The Rarest Move in Chess (Almost Illegal)

[@AdugboChess]

Which Checkmate was better??? Like for Morphy; Comment ❤ for Lasker

[@mauijttewaal]

King walk

[@LuckyEN-r2j]

king moving from end to end of the board, just to die at the hand of the other king

[@walgekaaren1783]

He should have castled. 0-0-0x

[@user-gr5tx6rd4h]

@@walgekaaren1783 Yes, mating by long castling may be seen as more imressive than Kd2. But perhaps some people (like Lasker himself) are of the opposite meaning. (Edward, not the world champion, Emanuel)

[@ChristianFung-wm3sh]

❤

[@ironman4life89]

That knight in the corner checkmate is a thing of beauty

[@xadrezbrasil]

Anyone else tryed to jump the ad, and then realized it was no ad, it was the video?

[@Rafael-wr7wi]

Você por aqui Rafael, fala galerinha do xadrex

[@jojolords4523]

5:50 I would've played long castle checkmate

[@TechnoMageB5]

Yes, that would have been a lot cooler!

[@joshuahudson2170]

White should have ended the game by O-O-O instead.

[@mskarp]

Why?

[@joshuahudson2170]

@@mskarp Because castle mates are so rare.

[@doowop25]

My thought exaclty.

[@spacer999]

White could have ended the game 3 moves ago with Be4 instead of Be2.

[@ItsRemula]

I was just about to ask when I watched it: doesn't white still have castle available? That would've been a helluva flair for the finish.

[@dudeawsomeness1]

That first one was like a cowboy lassoing the king and dragging him all the way back to their side

[@MorningNapalm]

Kingnapping in broad daylight.

[@tom-kz9pb]

The video title is a bit misleading, since you cannot literally checkmate with a King, and there are no "almost illegal" moves. Moves are either legal or not. What you can do is make a King move that sets up a discovered check on a file or diagonal, or you can castle and create a check on a rook file.

[@sameash3153]

Castling is considered a "king move" according to the rules of chess, so it still is attacking with the king

[@tom-kz9pb]

@sameash3153 A Devil's advocate way to look at it, since the actual mate is with a rook, but anyway, there is a saying "The King is a fighting piece. " In the opening, you in general want to castle as soon as possible, to keep the King safe, but when it gets to an end-game and a pawn race, an "active King" makes all the difference. Being just one tempo ahead or behind can determine whether the outcome is winning or losing, Despite the clickbait video title, the mate with the knight was genuinely pretty.

[@darthkek1953]

Dude has to attract attention he has less than 1000 subs. The game was beautiful, a great choice, great narration, and the checkmate happened with a king move so I'm okay with it. Give the bro a break!

[@viktorwills6406]

It's a click bait video.

[@tom-kz9pb]

@viktorwills6406 In a capitalist society, where clicks are money, we have to expect and tolerate a bit of clickbait, if it does not go too far. But this video would have been fine just to say that it had some beautiful moves to show, because it really did.

[@tylerramsay1814]

First game should have won by Castling.

[@carlsanders7824]

Instead of two pieces moving, the one move was much cleaner.

[@TechnoL33T]

I feel click baited.

[@michaelm1]

You're not alone, mate.

[@gregwalker2151]

@@michaelm1 Why?

[@michaelm1]

@ Because I feel the same thing as the OP. Cheers!

[@jochannon]

Yes

[@IVIaskerade]

That queen sacrifice on h7 was _beautiful_

[@victorfinberg8595]

"these guys were moving the pieces, and the pieces were moving them" !!!

[@RyanGriffiths-r9k]

By definition, checkmate is when one king is attacked (put in check) and there is nothing that can be done where he won't still be under attack (does not have to be the same attack). The rook scored the checkmate (by discovered check leading to mate) when. the king moved out of his way.

[@ChristianFung-wm3sh]

Still, the move is Kd2#

[@RyanGriffiths-r9k]

@ChristianFung-wm3sh yes hence it's Kd2# via discovered check. The king moves, rook puts king in check-which is also checkmate. The title implies somehow the king was able to check the king leading to checkmate, not creating discovered checkmate.

[@ChristianFung-wm3sh]

@ Yes of course it's not actually the king, still it's pretty rare and cool that it went all the way to the bottom of the board

[@joshmartonosi5624]

Two of the coolest games I've ever seen. Thank you!

[@tieegg]

No way, that second game was insane. Checkmate with a knight, using it to bait the king in with a bishop sack.

[@matthewmoroz3800]

Great video and I love your enthusiastic and appreciative commentary of those beautiful games. A true chess lover! ♥

[@burt591]

In the thumbnail you put the picture of the guy who lost instead of the picture of Edward Lasker.

[@AdugboChess]

updated !

[@JackVermicelli]

1:50 How does that Bishop move pin the Knight to the Queen? It sure looks like it's the Queen that is part of the pin.

