" ( Carl Hamppe vs Philipp Meitner, Vienna 1872). He won at Vienna 1875, and won a match agains ...
. This game is the main claim to fame of both Hamppe and Meitner, and has been reprinted widely. The variation of the
Vienna Game
The Vienna Game is an opening in chess that begins with the moves:
:1. e4 e5
:2. Nc3
White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also more recent.
The original idea behind the Vienna Game was to play a delayed King's Gambit with ...
it uses was named the ''Hamppe–Meitner Variation'' in honour of the two players.
The game was played in the 19th-century
Romantic style, in which rapid and attack were considered the most effective way to win, where many
gambit
A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage.
The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe si ...
s and were offered (and not accepting them was considered slightly ungentlemanly), and where was often held in contempt. These games, with their rapid attacks and counterattacks, are often entertaining to review even if some of the moves would no longer be considered
best
Best or The Best may refer to:
People
* Best (surname), people with the surname Best
* Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer
Companies and organizations
* Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain
* Best Lock Corporation ...
by today's standards.
In the game, Black
sacrifices
Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...
huge amounts of material to drive the white
king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...
from its and attempt to force
checkmate
Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
In chess, the king is ...
, but White spectacularly manages to force a
draw
Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to:
Common uses
* Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them
* Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anythin ...
by
perpetual check
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can a draw by an unending series of checks. This typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, and failing to continue the series of checks giv ...
.
The game itself has often been replayed as a prearranged
draw
Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to:
Common uses
* Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them
* Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anythin ...
. Its motif of a bishop sacrifice in response to an early knight attack occurs in other lines as well.
[
]
Annotated game
White: Carl Hamppe Black: Philipp Meitner Opening: Vienna Game
The Vienna Game is an opening in chess that begins with the moves:
:1. e4 e5
:2. Nc3
White's second move is less common than 2.Nf3, and is also more recent.
The original idea behind the Vienna Game was to play a delayed King's Gambit with ...
('' ECO'' C25)
1. e4 e5 2. Nc3
:The Vienna Game, an opening which Hamppe made major contributions to, giving his name to two variations in the Vienna Gambit.
2... Bc5
:2...Nf6 is more usual. The move played is offbeat but .
3. Na4
:Better would be 3.Nf3 d6 4.d4 and White has a slight advantage. The move is premature; although many lines of the Vienna have White trying to obtain the with this move, the bishop can still retreat to e7, and the knight is not ideally placed at a4.bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...
sacrifice is commonly seen in reply to an early knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the G ...
attack in various lines, including this one.queen sacrifice
In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a queen in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage.
Queen sacrifice: real versus sham
In his book ''The Art of Sacrifice in Chess'', Rudolf Spielmann dist ...
, preventing White from playing Nc3 and Ka2, after which Black has insufficient compensation for his material disadvantage. The move forces the draw that follows.
See also
*Immortal Game
The Immortal Game was a chess game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June 1851 in London, during a break of the first international tournament. The bold sacrifices Anderssen made have made it one of the most famous ches ...
*Immortal Zugzwang Game
The Immortal Zugzwang Game is a chess game between Friedrich Sämisch and Aron Nimzowitsch, played in Copenhagen in March 1923. It gained its name because the final position is sometimes considered a rare instance of zugzwang occurring in the mi ...
*List of chess games
This is a list of notable chess games sorted chronologically.
pre-1700
* 1475: Castellví– Vinyoles, Valencia 1475. The first documented chess game played with the modern queen and bishop moves; the moves were described in the poem Scach ...
References
{{reflist
Chess games
1872 in chess
1872 in Austria-Hungary
Nicknamed sporting events