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Here are a few short games which have been hailed as brilliancies, but which contain flaws:
1. Alekhine - Anonymous, Vienna 1936
1 e4 e5 2 d4 f6 3 dxe5 fxe5 4
Qh5+ Ke7 5 Qxe5+ Kf7 6 Bc4+ d5 7 Bxd5+ Kg6 8 Qg3+ Kh5 9 Bf7+ g6 10 h3? (10
Qe5+ Bf5 11 Qxf5+ and mate next) 10...Qf6 11 Nf3 (11 Bf4 mates quicker)
11...Be7 and White announced mate in six: 12 Qg4+ Bxg4 13 hxg4+ Kxg4 14
Nh2+ Kh5 15 Nf1+ Kg4 16 Be6+ Qxe6 17 f3++.
2. Weigel - Ebert, correspondence 1936
1 e4 e5 2 f4 Bc5 3 Bc4 d6 4
Nf3 Nf6 5 c3 0-0 6 fxe5 dxe5 7 Nxe5 Nxe4 8 d4 Qh4+ 9 Ke2 Qf2+ 10 Kd3 Bb6?
(given an exclamation mark in Chernev's 1000 Best Short Games of Chess.
10...Bd6 or 10...Bf5 win) 11 Rf1? (11 Bd5 may survive) 11...Nc5+! 12
dxd5 Bf5++.
3. Bernstein - Tartakover, The Hague 1948 (friendly game)
1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Nf6 4 dxe5 Nxe4 5 Bc4 Be6 6 Bxe6 fxe6 7 Qe2 d5 8 Qb5+ Nc6 9 Nd4
Qd7 10 Qxb7 Bb4+! 11 c3 Nxd4! 12 Qxa1+ Ke7? (This may be a typo in the
books, as 12...Kf7! is the more natural move) 13 Qxh8 Qb5 0-1. White
resigned here, despite the fact that the following may survive: 14 Qxg7+ Ke8 15
Qg8+ Kd7 16 Qf7+ Kc8 17 Qf3.
4. anonymous - Blackburne, London 1880
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5
4 Bxf7+ Kxf7 5 Nxe5+ Nxe5 6 Qh5+ g6 7 Qxe5 d6 8 Qxh8 Qh4 9 0-0 Nf6 10 c3?
(10 Qd8 Bb6 11 e5 +-) 10...Ng4 11 h3 Bxf2+ 12 Kh1 Bf5! 13 Qxa1 Qxh3+ 14 gxh3
Bxe4++.
5. Heinrichsen - Metger, Berlin 1896
1 f4 e5 2 e4 d5 3 d4 exd4 4
Qxd4 dxe4 5 Qxe4+ Be7 6 Nc3 Nf6 7 Qa4+ Bd7 8 Qb3 Nc6 9 Qxb7 Nb4 10 Nb5 Bc6?
(10...Nxc2+ wins) 11 Qxc7? (11 Nxc7+) 11...Nxc2+ 12 Kf2 Ne4+
(12...Ng4+ mates) 13 Kf3? Ne1+ 14 Kg4? Kf2+ 0-1.
6. anonymous - Heuacker, Nuremberg 1934
1 f4 e5 2 fxe5 d6 3 exd6
Bxd6 4 Nf3 g5 5 d4 g4 6 Ne5 Nc6 (6...Bxe5 is book) 7 Nxc6 bxc6 8 Be3 Qe7 9 Qd3
Ba6? 10 Qxa6 Qxe3 11 Qxc6+ Ke7 12 Qxa8? (12 Nd2 wins) 12...Nf6! 13 Qxh8
Qc1+ 14 Kf2 Ne4+ 15 Kg1 Qe3++
7. Craddock - Mieses, London 1939
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 g3 Nf6 4 Bg2
Bb4 5 e3 d6 6 Nge2 Bg4 7 Qb3 Rb8 8 Nd5 Bc5 9 Nxf6+ Qxf6! 10 Bxc6+ bxc6 11
Qxb7? (11 Qd1 may survive) 11...Ke7?? (may be a typo in the books,
as 11...Kd7 is the natural move) 12 Qxh8?? (12 Qxc7+ wins)
12...Qf3! (forces mate) 13 Kd1 Qxe2 14 Kc2 Qxc4+ 15 Kb1
Qd3++.
8. Gudju - Bogdanovsky, Paris 1929
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4
d4 exd4 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 Re1 d5 7 Nc3 Be6 8 Nxe4 dxc4 9 Neg5 Qd5? 10 Nxf7! Kxf7 11
Ng5+ Kg8 12 Nxe6 Rc8 (12...Re8 =) 13 Bh6 Bg4 (13...gxh6 14 Qg4+ may
win?) 14 Nxg7? (14 Qg4 wins) 14...Ne5? [14...Bxe1 15 Qg4 Bxf2+ 16
Kh1 (16 Kxf2 Qf7+ 17 Kg1 Rd8 draw?) 16...Kf7 17 Rf1 Ke7 draw?] 15 d3?
(16 Rxe5 +-) 16...Nf7? (16...Bc5 =) 17 Nh5! Qf5 18 Re8+ Rxe8 19 Qg4+
Qxg4 20 Nf6++.