Editing Evergreen Game (section)

{{Short description|Chess game won by Adolf Anderssen against Jean Dufresne in 1852}}
[[File:Evergreen Game, 1852.gif|thumb|upright=1.3|Game animation]]

The '''Evergreen Game''' is a famous [[chess]] game won by [[Adolf Anderssen]] against [[Jean Dufresne]] in 1852.

This was probably an {{chessgloss|friendly game|informal game}}. At the time, there was no formal title of "World Champion", but the German mathematics professor Anderssen was widely considered the best player in the world after winning the [[London 1851 chess tournament|first major international chess tournament]] in London in 1851. Though not in the same class as Anderssen, Dufresne, a popular author of chess books, was also a strong player. It is usually assumed that the game was played in Berlin, where Dufresne lived and Anderssen often visited, but no details of the game's circumstances were given in the original publication in the September and October 1852 issues of the Berlin-based ''[[Deutsche Schachzeitung]]''.<ref name=Winter>[[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Winter, Edward]], [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/evergreen.html ''Anderssen v Dufresne: The Evergreen Game'']</ref><ref name=SZ>{{Cite book |last=Anderssen |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U61AAAAAcAAJ |title=Deutsche Schachzeitung |date=September 1852 |pages=338–339 |language=de |chapter=Gespielte Partieen 450, Zwischen Anderssen und Dufresne |author-link=Adolf Anderssen}}</ref><ref name=SZe>{{Cite book |last=Anderssen |first=Adolf |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U61AAAAAcAAJ |title=Deutsche Schachzeitung |date=October 1852 |page=383 |language=de |chapter=Schluss der Partie 450 |author-link=Adolf Anderssen}}</ref>

Beginning with [[Howard Staunton]] in 1853,<ref name=Staunton>{{Cite book |last=Staunton |first=Howard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yy4CAAAAYAAJ&q=Chess+Player%27s+Chronicle |title=Chess Player's Chronicle |year=1853 |pages=4–11 |language=en |author-link=Howard Staunton}}</ref> the game has been extensively analysed over the years, particularly the critical positions before and after White's remarkable 19th move, Rad1. Although defensive resources for Black have since been found, Anderssen's [[Combination (chess)|combination]] remains much admired.

After Anderssen's death in 1879, [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] published a tribute in ''[[The Field (magazine)|The Field]]'' in which he annotated Anderssen's two most famous games, the Evergreen and the [[Immortal Game]] against [[Lionel Kieseritzky]]. Annotating 19.Rad1, Steinitz wrote, "An evergreen in the laurel crown of the departed chess hero", thus giving this game its name.<ref name=Winter />
{{AN chess|pos=toc}}