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© Copyright 2002, Jim Loy
Back in about 1620, Gioachino Greco wrote a book containing 77 games that he had supposedly won against "anonymous." Many people think that he just made the games up. Be that as it may, a few of these games are brilliant classics:
G. Greco - anonymous, game #1
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Nf6
5 d4 exd4 6 cxd4 Bb4+ 7 Nc3 Nxe4 8 0-0 Nxc3 9 bxc3 Bxc3 10 Qb3 Bxa1 11 Bxf7+
Kf8 12 Bg5 Ne7 (12...Nxd4 loses) 13 Ne5 Bxd4 (13...d5 loses) 14
Bg6 d5 15 Qf3+ Bf5 16 Bxf5 Bxe5 17 Be6+ Bf6 18 Bxf6 gxf6 19 Qxf6+ Ke8 20
Qf7++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #7
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Qe7
5 0-0 d6 6 d4 Bb6 7 Bg5 f6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Nxg5 fxg5 10 Qh5+ Qd7 11 Bxg5 Qg7
(11...Qf8 loses) 12 Be6+ Kxe6 13 Qe8+ Nce7 (either knight) 14
d5++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #9
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 c3 Qe7
5 0-0 d6 6 d4 Bb6 7 Bg5 f6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Nxg5 fxg5 10 Qh5+ Kd8 11 Bxg5 Nf6 12 Qh6
Rf8 13 f4 exd4 14 e5 dxc3+ 15 Kh1 cxb2 16 exf6 bxa1Q (16...Rxf6 loses)
17 fxe7+ Nxe7 18 Rxf8+ Kd7 19 Bb5+ Nc6 20 Qe7++
anonymous - G. Greco, game #12
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Bc5 4 0-0
Nf6 5 Re1 0-0 6 c3 Qe7 7 d4 exd4 8 e5 Bg4 9 csd4 Nxd4 10 Nxd4 Qh4 11 Nf3
(Black seems to be winning) 11...Qxf2+ 12 Kh1 Qg1+ 13 Nxg1 (or 13 Rxg1)
13...Nf2++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #20
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 Nf6 4 Ng5
d5 5 exd5 Nxd5 6 Nxf7 Kxf7 7 Qf3+ Ke6 8 Nc3 Ne7 9 0-0 c6 10 Re1 Bd7 11 d4 Kd6
12 Rxe5 Ng6 13 Nxd5 Nxe5 (13...cxd5 loses) 14 dxe5+ Kc5 (14...Kxe5
or 14...Ke6 lose) 15 Qa3+ Kxc4 16 Qd3+ Kc5 17 b4++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #29
1 e4 b6 2 d4 Bb7 3 Bd3 f5 4 exf5
Bxg2 5 Qh5+ g6 6 fxg6 Qf6 7 gxh7+ Nxh5 8 Bg6++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #31
1 e4 c5 2 b4 cxb4 3 d4 e6 4 a3 bxa3
5 c4 Bb4+ 6 Bd2 Bxd2+ 7 Qxd2 d5 8 e5 dxc4 9 Bxc4 Bc6 10 Ne2 Nge7 11 Rxa3 0-0 12
0-0 Nf5 13 Re3 a6 14 f4 b5 15 Bb3 a5 16 g4 Nh6 17 h3 a4 18 Bc2 b4 19 f5 exf5 20
g5 b3 21 Bd1 Qa5 22 Rf4 Qb5 23 Rg3 Bd7 24 gxh6 g6 25 Qg5 f6 26 exf6 Rf7 27 Bf4
Nxd4 28 Nxg6 Ne6 29 Ne7+ Kh8 30 Qg7+ Nxg7 31 fxg7+ Rxg7 32 hxg7++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #38
1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 f4 Nxe4 4 Nf3
exf4 5 0-0 Bc5+ 6 d4 Bb6 7 Re1 f5 8 Nc3 Qe7 9 Bd5 c6 10 Bxe4 Qf6 11 Bxf5+ Kd8
