Emanuel Lasker

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Lore & Background

Emanuel Lasker was born on December 24, 1868, at Berlinchen in Neumark (now Barlinek in Poland), the son of a Jewish cantor. At age eleven he was sent to study mathematics in Berlin, where he lived with his brother Berthold, eight years his senior, who taught him how to play chess. To supplement their income, Lasker played chess and card games for small stakes at the Café Kaiserhof. He won the Café Kaiserhof's annual Winter tournament 1888/89 and the Hauptturnier A at the sixth DSB Congress in Breslau, earning the master title. At New York City in 1893, he won all thirteen games, one of the few times in chess history a player has achieved a perfect score in a significant tournament. Rebuffed by Tarrasch, Lasker challenged reigning World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz to a match for the title. After Steinitz agreed to reductions when Lasker found it difficult to raise money, the match was played in 1894 at venues in New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal. Lasker won convincingly with ten wins, five losses, and four draws, becoming the second formally recognized World Chess Champion on May 26. He confirmed his title by beating Steinitz even more convincingly in their rematch in 1896–97 (ten wins, two losses, and five draws). Lasker later won first prizes at very strong tournaments in St Petersburg 1895–96 (an elite, 4-player tournament, ahead of Steinitz, Pillsbury and Chigorin), Nuremberg 1896, London 1899, and Paris 1900. At St Petersburg 1914, he overcame a 1½-point deficit to finish ahead of the rising stars Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, who later became the next two World Champions.

Reader's Guide

Emanuel Lasker's significance lies in his unprecedented 27-year reign as World Chess Champion, a record that still stands. His contemporaries noted a "psychological" approach, sometimes deliberately playing inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis indicates he was ahead of his time, using a more flexible approach that mystified many. Lasker knew contemporary opening analyses well but disagreed with many. He published chess magazines and five chess books, though later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods. Beyond chess, Lasker was a first-class contract bridge player and wrote about bridge, Go, and his own invention, Lasca. His books about games presented a problem still considered notable in the mathematical analysis of card games. As a research mathematician, he contributed to commutative algebra, proving the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings. He also produced philosophical writings and co-authored a drama, both receiving limited contemporary attention. His match record was impressive: between his 1896–97 rematch with Steinitz and 1914, he won all but one of his normal matches. In the World Chess Championship 1907 against Frank Marshall, Marshall could not win a single game, losing eight and drawing seven. In the World Chess Championship 1908 against Tarrasch, Lasker won four of the first five games, playing a type of chess Tarrasch could not understand, and eventually won 10½–5½.

Did You Know?

• Lasker held the World Chess Championship for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion.
• At New York City in 1893, Lasker won all thirteen games, one of the few perfect scores in a significant tournament in chess history.
• Lasker was a first-class contract bridge player and invented his own game, Lasca.
• As a research mathematician, Lasker proved the primary decomposition of the ideals of polynomial rings in commutative algebra.
• In the 1908 World Championship match, Tarrasch refused to talk to Lasker at the opening ceremony, only saying: 'Mr. Lasker, I have only three words to say to you: check and mate!'