Talk:The Game of the Century (chess)

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it would be terrific if chess enthusiasts here could add in comments into the move notation. but please don't add copyrighted comments. Kingturtle 17:56 26 May 2003 (UTC)


  • The Game of The Century was a chess game played between chessmaster Donald Byrne and 13-year old Bobby Fischer....or
  • The Game of The Century refers to a chess game played between chessmaster Donald Byrne and 13-year old Bobby Fischer

I debated over this before I saved it. I chose refers to because the term "The Game of The Century" is subjective. There was no vote. There was no play-off. There was no objective way to decide which game was the "The Game of The Century". It wasn't billed with that name before the game. So we can't say it is or was....the name is completely subjective. And arguments can be made that other games were the "The Game of The Century". That is why I made the decision. I did not make a rash decision. I thought about it closely. Kingturtle 20:50 26 May 2003 (UTC)

As a point of interest, I think it was Hans Kmoch who first called this game the "Game of the Century", very shortly after it was played. I don't have anything to hand that will verify that just now, but it might be worth Googling (I'm very short of time myself just at the minute). --Camembert

I'm going to get rid of the PGN formatting - there's a link at the bottom of the page to the pgn version for anybody who wants it, but I think it's better for humans to read more natural looking text. --Camembert

Would it be possible to add graphics of actual positions partway through the game, at appropriate places? I think it would greatly improve the article. I don't have the right software to produce relevant graphics, but I expect other people do. -- Cabalamat 17:37, 1 Jan 2004 (UTC)

An anon added an external link to http://home.att.net/~bobbyfischer/game_of_the_century_chess.htm for playing through the game in animated format. I like the feature but the accompanying article there is a verbatim copy of this one without attribution. I left a comment on that site, calling attention to the terms of the FDL. If Wikipedia is created there, the link here could be restored. As for the PGN link, I just got a 404 when I tried it. Is that just me or is the link broken? JamesMLane 18:34, 23 Jul 2004 (UTC)

It's not just you. The file that link points to appears to not exist. Not sure what's happened there, but I'll upload a replacement. --Camembert

The external link now credits the Wikipedia and mentions the GFDL (I didn't realise this before my recent reversion, which is why I've restored it). I'm still not sure it's a very useful link for us to have myself, since it adds so little to the article, and you can play through the game at so many other websites (chessgames.com for one), but if people think it's useful, I'm not going to remove it. --Camembert

This anonymous user had been littering a lot of Chess pages with links to his stuff; in addition, his pages go out of their way to rejct Mozilla and Firefox. I think these links should be shot on sight. I've listed him on the Vandalism in progress page.
The site is just a hobbyist site, right, not commercial (except that it carries Google ads along the top)? It seems to me to have a fair amount decent material. I admit I'm biased toward it because it now credits Wikipedia for our Game of the Century article. The link here lets people go right to the animated game, which I think makes the article more useful to the reader. JamesMLane 22:56, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)


You have some legitimate points. The reason I reverted what 69.133.93.199 wrote is because his only contribution to Wiki is adding links to his home page to dozens of chess and music pages. When people remove the links, he puts them back in; I've had to revert his changes twice just today. I was reverting [everything] he added on dozens of chess pages; he put some stuff back in so a team of us had to revert yet again. Strange he's adding all these links around the time the Google dance is scheduled to happen. Since you approve his links here, we'll keep them on this page. Samboy 02:33, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Thanks. I agree with you that he should raise issues on the Talk pages instead of just constantly reverting. I would be tempted to restore his link (well, one of the three) on the Bobby Fischer article, just on the site's merits, but I'm refraining from doing so because of his MO. JamesMLane 02:56, 28 Jul 2004 (UTC)
See User:Hadal's comment on the vandalism page. I've also noticed that he replaces links occasionally, no just adding it. --1pezguy 04:23, Jul 28, 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] mistake in the moves?

So I played through this game with someone, playing the moves just as they are listed here, and I think there might be a mistake. after 15. ... Nxc3!, Black's knight is unprotected, and I find no reason why White won't respond with 16. Qxc3. I think Blacks knight should be protected by the bishop on g7, however this is blocked by the white pawn on d4. Am I missing something?

After 16. Qxc3 Rfe8, White can't hold the pinned bishop (17. Qa3 Qc7) and will simply be down a pawn with no compensation. Byrne played 16. Bc5 to get his bishop out of danger with a tempo, because of course Fischer would be forced to deal with the attack on his queen... except that he wasn't.  :) JamesMLane 04:02, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I believe that the well-known game played between Kasparov and Topalov in 1999 was played at Wijk an Zee, not Linares. --Fermatprime 14:26, 6 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Just out of curiosity, if white responded Kh2 instead of Kf1 at move 36, how would black checkmate him?

[edit] Game of the Century - American Sports

I find it funny that this is referring to a chess match, because if you were to ask the typical American sports fan, the "Game of the Century" is the 1971 Thanksgiving Day matchup between #1 Nebraska and #2 Oklahoma, which is often thought of as the greatest college football game ever played.

There are many games labelled as "Game of the Century". I'm American, and never heard of the 1971 football game, but I certainly heard of the chess game. Google is sometimes helpful in pointing out popularity; it points first of all to a 1916 football, followed by this chess game, followed by many other things. Perhaps it might be best make "Game of the Century" a disambiguation page, and rename the current page as "Game of the Century (chess)". Dwheeler 12:04, September 11, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Poetry

"Fischer demonstrates ... poetry": While this is an impressive game, our description fails to back this statement up. Does "poetry" have a special meaning in chess, or is this at least a famous quote? If not, it should be deleted as unencyclopedic. Common Man 06:07, 10 October 2005 (UTC)

Looks almost NPOV if it isn't something quoted :) Piepants 00:46, 9 June 2006 (UTC)Piepants

[edit] Copyvio

I followed the link at the bottom of the page and found an almost-verbatim copy of this article on Fisher's website - it looks like this is a copyright violation. I've tagged it as such. 204.40.1.129 14:25, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

My bad...my bad. Sorry. Not a copyvio after all. 204.40.1.129 14:38, 29 August 2006 (UTC)



[edit] Unclear description

The article states :

       "12. Qa3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Nxe4!

       "Fischer again offers material in order to open the e-file

and get at White's uncastled king."

     Could the author please make clear what material is Fischer offering

precisely, which "Byrne wisely declines" ?


It's explained in the note that says "Byrne wisely declines" the offer. Byrne could have captured Fischer's rook by playing 15. Bxf8. Byrne would have emerged with a material advantage but a bad position. JamesMLane t c 11:44, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
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