12 Ne4 Qh6 13 g3 Na6 14 Nd6 Qxd6 15 Ne5 Qf6 16 Qh5 g6 17 Bxg6 hxg6 18 Qxh8+
Qxh8 19 Nf7+ Kc7 20 Bxf4+ d6 21 Bxd6+ Kd7 22 Re7++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #41
1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Bc5 3 Qe2 Qe7 4 f4
exf4 5 Nf3 g5 6 h4 f6 7 hxg5 fxg5 8 Nc3 c6 9 d4 g4 10 Nh4 Bxd4 11 Nf5 Bxc3+ 12
bxc3 Qf6 13 Bxf4 Qxc3+ 14 Kf2 b5 15 Bb3 a5 16 Nd6+ Kd8 17 Qxg4 Ne7 18 Nf7+ Ke8
19 Qh5 Qd4+ 20 Kf3 Qc3+ 21 Ke2 Rf8 22 Nd6+ Kd8 23 Re8+ Rxe8 24 Nf7++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #42
1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Bc5 3 Qe2 Qe7 4 f4
exf4 5 Nf3 g5 6 d4 Bb4+ 7 c3 Ba5 8 h4 f6 9 hxg5 fxg5 10 g3 g4 11 Ne5 f3 12 Qe3
Nf6 13 Ng6 Qg7 14 Nxh8 Qxh8 15 e5 Ng8 16 Qg5 Ne7 17 Qh5+ Kd8 18 Qxh7 Qxh7 19
Rxh7 d6 20 e6 d5 21 Rh8+ Ng8 22 Bg5+ Ke8 23 Rxg8++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #44
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 Bc4
Bg7 5 d4 d6 6 Nc3 c6 7 h4 h6 8 hxg5 hxg5 9 Rxh8 Bxh8 10 Ne5 dxe5 11 Qh5 Qf6 12
dxe5 Qg7 13 e6 Nf6 14 exf7+ Kf8 (other moves lose) 15 Bxf4 Nxh5 16
Bd6++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #47
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 Bc4 g4
5 Ne5 Qh4+ 6 Kf1 Nf6 7 Bxf7+ (7 Nxf7 loses) 7...Kd8 8 d4 (8 Bb3
loses) 8...Nxe4 9 Qe2 Ng3+ 10 hxg3 Qxh1+ 11 Kf2 fxg3 12 Kxg3 Qxc1 13 Nc6+
Nxc6 14 Qe8++
anonymous - G. Greco, game #49
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Nf3 g5 4 Bc4 g4
5 Ne5 Bh6 6 Nxg4 Nxg4 7 Qxg4 d5 8 Qxf4 dxc4 9 Qe5+ Be6 10 Qxh8 Qh4 11 Kf1 Qf4+
12 Kg1 Qxe4 13 h3 Bd5 14 Qg8 f5 15 Qg3 f4 16 Qf3 Re1+ 17 Qf1 Bc5+ 18 Kh2
Qg3++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #58
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4 Qh4+ 4 Kf1
Bc5 5 d4 Bb6 6 Nf3 Qh6 7 g3 (or 7 Ne5) 7...Qh3+ 8 Kf2 fxg3+ 9 hxg3 Qg4
10 Bxf7+ Kf8 11 Rh4 ... 1-0
G. Greco - anonymous, game #60
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4 Qh4+ 4 Kf1
Bc5 5 d4 Bb6 6 Nf3 Qe7 7 Bxf4 Qxe4 8 Bxf7+ Kf8 9 Bg3 Nh6 10 Nc3 Qe7 11 Bb3 c6
12 Qd3 d5 13 Re1 Qf6 14 Bh4 Qg6 15 Be7+ Kg8 16 Qxg6 hxg6 17 Nxd5 cxd5 18 Bxd5+
Kh7 (18...Nf7 loses) 19 Ng5++
G. Greco - anonymous, game #65
1 e4 e5 2 f4 exf4 3 Bc4 Be7 4 d4
Bh4+ 5 Kf1 g5 6 g3 fxg3 7 hxg3 Bxg3 8 Qh5 Qf6+ 9 Nf3 d6 10 Bxg5 Qg6 11 Qxg6
fxg6 12 Bxg8 Rxg8 13 Kg2 ... 1-0
anonymous - G. Greco, game #74
1 e4 e5 2 f4 f5 3 exf5 Qh4+ 4 g3
Qe7 5 Qh5+ Kd8 6 fxe5 Qxe5+ 7 Be2 Nf6 8 Qf3 d5 9 g4 h5 10 h3 hxg4 11 hxg4 Rxh1
12 Qxh1 Qg3+ 13 Kd1 Nxg4 14 Qxd5+ Kd7 15 Nf3 Nf2+ 16 Ke1 Nd3+ 17 Kd1 Qe1+ 18
Nxe1 Nf2++