The Evergreen Game, Part I

By International Master Bryan Smith

In this article we are going to see a game which is known as the "Evergreen Game." Why is it called this? An evergreen tree is a tree that is green all year long, such as a spruce tree or a pine tree. Its leaves never fall off and it never becomes grey. People who like chess think this game was too amazing to ever become grey or lose its 'leaves'.

This game was played long ago, in the year 1852, in the city of Berlin. The white pieces were played by Adolf Anderssen, and black by Jean Dufresne. Anderssen was considered the best player in the world before Paul Morphy came along. Dufresne was another master of the time.

Anderssen was famous for making very confusing, creative attacks. In this game he checkmated his opponent almost out of nowhere. But one thing which helped him alot was that his opponent never castled. Anderssen, on the other hand, castled as early as the seventh move. Watch how Anderssen builds up his pieces in the center of the board and uses them to start an attack. 

The stage is set! The black king is in the center where White has stationed his pieces. Meanwhile Black has chances of a counterattack with his bishops on the diagonals towards the white king. Check out the second part of the article here to see how Anderssen set fire to the board!