Notable Games
Emanuel Lasker
15 celebrated games · 585 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Lasker – Bauer · 1889 · 1–0
Amsterdam 1889 — the young Lasker's immortal double bishop sacrifice. 15.Bxh7+ and 17.Bxg7! stripped the black king bare, and 18.Qg4+ regained both pieces with interest; the combination has been reproduced by attackers ever since.
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Lasker – Steinitz · 1894 · 1–0
World Championship match, 1894 — the contest in which the 25-year-old Lasker dethroned Wilhelm Steinitz, the first champion (+10−5=4), to begin a record 27-year reign as the second World Champion.
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Pillsbury – Lasker · 1896 · 0–1
St. Petersburg 1895–96 — 'Lasker's Counter-Attack.' In a race between two kingside and queenside assaults, Lasker's exchange sacrifice 17...Rxc3 and heavy-piece counter-attack crashed through first, hunting the white king to mate on move 32.
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Lasker – Napier · 1904 · 1–0
Cambridge Springs 1904 — one of the most bewilderingly complex games of its age. Lasker and Napier traded threats in a razor-sharp Sicilian until Lasker emerged from the chaos a piece to the good.
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Marshall – Lasker · 1907 · 0–1
Game 1 of the 1907 World Championship match, nicknamed the 'War Dance.' With Black, Lasker opened a rout of Frank Marshall that ended +8−0=7 — one of the most one-sided title matches ever, the challenger never winning a game.
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Lasker – Tarrasch · 1908 · 1–0
World Championship match, 1908 — a Ruy Lopez win over Lasker's long-time rival Siegbert Tarrasch, whom he beat +8−3=5 to keep the crown after years of feuding between the two masters.
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Lasker – Schlechter · 1910 · 1–0
The tenth and last game of the 1910 title match. Trailing by a point and needing a win to save his title, Lasker got it when Carl Schlechter — a draw away from taking the match — pressed for more and collapsed in a 71-move Slav, levelling the score 5–5.
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Lasker – Rubinstein · 1914 · 1–0
St. Petersburg 1914 — a win over Akiba Rubinstein, the great 'uncrowned' master with whom Lasker had been due to contest the world title that very year before the war intervened.
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Lasker – Capablanca · 1914 · 1–0
St. Petersburg 1914, the tournament's decisive game. Trailing Capablanca in the final, the 45-year-old champion chose the drawish Exchange Ruy Lopez, outplayed him and overhauled him to take first prize — perhaps his most famous positional victory.
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Alekhine – Lasker · 1924 · 0–1
New York 1924 — a win over the future World Champion Alexander Alekhine. The 55-year-old Lasker won this elite double-round tournament 1½ points clear of Capablanca, a result often called the crowning achievement of his career.
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Lasker – Reti · 1924 · 1–0
New York 1924 — Lasker outplayed Richard Réti, a founder of the hypermodern school, in the same run through which he finished the twenty-round event without losing a single game.
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Euwe – Lasker · 1934 · 0–1
Zurich 1934 — returning to elite chess at 65 after years away, Lasker beat the future World Champion Max Euwe with the black pieces; Euwe would never win a game against him.
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Lasker – Capablanca · 1935 · 1–0
Moscow 1935 — a brilliancy-prize win over Capablanca in the French Winawer, Lasker's second and last victory over the Cuban, twenty-one years after their St. Petersburg meeting. The 66-year-old finished undefeated in third, ahead of Capablanca.
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Lasker – Pirc · 1935 · 1–0
Moscow 1935 — 'Pawnslaught,' a 20-move Sicilian brilliancy. The rook sacrifice 13.Rxf6! tore open Pirc's kingside and the attack was decisive almost before it had begun.
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Lasker – Euwe · 1936 · 1–0
Nottingham 1936 — in his final tournament, the 67-year-old Lasker defeated the reigning World Champion Max Euwe, completing a perfect 3–0 lifetime record against him: the most lopsided head-to-head between any two World Champions.
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