Adams v Torre, 1920: the queen nobody could take

This game is credited to Edwin Adams, with White, against his young pupil Carlos Torre, in New Orleans in 1920. It is famous for its finish: White's queen is offered move after move, and Black can never take it, because Black's queen and rook are tied to the defence of the back rank.

It may never have been played. It was first published in the American Chess Bulletin in November 1925, about five years later, with notes by Torre. Edward Winter, who has looked into its history, concludes it was most likely a casual game or analysis after one rather than a real contest. Adams wrote to the chess editor Hermann Helms in 1920 about Torre's games and sent only one, and the historian Dale Brandreth argued that a game this brilliant would surely have been mentioned; he calls it "definitely spurious". Torre's biographer Gabriel Velasco reports that two of Torre's friends said it was never played. Torre is said to have credited the win to Adams as a tribute to his teacher.

The game, as published

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move, and the finish again more deeply. Whatever its history, the combination works.

18.Qg4!: the queen offers begin

Black's queen has to keep guarding e8, where White's rooks are aimed. On g4, c4 and c7 the queen can be taken, but each time taking it allows mate in two: White's rooks take on e8. Black's queen moves were forced: at moves 18 to 21 every other move loses faster.

Searching deeply, Stockfish finds that White wins by force from move 18, and 18.Qg4 was the only way: the next best move only leaves the position level. 22.Re4! is the move that settles it: Black's queen on a4 can't keep watch over e8 and protect itself at the same time. After 23.Qxb7 Black resigned.

How we checked

• The moves are from Edward Winter's article on the game and a second published score, which agree. We replayed every move with python-chess: all are legal. The game has sometimes been printed with the colours reversed.
• The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the finish again at depth 30. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
• The history: from Winter's article, which also gives Brandreth's and Velasco's views, and Wikipedia's page on Carlos Torre.

More famous games

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• Levitsky v Marshall, Breslau 1912
• Edward Lasker v Thomas, London 1912
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• Capablanca v Marshall, New York 1918
• The Immortal Zugzwang Game
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• Euwe v Alekhine, 1935, game 26
• Botvinnik v Capablanca, AVRO 1938
• The Game of the Century
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• Tal v Smyslov, Candidates 1959
• Spassky v Bronstein, 1960
• Tal v Botvinnik, 1960, game 1
• Robert Byrne v Fischer, 1963
• Petrosian v Spassky, 1966, game 10
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• Larsen v Spassky, Belgrade 1970
• Fischer v Spassky, 1972, game 6
• Karpov v Spassky, 1974, game 9
• Liu Wenzhe v Donner, 1978
• Karpov v Kasparov, 1985, game 16
• Kasparov v Karpov, Seville 1987, game 24
• Shirov v Judit Polgár, Buenos Aires 1994
• Topalov v Shirov, Linares 1998
• Kasparov's Immortal
• Kasparov v Kramnik, 2000, game 3
• Kramnik v Leko, Brissago 2004, game 14
• Anand's Immortal
• Anand v Carlsen, Chennai 2013, game 9
• Wei Yi v Bruzón, Danzhou 2015
• Carlsen v Karjakin, 2016, tiebreak game 4
• Carlsen v Nepomniachtchi, 2021, game 6

Ways to train

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• Master moves