[@nereisian]

Bro promoted the enemy king to win the game 💀

[@KevinBrown-v4j]

Thank you so much for posting these. Definitely two of the most interesting games I’ve ever seen.

[@AdugboChess]

Glad you liked them!

[@houmamkitet9555]

Awesome video bro, new sub , please do more similar old timey game reviews, they certainly have more soul than the newer stuff

[@ousmanesidibe951]

another meaning of 'bring him in my office'

[@Adam-cw2ew]

One of the most underrated channel for good games. Thanks, please keep up the good work.

[@Fanny-Fanny]

Amazing game, but the commentary and love you show for this are even greater! Subbed! Ps maybe equally as great - I don't want to over sell it. But damn it is close! 😉

[@rhwoodwork119]

Great stuff, I am subscribed.

[@DanUsselman]

Great video, that first game was so sick marching the king all the way down the board

[@AdugboChess]

Couldn't agree more

[@kirkwolak6735]

Magnus v Fischer. Honestly, it would be the most Epic of matches... But Magnus would win. His depth, and the number of games played. His ability to rule the end game, and his level of sportsmanship, training to control his heart rate, breathing, not panicking. His training regimen alone is to be valued. I have Magnus, Fischer and Kasparov (in their primes) as the 3 strongest players. But Morphy was a monster. I would love to see a modern Morphy.

[@UncleDansVintageVinyl]

No, no! @8:00 you say, "Never retreat your pieces." But that breaks Ben Finegold's rule, "Always retreat!"

[@AdugboChess]

hmmmm. every rule has an exception.

[@Lambert7785]

thanks for sharing two excellent games :)

[@jaybingham3711]

7:56 There are no "never" rules in chess...except for never believe an exception doesn't exist for any rule in chess. If an attack can't be subverted by an offensive initiative, a purely defensive move is quite acceptable...even if it involves un-developing a piece. Bishops returning to offer strategic defense of b2/7, g2/7 are fairly common...and SF approved. But, yes, in general it's wise to rely on forward momentum.

[@juangalton999]

Love finding content like this. Chess is a game of beautiful depth and love finding those quirky rarities. Like the few games won by under-promotions.

[@jesusthroughmary]

9:25 is mate in 1 for whoever has the move

[@cptnoremac]

Kind of a clickbait. Even I've won games by discovered checkmate. Not all that rare, and certainly not almost illegal.

[@polarvortex3294]

In your second example of a fun and rare checkmate, you explained how Morphy would often play with a piece removed to even-up some games and make them more fun, but you accidentally put the rook back that you had intended to take off.

[@AdugboChess]

@@polarvortex3294 thanks for the feedback

[@jesusthroughmary]

The guy has 300 subs, I assume he doesn't have the highest budget for graphics.

[@jesusthroughmary]

Not to mention that the game ended so fast that the rook wasn't in a position to be relevant yet even if it was on the board.

[@polarvortex3294]

@@jesusthroughmary Yeah, it was a pretty minor complaint about a pretty minor goof, that had no real effect on the video. And I'm not convinced he can do anything about it now anyway. But was a little frustrating to me, because he had it gone for a second there before it reappeared and he kept mentioning Morphy being a piece down, but couldn't seem to notice that the rook was still there. A little OCD, maybe, but just thought I'd mention it; and maybe it'll make him more careful in the future and prevent some bigger mistake.

[@dougellis7917]

should have castled the check mate instead.

[@AbouTaim-Lille]

At 8:38 this is a famous situation. And if it was me i would play : bxf7 + the king cant take the bishop bcz he has to protect the queen. Then I play B a3+. Black can onlh cover with the knight but this is pointless and the black king is now forced to take the bishop at f7 and lose the queen. It was the bvious that Paul Morphy has seen a better move beyond just a material advantage.

[@edwardgoodson7628]

I have seen that first game before but in my grandfather's book the last move was recorded as castle queenside.

[@AdugboChess]

@@edwardgoodson7628 Thanks for raising this. The game is so old individuals dispute some of its lines. During research, I learnt different narrators have different variations for the opening part of the game. Nevertheless, great game. It stood the test of time.

[@drnimish333]

Wonderful games. The second one was mesmerising.

[@trwn87]

A great selection of chess games!

[@RafaelInWonderland]

Nice video, great games, thank you!

[@AdugboChess]

Glad you like them!

[@GaryTugan]

Thank you! Great games to share

[@johnhessom-lx1nt]

I usually say " a knight in the corner is a mourner but in this case it's a thing of beauty

[@samuelbrass4490]

Great video and commentary, but I don't understand the title or the thumbnail. What move was "almost illegal?"

[@robertmccallen1902]

It's a discovered attack (the attack came from the rook, when he the king vacated the file), completely legal and devasting. It's not rare when i play (because im terrible) but grandmasters tend to avoid it this early.

