Famous Evans Gambit Games
Real games, not generated positions — from the 1827 offhand game that gave the opening its name to the 1995 game that brought it back to top-level chess. Every move list here has been checked against multiple sources and verified legal.
William Davies Evans vs Alexander McDonnell
The game that started it all. Evans — a Welsh sea captain who is said to have worked out the idea while pacing the deck of his mail ship — tried his new pawn sacrifice against Alexander McDonnell, one of the strongest players in the world at the time. The historical record preserves the opening clearly but the full score has not survived reliably enough to reconstruct here. Notice the move order: Evans castled first and only played b4 on move 5, not move 4 as everyone plays today.
1-0 — Game score not fully preserved
Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne
Played two years before the more famous 'Immortal Game', the Evergreen Game is the single most reprinted Evans Gambit in chess literature. Anderssen builds a mating attack while multiple White pieces hang en prise, then finishes with a queen sacrifice that leaves a rook, bishop and king all combining for a picture-perfect mate.
1-0 — Checkmate
Bobby Fischer vs Reuben Fine
A casual skittles-room game, but a famous one: a 20-year-old Fischer, already World Championship material, reached for a 19th-century weapon against Reuben Fine — himself a world-class grandmaster a generation earlier — and won in only 17 moves. It is a favourite example of how quickly the Evans Gambit punishes a defender who accepts too much material without finishing development.
1-0 — Black resigned
Garry Kasparov vs Viswanathan Anand
The game that single-handedly revived the Evans Gambit at the top level. Kasparov, then World Champion, unveiled a 19th-century opening against Anand and demolished him in 25 moves — proof that a supposedly 'refuted' gambit still had real venom when backed by modern preparation. Club players and grandmasters alike started playing 4.b4 again within months.
1-0 — Black resigned