The First Chess Masterpiece - Best of the pre-1900s - McDonnell vs. La Bourdonnais, 1834

What is the first chess masterpiece ever played? Naturally one thinks of the games of Paul Morphy and Adolf Anderssen in the 1850s, and indeed some of the greatest masterpieces ever played such as the Opera Game, Immortal Game, and Evergreen Game, hale from this time, quite an early time. One might also think of the games of much earlier players such as Fracois Philidor, but I think that when looking back that far, it's hard to find games that hold up to the standards of a masterpiece.

For me though, there is one game played nearly twenty years prior to the Immortal Game that deserves to be called a masterpiece. This is the gem, McDonnell vs. La Bourdonnais. In fact, Alexander McDonnell (a British leading player) and Louis de la Bourdonnais (a French leading player) contested more than 80 games between them. They were celebrated at the time, and the games featuring much exciting chess and some beautiful combinations.

Doubtless the most celebrated game is the following. La Bourdonnais gains the upper hand with central pawns and the bishop pair as McDonnell shows weak positional understanding and disregard for tempo and development. The road to conversion for La Bourdonnais is quite long and bumpy, but he is relentless in pushing his pawns and determined to progress up the board.

He also rightly decides to sacrifice material to achieve his goals. As his pawns get nearer to promotion, the defensive margin becomes slimmer for McDonnell who eventually makes the final mistake and allows La Bourdonnais a triumphant conclusion; he surrenders his queen to place three connected passed pawns on the seventh rank. With both promotion and mate forced, McDonnell resigned.

Top 10 Games from before 1900

• #1: ???
• #2: ???
• #3: McDonnell vs. La Bourdonnais, 1834
• #4: Hamppe vs. Meitner, 1872
• #5: Pillsbury vs. Lasker, 1896
• #6: Zukertort vs. Blackburne, 1883
• #7: Steinitz vs. Von Bardeleben, 1895
• #8: Mason vs. Winawer, 1882
• #9: Pillsbury vs. Lasker, 1896
• #10: Urosov vs. NN, 1887
• #11: Saint Amant vs. Staunton, 1843
• #12: Chigorin vs. Steinitz, 1892
• #13: Fleissig vs. Schlecter, 1893
• #14: Konyovits vs. Charousek, 1893
• #15: Weiss vs. Pollock, 1889

• See also: Top 10 of the 1900s, Top 10 of the 1910s, Top 10 of the 1920s, Top 10 of the 1930s, Top 10 of the 1940s, Top 10 of the 1950s, Top 10 of the 1960s, Top 10 of the 1970s, Top 10 of the 1980s, Top 10 of the 1990s, Top 10 of the 2000s, and Top 10 of the 2010s

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