Emanuel Lasker, The International Chess Congress, St. Petersburg, 1909 (1910)
Game 65 of 175
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Site
St Petersburg
Date
1909.02.23
Round
7
White
Salwe, Georg
Black
Vidmar, Milan Sr
Result
0-1
- 14…b6 True, the drawback of this line of play is this weak Pawn at Q Kt 3. Yet it appears that after White's Kt - R 4 the advance of the Q B P must be prevented.
- 16.Rac1 By 16) B x Kt, Q x B; 17) P x P (.... P x P?; 18) Q - R 5) the Pawn was not to be won on account of 17) .... Q - R 5; 18) P - K B 4, P x P.
- 17.c5 A mistake; he ought to have played 17) B - Q 4 first. Black's Q Kt P would then have fallen or White's Q B P would have advanced powerfully; or if 17) .... P x P, the Q B file would be opened without loss of time. On the other hand, 17) B x Kt would again have been of no use because of 17) .... Q x B; 18) P x P, B x P ch; 19) K x B, Q - R 5 ch; 20) K - Kt sq, Q x Kt. But 17) P - K B 4 would have been strong, as it threatened B x Kt.
- 18…Bd6 Now the awkwardly posted Knight becomes the object of an attack, which succeeds in a few pretty moves.
- 19.Qc2 Considering the bad plight he is in, he should play 19) B x Kt. If then 19) .... P x B; 20) Q - Kt 4 ch, K - R sq; 21) Q - K R 4, P - B 4; 22) Q x Q, B x Q; 23) P - Q R 4, White would still have a good game. Therefore Black would have had to play 19) .... Q x B instead of P x B in answer to 19) B x Kt. But in this case White would have gained time to play 20) P - Q R 4, and might have answered 20) .... P - K 4 by 21) P - K 4, P - Q 5; 22) Kt - Kt 3, followed later on by Kt - Q 2 and B - B 4.
- 20.a4 20) P - K 4 would likewise have been met by 20) .... B - Kt 5, threatening Q R - B sq.
- 21.Nb3 The game is lost. After 21) B - R 3, Q R - B sq the Knight can no longer be extricated from his exposed position. In case of immediate retreat the continuation as adopted in the game, is decisive.
- 22.Qb1 If 22) Q - Q 2, B - Kt 5; 23) B - B 3, R x B; 24) R x R, P - Q 5; 25) P x P, P x P; 26) Kt x P, Q - Q 3; 27) Kt - B 6, B x R; 28) Q x B, Q x B, and Black would win the ending.