The Greatest Chess Games Ever | Dojo Talks

[@jakecherry5770]

Yes another chess dojo W well done

[@WilsonSecurityGroup]

We need a dojo senseis Top 10 Games from their own career!! Each person can go round robin and show the main ideas of why they loved that particular game of their own.

[@JD-td8kl]

The antagonism between Jesse and David is endlessly entertaining.

[@briankaren604]

I enjoyed this series. Maybe in the future you go decade by decade, or best game of a 20 year period. The discussion is entertaining. When it is over the viewer has a list of games to analyze. What a treat.

[@davidfranklin5426]

Re: Kasparov-Topalov. Yes, the combination was a bit of a roll of the dice after an iffy opening, and Topalov could have refused the sacrifice. But that doesn’t lessen its luster for me one bit. The fact remains that Kasparov saw the entire line, 14 moves deep, including Bf1 and Rd7, all at once. I was watching the game live in 1999 and it remains deservedly the stuff of legend. Whereas the fame of Kasparov-Kramnik 2001 is mostly an artifact of a concerted PR effort. Was it a nice breakthrough in the Berlin? Sure. But Garry spent years arguing that, because he belatedly knocked down the Berlin Wall, he somehow deserved a rematch with Kramnik. That never made sense, then or now.

[@mitchellfabian7694]

I’ve really enjoyed these! I’ve been introduced to a lot of interesting games through this! Usually, my lists were similar to Kostya’s, and I didn’t know a lot of David’s. I was surprised last show to only see Jesse mention Aronian - Anand last episode and that it didn’t show up this episode, but understand that I’d need to make a full list. I liked the Botvinnik games from Kostya last episode because my internet introduction to Kostya was him suggesting I look through Botvinnik’s games collection, so I recognized all those :)

[@Capablanca1]

Geller-Panno was not played in a team competition. It's from round 14 of the Gothemburg Interzonal. As are Keres-Najdorf and Spassky-Pilnik. Argentina just happened to have 4 representatives playing there.

[@paulgottlieb]

Every time I look at the Geller - Euwe game, the more I enjoy it

[@GoodByeSeeYou]

Top 10 greatest boomer tech support moments LOL

[@ronfuse6993]

The game where Alpha Zero put Stockfish's queen in jail is the greatest, most beautiful chess game ever played. I know, I know it doesn't count; but DAMMMN.

[@jcup4702]

Which one is that?

[@odysseas573]

@@jcup4702 Out of a Queen's Indian AlphaZero sacs a pawn with d4-d5 and slowly outplays Stockfish on the dark squares. It reaches a poit where stockfish plays ... Qh8 and AlphaZero places rook on f6 completely trapping the Queen

[@siempresepuede]

I totally agree with David's top 10 here. Here's some Wikipedia on Serper vs Nikolaidis: "Chess Informant's panel of judges voted the following game the second-best game of the 666 games in Volume 59 of Chess Informant.[7] Larry Christiansen rated it his sixth favorite attacking game of the 1990s.[8] Yasser Seirawan wrote, "Can you imagine a game in which you sacrifice ... all of your pieces? Toss in the promotion of two pawns as well and you have a game to last!"

[@michaelf8221]

One issue with Geller - Panno, is that it's actually flawed. Black equalizes with 13...Rh7!! Fischer himself is the person who proved it's an equalizing move, and SF 15 agrees there's nothing there. Refuting the early g5 should actually done with 11. Qh5 instead of Nxe6.

[@paulgottlieb]

The one-sided 6-0 score obscures the fact that many of the games were incredibly hard fought-as Fischer pointed out at the time

[@michaelf8221]

Alright here's my list: 1. Aronian - Anand, 2013 2. Karpov - Kasparov, 1985 (Nd3 octopus game) 3. Fischer - Spassky, 1972 (6) 4. Caruana - Nakamura, 2016 5. Fischer - Petrosian (7) 6. Karpov - Korchnoi, 1974 7. Fedoseev - Carlsen, 2021 8. Karpov - Unzicker, 1975 9. Capablanca - Marshall, 1918 10. Bird - Morphy, 1858 My list of best games ever had a lot more modern games than y'all. But maybe that's because my chess only "grew up" in the last 10 years, so some of the most modern games taught me things that older games might have shown you earlier instead. I'll briefly go through my thoughts on my rankings in the replies to this comment.

[@michaelf8221]

Morphy's win against Bird is simply iconic. Rxf2!! Qa3!! And then he doesn't get greedy and try to win back a little material - he keeps the initiative until he wins a full rook. Much stiffer competition than the Opera game!

[@michaelf8221]

Capablanca straight up refuting the Marshall gambit in its very first appearance is just perfect. I love the story behind it, and I love how crazy the attack is while Capa just calmly defends and walks away with his king.

[@michaelf8221]

Karpov taught me how to play the Ruy Lopez with this one game against Unzicker. Ba7!! To control the only open file is just hot too.

[@michaelf8221]

Carlsen's 2-0 smackdown of Fedoseev in the World Cup was brilliant. This game was the one where he sacrificed f4 in the KID and then the exchange with Rxf4 just to sit on his opponent on the dark squares. The way he toys with Fedo with the Qa1-b2-c1-d2-d1-e2 is the icing on top. Even better, the next game in the event featured another brilliant exchange sacrifice before he sat on him again!

[@michaelf8221]

Karpov refuting Korchnoi's dragon is so good. g5!! Just when Korchnoi "stopped" it. Rd5! e5! Just an instructive and beautiful Yugoslav attack.

