Emanuel Lasker

Emanuel Lasker, born December 24, 1868 in Berlinchen, Germany, was the second official World Chess Champion. After winning that title from Wilhelm Steinitz in 1894, he held onto it for 27 years, which is still a record. He died in the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York.

By today's standards, Lasker played relatively little during his time as champion, routinely taking lengthy sabbaticals to pursue his other interests in mathematics and philosophy. But when he did play, his defensive ability and his handling of complicated positions always earned him great respect. Lasker won seven of the eight major tournaments in which he competed between 1895 and 1925. These included London 1899 (by a full 4.5 points over Harry Nelson Pillsbury), Paris 1900 (scoring thirteen wins out of fifteen games), and the St. Petersburg event in 1914. He defended his title a record six times, but finally lost it to Jose Raul Capablanca in 1921. However, he continued to record further competitive successes for fifteen years: he won the 1924 New York tournament by 1.5 points over Capablanca, and, at the age of sixty-seven, he finished third at Moscow 1935, again ahead of Capablanca.

On May-06, 2008, Dr. Lasker was among the first 40 German sportsmen to be elected into the "Hall of Fame des Deutschen Sports".


Lasker vs Steinitz 1894

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Some Games
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[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Jose Raul Capablanca"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4 exd4 6.Qxd4 Qxd4
7.Nxd4 Bd6 8.Nc3 Ne7 9.O-O O-O 10.f4 Re8 11.Nb3 f6 12.f5 b6
13.Bf4 Bb7 14.Bxd6 cxd6 15.Nd4 Rad8 16.Ne6 Rd7 17.Rad1 Nc8
18.Rf2 b5 19.Rfd2 Rde7 20.b4 Kf7 21.a3 Ba8 22.Kf2 Ra7 23.g4 h6
24.Rd3 a5 25.h4 axb4 26.axb4 Rae7 27.Kf3 Rg8 28.Kf4 g6 29.Rg3
g5+ 30.Kf3 Nb6 31.hxg5 hxg5 32.Rh3 Rd7 33.Kg3 Ke8 34.Rdh1 Bb7


35.e5!, dxe5 36.Ne4!, Nd5 37.N6c5!, Bc8 38.Nxd7 Bxd7 39.Rh7 Rf8
40.Ra1 Kd8 41.Ra8+ Bc8 42.Nc5 1-0


[White "Harry Nelson Pillsbury"]
[Black "Emanuel Lasker"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 c5 5. Bg5 cxd4 6. Qxd4 Nc6
7. Qh4 Be7 8. O-O-O Qa5 9. e3 Bd7 10. Kb1 h6 11. cxd5 exd5
12. Nd4 O-O 13. Bxf6 Bxf6 14. Qh5 Nxd4 15. exd4 Be6 16. f4
Rac8 17. f5 , Rxc3!! 18. fxe6


18. ....Ra3!!!!
19. exf7+ Rxf7 20. bxa3 Qb6+!
21. Bb5 Qxb5+ 22. Ka1 Rc7 23. Rd2 Rc4 24. Rhd1 Rc3 25. Qf5 Qc4
26. Kb2 Rxa3 27. Qe6+ Kh7 28. Kxa3 Qc3+ 29. Ka4 b5+ 30. Kxb5
Qc4+ 0-1


[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Johann Hermann Bauer"]

1.f4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 e6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.Bd3 b6 6.Nc3 Bb7 7.Nf3
Nbd7 8.O-O O-O 9.Ne2 c5 10.Ng3 Qc7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Qc6
13.Qe2 a6 14.Nh5 Nxh5


15.Bxh7+!, Kxh7 16.Qxh5+ Kg8 17.Bxg7 !, Kxg7
18.Qg4+ Kh7 19.Rf3 e5 20.Rh3+ Qh6 21.Rxh6+ Kxh6 22.Qd7!

The final point..!!! Bang...
22. ,...Bf6
23.Qxb7 Kg7 24.Rf1 Rab8 25.Qd7 Rfd8 26.Qg4+ Kf8 27.fxe5 Bg7
28.e6 Rb7 29.Qg6 f6 30.Rxf6+ Bxf6 31.Qxf6+ Ke8 32.Qh8+ Ke7
33.Qg7+ Kxe6 34. Qxb7 Rd6 35. Qxa6 d4 36. exd4 cxd4 37. h4 d3
38. Qxd3 1-0


[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Wilhelm Steinitz"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 Bd7 5. Nc3 Nge7 6. Be3 Ng6
7. Qd2 Be7 8. O-O-O a6 9. Be2 exd4 10. Nxd4 Nxd4 11. Qxd4 Bf6
12. Qd2 Bc6 13. Nd5 O-O 14. g4 Re8 15. g5 Bxd5 16. Qxd5 Re5
17. Qd2 Bxg5 18. f4 Rxe4 19. fxg5 Qe7 20. Rdf1 Rxe3 21. Bc4
Nh8 22. h4 c6 23. g6 d5 24. gxh7+ Kxh7 25. Bd3+ Kg8 26. h5 Re8
27. h6 g6 28. h7+ Kg7 29. Kb1 Qe5 30. a3 c5 31. Qf2 c4 32. Qh4
f6 33. Bf5 Kf7 34. Rhg1 gxf5 35. Qh5+ Ke7 36. Rg8 Kd6 37. Rxf5
Qe6 38. Rxe8 Qxe8 39. Rxf6+ Kc5 40. Qh6 Re7 41. Qh2 Qd7
42. Qg1+ d4 43. Qg5+ Qd5 44. Rf5 Qxf5 45. Qxf5+ Kd6 46. Qf6+

1-0

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