The Game of the Century: Donald Byrne v Fischer, 1956

Bobby Fischer was 13 when he played this game against Donald Byrne in the Rosenwald Memorial tournament at the Marshall Chess Club in New York on 17 October 1956. Hans Kmoch called it "The Game of the Century" in Chess Review, and the name stuck.

Black to move after 17.Kf1. Fischer's next move leaves his queen to be taken.

The whole game

Donald Byrne v Bobby Fischer, New York 1956. Step through all 41 moves.

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move.

11.Bg5: the mistake that started it

White to move after 10...Bg4. 11.Be2 would have kept the game level.

Byrne's queen had already gone to c5, an awkward square. Many writers have said 11.Be2, castling next, was the right move, and Stockfish agrees: 11.Be2 keeps the game about level, while after 11.Bg5 Black is two pawns better. White's king is still in the centre, and Fischer goes straight for it.

11...Na4!!: the first sacrifice

11...Na4!! 12.Qa3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nxe4: Black wins the e-pawn.

Jonathan Rowson called 11...Na4 one of the most powerful moves of all time. Stockfish agrees it was the only strong move: it leaves Black two pawns better, and the next best only about half a pawn. After 12.Qa3 Nxc3 13.bxc3 Nxe4 Black has won a pawn, and White's king is still in the centre.

17...Be6!!: the queen sacrifice

17...Be6!! 18.Bxb6 Bxc4+ 19.Kg1 Ne2+ 20.Kf1 Nxd4+ 21.Kg1 Ne2+ 22.Kf1 Nc3+ 23.Kg1 axb6: the windmill.

White's bishop on c5 attacks Black's queen. Instead of moving it, Fischer played 17...Be6, offering the queen and attacking White's bishop on c4. It was the only move that kept Black's advantage: the natural 17...Nb5 loses to 18.Bxf7+, and Stockfish rates it about three-quarters of a pawn worse for Black.

Byrne took the queen, and that made things worse. Stockfish's best defence is 18.Qxc3, which still leaves Black about two and a half pawns better; Kmoch thought 18.Bd3 was White's best chance, and Stockfish rates that about three and a half. After 18.Bxb6 Black is more than five pawns better: Black's bishop and knight give a series of discovered checks, a windmill, that pick up White's bishop on c4 and the pawn on d4 before Black takes back on b6. Two moves later the rook on d1 falls too, and after 25...Nxd1 Black has a rook and two bishops for the queen.

The finish

35.Kg1 Bc5+ 36.Kf1 Ng3+ 37.Ke1 Bb4+ 38.Kd1 Bb3+ 39.Kc1 Ne2+ 40.Kb1 Nc3+ 41.Kc1 Rc2#.

According to one account, Byrne played on to the end as a courtesy to the young player, and Fischer finished with mate on c2.

How we checked

The moves are from Wikipedia's page on the game). We replayed every one with python-chess: all are legal and the game ends in checkmate.
The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the key moments again at depth 26. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
The history and the named opinions (Kmoch, Rowson) are from the Wikipedia article.

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