[@3sticksillustration]

Jesse’s enthusiasm for the game is infectious. Then I play and lose a game and get pissed… 🤣

[@chesscomdpruess]

That's part of the cycle for everyone! See great art --> get inspired --> try ourselves --> get mad.

[@briankaren604]

The economy and elegance of Morphy's game is what sets it apart. That it is understandable even to beginners is a point in its favor IMHO. Who says a great game has to be incomprehensible? So many themes of chess in this one short game.

[@Leandrewz0r]

We had only 2 games from the years 2000 onwards. Why is that? I know the classics end up with a lot of magic around them and we see them how the things that built where we are today, but can't we find any magic on modern chess? Since they are too close to us I think it demystifies them, but I'd like to see more love to them

[@michaelf8221]

Look up Caruana - Nakamura 2016 or so. He sacrifices his queen for two pieces in a spicy Bg5 najdorf and then squeezes the life out of Naka. Absolute brilliancy. Also a great game is Fedoseev - Carlsen, 2019. His pawn and exchange sacrifice just to sit on the dark squares is HOT. Finally, Aronian - Carlsen, 2017. Brilliant opening. Brilliant attack.

[@IvanVGav]

Thanks so much! It would be awesome if you could make a pgn with all these games so aanyone can annotate them. Greetings from Argentina

[@ChessDojo]

There's a link to the games in the description! 🙂

[@DaydreamVacations]

You all share your criteria for best chess games ever…. My basic criteria starts with one idea: A game that changed how people play chess. •Fischer Endgame • Octopus Knight - Nd3 • Opera Game - Time/Development Which other games changed chess?

[@robertcostello8935]

E E Book vs A Hiidenheimo very interesting game is noteworthy for the age of the player and the sacrifice involved without recapturing the queen

[@k.w.powell6393]

No question the Morphy vs Duke et al game is the most famous of chess history. BTW the Karpov-Kasparov 1985 match game was all home analysis, prepared by Kasparov team before the game, Kasparov had great opening analysts (Nikitin?) working for him and won many games just from memory.

[@boredash4020]

The jesse boomer tech support moment was golden 😂

[@Graceclaw]

We need to turn Jesse's clicking meltdown into a Short

[@waynebuckland7879]

Kavalek vs Gufeld where his B and 8 pawns beat 2 rooks and 3 pawns had to be on the list somewhere.

[@briankaren604]

Jesse was basing his list on games which impacted him the greatest. I'm not certain that is what is meant by the top 10 greatest games of all time. I am more in line with David's view where it is games that are tremendously creative. But I disagree with David about Kasparov - Topalov. Kostya seems to be a mix of 'his parents' views but incorporates that the game should have a chess cultural tie. To me its about the greatest game period and the game should stand on its own merit. But obviously this is all subjective, which is part of the fun.

[@DaydreamVacations]

NEXT: Most Instructional games of all time. The best examples for Time Development Positional Exchange Sac Rook Endgame Bishop Pair Superiority Pawn Weaknesses Breaking Through Dynamic Play Defense by Tactic Center Control Space advantage Converting advantage to another advantage Etc Surely some games will represent multiple concepts in one game, making them more instructional. NEXT Best Game Collection Book Not just best included games, but best prose. Not just a “calculus textbook” with overwhelming computer variations, rather an author who explains like a coach. 60 Memorable? Tal Life and Games? Alekhine? Hastings? New York?

[@spanishaddict2950]

Alireza Firoujza- Murali Karthikeyan was a nice game too

[@aaronadams7831]

Didn’t Nezhmetdinov - Chernihov 1962 get 13 points?

[@jamesknapp64]

Yes

[@HostaMahogey-if4hp]

I enjoyed Jesse’s appeal to consensus

[@Leavenfish]

The 'Octopus game'...Kasparov admitted that Nd3 move had been played...what a few weeks earlier by someone else...and you include it?? He did not even come up with his idea.

[@travistucker4067]

🔥

[@briankaren604]

Surprised that it wasn't mentioned Serper sacs every piece in his game. That said, I'm with Jesse that it isn't worthy of the greatest game. Black didn't put up enough of a fight. A great game nonetheless.

[@strangelyrepulsive77]

My top 10 isn't even close to yours... 1. Rubinstein Immortal 1907 2. Byrne-Fischer 1963 3. Uruguayan Immortal 1943 4. Firouzja-Zarkovic 2019 5. Kasparov-Topalov 1999 6. Aronian-Anand 2013 7. Yi Immortal 2015 8. Liren-Shanglei 2012 9. Polugaevsky-Nezhmetdinov 1958 10. Parada Zvjaginsev 1995

[@ChessDojo]

Nice list!

[@strangelyrepulsive77]

@@ChessDojo i know!

[@Leavenfish]

Of course, I may be misremembering...

[@grzegorzkolodziej1781]

Byrne v Fischer wouldn’t be even in my top 100 best games, let alone the GOAT, due to a very weak and erratic play of white. For me in the best games ever the opponents shouldn’t make any idiotic moves, and Byrne made more than one - it’s almost like he desperately wanted Fischer to win. The most overrated chess game of all times.

[@paulgottlieb]

When a 13-year old plays a great tactical game today, it’s almost surely the result of computer prep.

[@renobgm]

As a chess coach for intermediate-advanced players (1400+) I very strongly disagree.

[@paulgottlieb]

@@renobgm I think we're talking about the same thing. I agree that talented young players are capable of exceptional play. I'm thinking more of the 2600+ super prodigies who are computer prepped to the gills.

[@Wtahc]

55:03 wrong