[@polarvortex3294]

Saying the move is "almost illegal" was his funny way of saying that the move is as spectacular as an actual illegal move. It's a bolt of lightning that you would never expect, like a piece appearing out of nowhere, or a rook moving diagonally. And we saw something like that in the Morphy game where he gave up his queen without a care and soon checkmated the enemy king that looked pretty safe. Also, doing something like marching your opponent's king from his own natural rank all the way across the board to your own side in a series of forced moves, and then checkmating him by moving your king is so disrespectful and humiliating to the opponent, perhaps it should be illegal on moral grounds. You see a similar use of terminology used in baseball when a pitcher throws a pitch that is so good it is almost un-hittable. In such a case you might call the pitch "filthy" or almost illegal -- even though it's really none of those things. In basketball, too, there are moves so good that such terms are used. The opponent had no chance or perhaps even fell down trying to stop it, so the move "should be illegal." It's a compliment in the end.

[@rogerkearns8094]

01:20 _One of the rarest games in chess history._ Well, most that turn up do so just once - but, ok, I know what you mean! Still, I find myself wondering, seriously, what is the literal _commonest_ chess game in history? Scholar's mate, perhaps? [Edit] Or, maybe, 1 e4 1 0 Black didn't arrive. ;) Cheers :)

[@leewakefield8658]

Could this game have also ended with O-O-O# ?

[@AbouTaim-Lille]

Off course it is possible yo checkmate woth the king by performing a discovered check.

[@NOT_NativeEN_Speaker]

What a beauty!! 👏👏 Thanks a lot for sharing it 🙏💖 Morphy forever! ✌ Subscribed.

[@ousmanesidibe951]

fear the bishop that you don't see

[@bam3xs]

I think castle is considered a King move, so by casteling long, it would've been technically a checkmate with the King

[@chazz3316]

very good video, witch are the songs used?

[@AdugboChess]

thanks. i am glad you enjoyed it. they are background music. I got them from suno.com/.

[@VuNam_MCVN]

Double disambiguated king checkmate

[@galois6569]

Upto 500 subs now. Sounds like the sort of number Lasker might have predicted ;)

[@harmonickolobok]

Christoph Waltz got so old so quickly and I didn't know he liked to play chess?😁

[@OvercookedOctopusFeet]

Just curious why you are putting an add for 'Huel' at the beginning of your video but you _have_ _not_ disclosed a sponsorship?

[@aizensosuke5749]

I don't think it's an ad, just a quote that applies to chess.

[@Alexanster]

Just some feedback, but I would get rid of that background music or choose something more smooth and less dramatic. Other than that: very interesting games!

[@TheGrindelwald]

So I guess he could just have castled instead of moving his king and still checkmated

[@madness2594]

Wow king travelled to the other country for vacation in the first game This Gm playes like Grandmaster Mikhail Tal

[@davidloewen5528]

at 4:55, why didn't Queen take knight on F6? that knight is hanging and black has both the Queen and Rook available to take it. And I cannot see an attack on the Queen anywhere.

[@davidloewen5528]

Oh, you said discovered attack on black's king, it thought I hear discovered attack on Black's Queen, which I could not find anywhere. ok. I understand why knight wasn't taken.

[@whermanntx]

Making the king dig his own grave. Incredible.

[@williamtrubridge]

f4 instead of h4 is also a forced mate, that can end with the white king delivering checkmate by castling (king side), or with a semi-smothered mate by the knight to the black king in h3. I wonder if Lasker calculated all these variations, from the Queen sacrifice?

[@stagna1959]

discovered check is 100 % legal. Happens sometimes in endgames too, that opponent is mated after that. One example is how Magnus Carlsen lost by en-passant pawn move which also was discovered check kzbin.info/www/bejne/iqaxpYCZrZKWhLssi=zsazs1uGpZ_Bgme2&t=818 Of course he did it on puropse, for history books, he could have resigned before it . But sometimes players prefer spectacular loss over ordinary resigning the game

[@Oneofakind123]

The King of clickbaits... Shut the CHESS up!

[@dantedanzante7062]

That's knowing what one wants! Check mate over material. 😉👏

[@leonaleona333]

This is actually amazing. I didn't know it was even possible

[@woffordwolf2071]

I don't think either that they would think a random youtuber would review that game, since youtube wasn't invented yet.

[@Laezar1]

Well that's big clickbait, not only is it misleading it's also certainly not the rarest move in chess so it's straight up false.

