← Legends · 19 of 50
The Emperor's mate
Napoleon Bonaparte vs Madame de Remusat · Malmaison 1804 · White to play and win
White to play. Mate in 2.
Find the move Napoleon Bonaparte found. The other side answers by itself.
Napoleon Bonaparte vs Madame de Remusat
Malmaison, 1804
Share this puzzle on X →The game
Napoleon Bonaparte against Madame de Remusat, Malmaison, 1804. The board above holds the position as it stood: White to move, and mate in 2. Find the move that was played and the other side answers by itself, exactly as it answered then.
The story behind it, which gives the finish away
As the story goes, the First Consul lured the black king to c4 and mated it with his queen. Historians doubt the record, and the game is still the most famous emperor's mate there is.
Nearer the same years
- Petrov's ImmortalHoffmann vs Alexander Petrov · 1844
- The Immortal GameAdolf Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritzky · 1851
- The queen to h2Ernst Falkbeer vs Adolf Anderssen · 1851
- The Evergreen GameAdolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne · 1852
- Boden's mateSchulder vs Samuel Boden · 1853
- Morphy at eighteenAlexander Meek vs Paul Morphy · 1855