The Game of the Century (chess) The Game of the Century (chess) In chess, The Game of the Century is a chess game played between 26-year-old Donald Byrne and 13-year-old Bobby Fischer in the Rosenwald Memorial Tournament in New York City on October 17, 1956, which Fischer won. The competition took place at the Marshall Chess Club. It was nicknamed "The Game of the Century" by Hans Kmoch in "Chess Review". Kmoch wrote, "The following game, a stunning masterpiece of play performed by a boy of 13 against a formidable opponent, matches the finest on record in the history of chess prodigies." Donald Byrne (1930–1976) was
White and Black in chess in the first game. Staunton observed in 1871 that "many players still cultivate the foolish habit of playing exclusively with one colour." On October 19, 1857, Mr. Perrin, the Secretary of the New York Chess Club, informed those assembled at the First American Chess Congress that he had received a letter from Johann Löwenthal, a leading English master, "suggesting the advisableness of always giving the first move in public games, to the player of the white pieces." Löwenthal also wrote that London's chess clubs had adopted a new rule that White always moves first. The club evidently did not follow