[@jimbothefuzzy]

Having spent some time looking at Morphy's style and comparing it to the various computers playing these days, I think his intuition and thinking would clash with the modern desire to use Stockfish. He makes me think more of how AlphaZero (and now Leela Chess Zero) play. Would he have developed in the same way in this environment? Maybe. And I would disagree on chess being "solved" by computers. Watching Leela and Stockfish play made me realize that there's still a LOT of room based on your objectives. Stockfish is playing to win, and is willing to throw away a draw for a chance at victory. Leela is playing to not lose, and is happy to accept the draw. But there have been a few cases where Leela offered a draw, and Stockfish refused to accept it. And Stockfish wound up losing because of that. Which is why I like watching those two play, especially when I know Leela is going to win. Because those are usually the most interesting to me. Leela vs Stockfish is the closest we're going to have to Morphy vs Fischer, though Leela still has a ways to go yet.

[@Irdanwen]

In the first game, it would have been nice to play O-O-O++.

[@Tletna]

The ending of that first game was so gross (in an impressive and scary way). Also, Morphy was so cruel... dear Lord..that checkmate.

[@darryljones7603]

Very nice video thanks!!!!

[@fran6b]

Double disambiguation checkmate enter the chat.

[@landen99]

Technically, another piece always delivers the check and mate besides the king, even during a castle.

[@nickgowen7737]

Great video thanks

[@jimmynolet3752]

Good video I prefer the first game more than the second

[@mrlucasftw42]

Failed to castle with checkmate ...

[@davidc5191]

Interestingly I play this same Nc3 line against the Dutch in several tournament games.

[@daevydjae]

"Almost illegal??????"

[@Cossax]

Who is the guy speaking at the intro of the video

[@AdugboChess]

@@Cossax Bill Beswick. A psychologist and former basketball coach.

[@tedpaulus]

4:43 ; Why doesn’t black just take the knight that is checking the King…instead of moving his king? Doesn’t make any sense to me!

[@williammaccabe9402]

White's bishop is also checking the king.

[@jmtx.]

Wonder what's more rare, mate with simple King move, or mate by castling?

[@parthasarathyvenkatadri]

When checked by the first knight cant black use the rook or queen to take the knight ..

[@SteliosAbahapos]

Both are amazing ❤

[@scaratb8810]

Nice video, I agree fully, best of chess is in the past!

[@AdugboChess]

Thanks a lot!

[@patcoston]

How is that movie Almost Illegal? I don't understand how a movie in chess can be "almost illegal". Either it's legal or it's illegal.

[@michaelm1]

Clickbait.

[@robandsharonseddon-smith5216]

I hear that engagement comments help out...

[@drh255]

Long castle would have been too filthy

[@BananaDope]

I recently got Kf2#

[@RootlessNZ]

Emmanuel Lasker was the first world champion. He held the championship for 27 years, the longest it's been held.

[@johnjarvinen]

Second champion*

[@OladejiAndrew]

You are doing a great job brother. Please always encourage your viewers to subscribe to this channel

[@elektron2kim666]

I have the achievement. It's not so complicated.

[@takingitupto12next]

i was here before he was famous with 250k+ subs rn he has 323

[@wannaseethevid]

fun games for sure.

[@artcamp7]

He missed a mate in one though. bishop to e4 @5:28

[@ThelsdeKwant]

Black would answer that with bishop b7 takes e4, ending white's manipulation of the black king.

[@patryk.waclawski]

And what about this sneaky bishop on b7?

[@artcamp7]

@@patryk.waclawski that's why I'm not Lasker

[@edmann1820]

Hey you got over 600 subscribers don't sell yourself short. But yeah second check mate is better. I've seen king check mates before. Infarct I think Morphy did a better one than that.

[@europajupiter3007]

I expected you will show us example of game played on official tournament where somebody literary used king to check and mate his opponent's king. Yes, I know it is not a legal move - but rules can be changed, so I just assumed that in the past there were rules that in certain conditions did allow for kings to meet. That got my interest and I ended up watching it. Though I must say, despite it being good video all in all, I do feel disappointed.

[@pebble100c]

If you find a game where a player makes a check by legally moving his king to a square adjacent to his opponent's king, let me know! 😊

[@europajupiter3007]

@@pebble100c Hahaha :D No, no... If YOU find it, tell me ;) One thing I am sure of - if such maneuver ever was legal for any reason, it surely was better set of rules than one chess have now.

[@johnhessom-lx1nt]

What was illegal?

[@michaelm1]

The clickbait title.

[@BradSamuelsPro]

I don't even like chess but I have to comment and like this video since it's interesting and well made

[@titilayooladapo-ariyo2586]

Wow. Too good to be true!!!!

[@Traumatree]

O-O-O also checkmates.

[@mikejay9838]

*punched in face*

[@n.l.4025]

Plagiarism. Original post: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6HFpGuXqtyDopIsi=J4fH7ROlmMOebBG6 by GothamChess. This video was posted in 2025. The link I have provided here is for the original video that was posted on March 23, 2021. The 2 KZbinrs’ analysis of the first game are too similar to say that the KZbinr from this video didn’t use the script from the first video to make this video.