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The Most Beautiful Move in Chess History

The queen lands on a square where three pieces can take it.

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The Most Beautiful Move in Chess History: the video's coverPress start

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Stepan LevitskyK.O. · material 24/39
Frank MarshallWins · material 27/39
White
Stepan LevitskyRussian master, winner of the 1911 All-Russian Amateur Tournament. Age 36.
Black
Frank MarshallUS champion since 1909. Age 34.
Event
18th Congress of the German Chess Federation, master tournament, round 6
Place
Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland)
Date
20 July 1912
Opening
French Defense, Marshall Gambit (C10)
Result
0-1White resigned, 23 moves
Video
0:40Published 12 November 2026

The story

Breslau, 20 July 1912, round 6 of the master tournament at the German Chess Federation's congress. Frank Marshall, 34, has been champion of the United States since 1909. With Black he meets Stepan Levitsky, 36, a Russian master.

Marshall plays his own gambit in the French Defense, and for nineteen moves the game is level. Then Levitsky moves his queen to the wrong square: 20.Qh5 is the losing move. 20.Qe4 held.

The black rooks arrive. 21...Rh6 attacks the queen with the bishop on h3 standing behind it, and 22...Rxh3 takes the bishop. The pawn cannot take the rook back: a knight check on f3 would win the queen.

Then comes the move the game is known for. 23...Qg3 puts the black queen on a square where three white pieces can take it. If the h-pawn takes, the knight mates on e2. If the f-pawn takes, it is mate in two. If the queen takes, a knight fork leaves Black a piece ahead. And if nothing takes, the queen mates on h2. Levitsky resigned.

The story goes that the spectators showered the board with gold coins, and that is how the game got its name. Marshall himself told it that way thirty years later. The reports from 1912 say nothing about gold.

Key moments

Frames from the video, one for each turning point.

  1. 21...Rh6 in the video: the rook lift

    21...Rh6!

    The rook lift

    The rook attacks the queen, and the bishop on h3 stands right behind it.

  2. 22...Rxh3 in the video: the bishop falls

    22...Rxh3!

    The bishop falls

    The pawn cannot take back: 23...Nf3+ would fork the king and the queen.

  3. 23...Qg3 in the video: the queen on g3

    23...Qg3!!

    The queen on g3

    Three pieces can take it. Two of the captures are mated, the third loses a piece.

  4. 24.hxg3 Ne2# in the video: not played

    24.hxg3 Ne2#

    Not played

    The video goes on after the resignation: if the h-pawn takes the queen, the knight mates.

Command list

Levitsky vs Marshall · 46 plies · 0-1

Download
  1. 1.d4e6
  2. 2.e4d5
  3. 3.Nc3c5
  4. 4.Nf3Nc6
  5. 5.exd5exd5
  6. 6.Be2Nf6
  7. 7.O-OBe7
  8. 8.Bg5O-O
  9. 9.dxc5Be6
  10. 10.Nd4Bxc5
  11. 11.Nxe6fxe6
  12. 12.Bg4Qd6
  13. 13.Bh3Rae8
  14. 14.Qd2Bb4
  15. 15.Bxf6Rxf6
  16. 16.Rad1Qc5
  17. 17.Qe2Bxc3
  18. 18.bxc3Qxc3
  19. 19.Rxd5!Nd4!
  20. 20.Qh5?Ref8
  21. 21.Re5Rh6!
  22. 22.Qg5Rxh3!
  23. 23.Rc5Qg3!!
The PGN file
[Event "18th DSB Kongress, master tournament"]
[Site "Breslau GER"]
[Date "1912.07.20"]
[EventDate "1912.07.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Stefan Levitsky"]
[Black "Frank James Marshall"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C10"]
[Opening "French Defense: Marshall Gambit (by transposition)"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[Source "chessgames.com gid=1094915 (raw file in download/chessgames/); moves match Wikipedia, Levitsky versus Marshall"]

1.d4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.Nc3 c5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.exd5 exd5 6.Be2 Nf6 7.O-O
Be7 8.Bg5 O-O 9.dxc5 Be6 10.Nd4 Bxc5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Bg4 Qd6
13.Bh3 Rae8 14.Qd2 Bb4 15.Bxf6 Rxf6 16.Rad1 Qc5 17.Qe2 Bxc3
18.bxc3 Qxc3 19.Rxd5 Nd4 20.Qh5 Ref8 21.Re5 Rh6 22.Qg5 Rxh3
23.Rc5 Qg3 0-1

Behind the edit

What it took to turn 7 plies into 0:40 of video. Counted from the finished edit.

Effects
294
Kinds of effect
57
Sound cues
11
Moves, each with its own light
7
Seconds of video
40

What we checked

Every caption in the video was checked against the sources. Some well-known stories did not survive.

  • The crowd showered the board with gold coins.

    It is a legend with a real root. The 1912 reports and the tournament book do not mention gold. Marshall's own notes say a purse was presented to him; by 1942 his memoir had the spectators showering him with gold pieces. Another account, from 1978, says the coins were bets being paid by people who had backed Levitsky. The video shows no coins.

  • Levitsky was checkmated.

    He resigned after 23...Qg3. The video plays one more line, 24.hxg3 Ne2 mate, to show why. It was not played, and it is not White's best reply: 24.Qxg3 avoids mate and leaves Black a knight ahead.

  • Every capture is mate.

    Two of the three are. White had 41 legal replies to 23...Qg3: 40 of them lose to a forced mate, and only 24.Qxg3 does not.

  • The only winning move.

    It was not. About half a dozen queen moves win at move 23. The engine puts 23...Qg3 narrowly first, and it is the most forcing. One writer has called it the most over-rated move in chess history for that reason; two well-known lists rank it first and third among the most amazing moves ever played.

  • Levitsky, champion of Russia.

    Some sources call him that. What is certain is that he won the All-Russian Amateur Tournament in 1911 and earned the master title with it, so the card says only that.

Credits

  • Photos: Stepan Levitsky (1913) and Frank Marshall (1908): public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
  • Music and voices: original.

Sources

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