Learn the Immortal Attacking Games

Classics · a repertoire for white · 3 chapters · 3 annotated lines

"Play the greatest attacks in history, move by move"

Some games teach more than a hundred lessons — because in them, every attacking principle fires at once. This course puts you in the winner's chair for three of the most famous attacking games ever played: Morphy's Opera Game (the eternal masterclass in development and open files), Réti's queen-sacrifice miniature against Tartakower (the deadliest discovered check ever played), and Canal's 'Peruvian Immortal' (two rooks and a queen sacrificed for a two-bishop mate). You guess the master's move at every turn — with the reasoning explained when you find it. These aren't repertoire lines to memorize; they're the attacking patterns underneath every repertoire you'll ever play: develop with threats, open lines toward the king, count attackers before defenders arrive, and sacrifice when the math says mate.

What's inside

• Chapter 1: The Opera Game — Morphy, Paris 1858
  Lines: Morphy vs. Duke Karl & Count Isouard
• Chapter 2: The Discovered Check Machine — Réti, Vienna 1910
  Lines: Réti vs. Tartakower
• Chapter 3: The Peruvian Immortal — Canal, Budapest 1934
  Lines: Canal vs. NN — Two Rooks and a Queen

Free sample: the main line, move by move

• 1. e4 — Morphy's move, and the right first move for every attacking player: grab the center, open two diagonals.
• 1... e5 — The Duke answers classically.
• 2. Nf3 — Develop with a threat — e5 is attacked. Morphy never made a move without asking something of his opponent.
• 2... d6 — The Philidor Defense: solid, passive, and about to be punished for the bishop sortie it enables.
• 3. d4 — Strike the center immediately. Black's d6 pawn can't hold e5 without help, and every helper Black chooses will cost something.
• 3... Bg4 — The fatal idea — pinning the knight LOOKS active, but the bishop will be traded for the knight, handing White the bishop pair and, more importantly, time.
• 4. dxe5 — Take! The point: 4...dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 wins a clean pawn (the g4 bishop hangs after the knight moves). So Black must trade on f3 first — giving up the bishop pair and accelerating White's queen.
• 4... Bxf3 — Forced, effectively — and now White's queen enters the game with tempo.
• 5. Qxf3 — Recapture toward the center. Count development: White has a queen out and two open lines; Black has nothing but a weakened light-square complex. Morphy's games are all about this ledger.
• 5... dxe5 — Black restores material.
• 6. Bc4 — The bishop takes the Italian diagonal, hitting f7 — the weakest square on the board. The threat is already Qxf7#: one developing move, one mating threat.
• 6... Nf6 — Black defends f7 by blocking the queen's path — and walks into the next tempo.
• 7. Qb3 — The double attack: f7 (again, now via the bishop's support) AND b7. Black cannot defend both properly. Notice the pattern — every Morphy move so far develops OR gains time; this one does both.
• 7... Qe7 — The best try: defending f7 and preparing to block on d7 tricks. But the queen on e7 imprisons the f8 bishop — Black's kingside will never castle.
• 8. Nc3 — Morphy declines to grab b7! After Qxb7 Qb4+ trades queens, Black survives the opening. Development FIRST: the knight comes out with gain of structure, and the attack stays alive. This restraint is the most instructive moment of the game.
• 8... c6 — Black shores up b7 and d5 — another pawn move while the army sleeps.
• 9. Bg5 — The last minor piece develops, pinning the f6 knight against the queen. Every White piece now aims at the Black king's neighborhood; Black's rooks and kingside bishop haven't moved. The position is ready to explode.
• 9... b5 — Black lashes out, attacking the c4 bishop — hoping to gain a tempo back at last.
• 10. Nxb5 — The thunderbolt — and the engine's top move by three pawns' worth. The knight can be taken, but every capture opens a line to the king faster: Morphy calculated that with Black's pieces at home, the attack down the newly opened lines is decisive. Sacrifice to OPEN LINES, not to win material.
• 10... cxb5 — Black accepts.
• 11. Bxb5+ — The bishop follows, with check. Black's king will never escape the center now — the check forces a blocker onto d7, where it becomes a pinned target.
• 11... Nbd7 — The knight blocks — pinned against the king the moment it arrives.
• 12. O-O-O — Castle INTO the attack: the king tucks away and the a1 rook teleports to the open d-file, tripling the pressure on the pinned d7 knight. Castling as an attacking move — remember this pattern forever.
• 12... Rd8 — Black defends d7 with the rook — everything hangs by one thread.
• 13. Rxd7 — Take the pinned piece! A full rook for a knight — but the d-file must stay open and the defender must go. The follow-up rook is already coming to d1; Morphy is playing the file, not the material count.
• 13... Rxd7 — Black recaptures — now the d7 rook is the pinned target.
• 14. Rd1 — The reload. The second rook takes the file and re-pins d7. Black's extra rook sleeps on h8 while every White piece attacks. Development, again, is the whole game.
• 14... Qe6 — Black offers the queen trade — the only way to unpin, and one move too slow.
• 15. Bxd7+ — Strip the last defender with check. The combination begins: every move from here is forced.
• 15... Nxd7 — The knight recaptures — the only legal block that isn't immediate disaster.
• 16. Qb8+ — The queen sacrifice — the most famous move in chess history. The knight MUST take (it's the only piece that can), and taking removes the final guard of d8.
• 16... Nxb8 — Forced — and the back rank is bare.
• 17. Rd8# — Checkmate — rook and game. Two pieces delivered mate because seventeen moves of development, tempo, and open files put them there. Morphy sacrificed a knight, a rook's worth of exchange, and his queen — and was never worse for a single move. That is what 'development' means.

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