<P> The timing of the beginning and end of the Great Game is not completely agreed . One author believes that the Great Game commenced with Russia's victory in the Russo - Persian War (1804--13) and the signing of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813 or the Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828 . Another believes that it began between 1832--34 as an attempt to negotiate trade deals with Ranjit Singh and the Amirs of Sind . Another believes that it started in the aftermath of the Crimean war (1853--6) and Caucasus war (1828--59). One author proposes that The Great Game was over at the end of the First Anglo - Afghanistan war in 1842 with the British withdrawal from Afghanistan . Some authors believe that the Great Game came to a close with the three Anglo - Russian agreements of 1907 which delineated the spheres of interest between British India and Russian Central Asia in the borderland areas of Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet . Another that it was trailing off not long after that time, and another with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 and the end of Russia's interest in Persia . One has stated that unofficially, the Great Game in Central Asia might never end . </P> <P> When everyone is dead, the Great Game is finished . Not before . - Rudyard Kipling </P> <P> One author proposes that Britain lost The Great Game . "The Great Game was an aspect of British history rather than international relations: the phrase describes what the British were doing, not the actions of Russians and Chinese ." The Great Game was an attempt made in the 1830s by the British to impose their view on the world . If Khiva and Bukhara were to become buffer states, then trade routes to Afghanistan, as a protectorate, along the Indus and Sutlej rivers would be necessary and therefore access through the Sind and Punjab regions would be required . The Great Game began between 1832--34 as an attempt to negotiate trade deals with Ranjit Singh and the Amirs of Sind, and the "first interruption of this magnificent British daydream was caused by the determination of the Amirs of Sind to be left alone ." Its failure occurred at the end of the First Anglo - Afghanistan war in 1842 with the British withdrawal from Afghanistan . The failure to turn Afghanistan into a client state meant that The Great Game could not be won . </P> <P> In 1889, Lord Curzon, the future Viceroy of India, commented: </P>

With whom did britain fight a great game for control of afghanistan in the 1830s