Edward Lasker
Notable Games

Edward Lasker

14 celebrated games · 131 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 131 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1908.08.16 Lasker, Edward vsTrcala, Stefan 1-0 Tarrasch Defense: Two Knights Variation 17 moves DSB Kongress-16 Hauptturnier A Breslau 1908, from the Hauptturnier — the qualifying section of the German Chess Federation congress, with Lasker aged twenty-two. Seventeen moves: 11.Nxd5 breaks the centre open, and after 13.Bxc6 Nxc6 14.Bxd8 the material simply never comes back.
  • 1909.10 Lasker, Alfons vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Normal 19 moves Breslau sim Breslau 1909, a simultaneous display, and a curiosity — an opponent who shares his surname. Lasker gives up both rooks rather than defend: 13.Qxg7 Qxg5 14.Qxh8+ Kd7 15.Qxa8, and then the counterattack begins, ending 18.Kd3 c4+ 19.Kxe4 f5#, mate in the middle of the board.
  • 1912.10.29 Lasker, Edward vsThomas, George Alan 1-0 Horwitz Defense 18 moves London blitz The most famous king hunt in chess: Lasker against Sir George Thomas at the City of London Chess Club, 1912. 11.Qxh7+! Kxh7 12.Nxf6+ Kh6 13.Neg4+ Kg5 14.h4+ Kf4 15.g3+ Kf3 16.Be2+ Kg2 17.Rh2+ Kg1 — the black king is dragged the whole length of the board — and this record ends it with 18.Kd2#. Thomas's reaction, translated for a Lasker who had not yet learned English, was simply: "This was very nice."
  • 1913.03.31 Lasker, Edward vsDavidson, Jacques 1-0 Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation 18 moves Match Ed Lasker-Davidson +4-0=0 From an 1913 match against Jacques Davidson that Lasker won without conceding a game. Eighteen moves in the Four Knights: the bishop lands on e7 with 14.Be7, takes on d6, and 18.Bxf7+ collects.
  • 1913.07.31 Lasker, Edward vsMieses, Jacques 1-0 Scandinavian Defense: Classical Variation 18 moves Scheveningen Scheveningen 1913 against Jacques Mieses, one of the sharpest attacking masters of the era — beaten at his own game in eighteen moves. Lasker throws the kingside pawns forward with 9.g4 and 10.h4, wins the light-squared bishop, and after 14.Bxg6+ Kd7 the black king is stranded for good.
  • 1913 Thomas, George Alan vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Queen's Pawn Game: Accelerated London System 38 moves London-ch The London championship, 1913 — Sir George Thomas again, and again Lasker wins, this time from the black side and without a sacrifice. He breaks with 33...f4, wins the knight on e2, and mates the position out with 36...Qg4+ 37.f3 exf3+ 38.gxf3 Rh2+.
  • 1919.09 Norris, John H vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Scandinavian Defense: Modern Variation 11 moves Western CA-20 Championship Western Chess Association Championship, 1919 — eleven moves, the shortest win in the archive, and an exact refutation. White plays the classical bishop sacrifice 10.Bxh7+ Kxh7 11.Ng5+ and it simply does not work: 11...Qxg5 takes the knight because the queen already covers g5.
  • 1922 Lasker, Edward vsSparrow/Dittus 1-0 Scotch Game: Modern Defense 17 moves Chicago sim Chicago 1922, a simultaneous exhibition and a clean seventeen-move Scotch. Lasker plays on the b-file with 13.Rb1 and 14.Rxb7, takes the a-pawn with 16.Rxa7 Rxa7, and finishes 17.Qxf6.
  • 1923.03.15 Lasker, Edward vsMarshall, Frank James 1-0 Queen's Gambit Declined: Semi-Tarrasch Defense 81 moves USA-ch Match Marshall-Lasker Ed +5-4=9 Game from the 1923 United States championship match against Frank Marshall — the closest anyone came to taking the title from Marshall in his twenty-seven-year reign; the record books the match +5−4=9 to Marshall. This one Lasker wins in eighty-one moves of queen ending, escorting the a-pawn to a7 and forcing the queens off with 81.Qb8+.
  • 1923.04.07 Marshall, Frank James vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Tarrasch Defense: Classical Variation, Endgame Variation 29 moves USA-ch Match Marshall-Lasker Ed +5-4=9 From the same 1923 match, twenty-nine moves with Black. Lasker grabs on a3 with 16...Qxa3, meets 17.Nxd5 with 17...Bxb4, and hunts the white king down the light squares: 26...Qxe4+ 27.Kg1 Qe1+ 28.Kg2 Bd5+ 29.f3 Bxf3+.
  • 1926.07 Marshall, Frank James vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Semi-Slav Defense 33 moves Lake Hopatcong Lake Hopatcong 1926, again with Black against Marshall. Lasker absorbs the kingside pawn storm, wins the d-pawn with 27...Qxd4, and then sacrifices the exchange straight back for mate: 30...Rxh3+ 31.Kg1 Rh1+ 32.Kxh1 Qxf2 33.Rf1 Qh4+.
  • 1941 Lasker, Edward vsMarshall, Frank James 1-0 Nimzo-Indian Defense: Romanishin Variation 31 moves New York New York 1941, and Lasker beats Marshall once more, eighteen years after their championship match. A Nimzo-Indian in which he gives the exchange with 23.Rxc6 Rxd5 24.Rxd5, then chases the black king into the open: 28.Qf8+ Kf6 29.Rd4 Kg5 30.h4+ Kh5 31.Rd5+.
  • 1947.08.18 Adams, Weaver Warren vsLasker, Edward 0-1 Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense 19 moves US Open-48 US Open 1947, nineteen moves with Black against Weaver Adams — the American master who argued in print that White wins by force. Adams tries 16.Qh5 and 17.Qxh7+, and Lasker just takes everything: 18.Rd1 Qxg5 19.Rd7 Re7.
  • 1957.03.03 Lasker, Edward vsPeckar, Mark 1-0 Scotch Game 16 moves Marshall CC-ch 1956/57 Marshall Chess Club championship, March 1957 — Lasker is seventy-one, and still winning in sixteen moves. A Scotch, a knight tour 11.Nxd6, 12.Nxc8+, 13.Nxd6, and 14.Bxd6+ N8e7 15.f5, with the black king stuck on f8 since move seven. Forty-nine years after his first game in this archive.
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