Ken Tait from the UK just sent me this to share with all of you.
The above is a pencil drawing of Edward Lasker vs. Emanuel Lasker from the 1924 New York Grandmaster Tournament.
Ken is a big fan of Edward Lasker and he enjoys reading his books. In fact his famous game against Sir George Thomas in London 1913 is one of the games that to him at ten year of age, helped him see the beauty in chess and had a very big impact on him. The way the black King was driven from the back rank all the way onto Lasker’s first rank to be mated made him want to understand this game of chess all the more. Although why Lasker delivered mate with 18. K-Q2 and not 18. 0-0-0 he will never know. How many games have ever been ended with 0-0-0 mate?
Another bit of interest is when Edward Lasker died, he was playing a correspondence game with Mr Rechtman. Before playing Mr Rechtman Lasker had made it clear that he was 94 years of age and that he might not be capable of playing a Masterful game as Mr Rechtman might be hoping for. However Lasker promised to try and reply to every move the very next day, and to play a lively game so that it would be likely to end before he did himself. Sadly he did end before the game ended. Here are the moves of Edward Lasker’s last ever game.
1. c4 Nf6
2. g3 e5
3. Bg2 c6
4. Nc3 d5
5. cxd5 cxd5
6. d3 Nc6
7. Bg5 Be6
8. e3 Be7
9. Nge2 0-0
10. 0-0 d4
11. exd4 exd4
12. Bxf6 Bxf6
13. Ne4 Bg4
14. f3 Bf5
15. f4 Bg4
16. h3 Bxe2
17. Qxe2 Be7
18. Rac1 Rc8
19. Nd2 Qd7
20. a3 Rfe8
21. Qf2 Bd8 Edward Lasker passed away.
Thanks Ken for this wonderful tidbid!
Death is never funny, but i cant help and smirk at 21…Bd8, white dies.
Who was White?
White was Lasker
They were great games of chess and a good cigar fellers and I would hate to die twice so don’t weep as I never thought that I was immortal it was time for the flowers and it’s all been very interesting I am ready to go with my king in hand…hoddy
Edward Lasker was one of the greatest. May he rest in peace.
One of my early favorite books that turned me on to chess is Edward Lasker, “Chess Secrets I Learned From The Masters”. If you can find this wonderful book, pick it up!
Mike D.
at a first glance, i thought the left player to be Capablanca, but then i found this pic in the internet 🙂
http://www.skkamraterna.se/blaskan/studier/lasklask.JPG
hopefully the link works!
The game was not a blindfold game. It was the first game Lasker played on British soil. It was played at the City of London Chess Club, Grocer’s Hall Court. At the time it was all the rage in England to play 5 minute chess, but this was not ‘all the moves in 5 minutes’, but rather, neither side could exceed their opponents time by more than 5 minutes.