Lasker - Schlechter, Berlin 1910, 10th competition game

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The 10th game of the 1910 World Chess Championship between World Champion Emanuel Lasker and his challenger Carl Schlechter was played on February 9 and 10, 1910 in Berlin. After Lasker had spoiled the 5th game against Schlechter in the winning position to a loss, he tried in vain to catch up in the next four games. But there were only four draws , which meant that Schlechter led 5: 4 before the last game. If Schlechter had drew this last game, he would have become the new world champion, which ultimately did not happen.

The opening did not play very well and had weaknesses on the queenside after only nine moves, which, if Laskers had played correctly, would have been enough to make a loss. Lasker caused weaknesses on the kingside on move 15 with g2 – g4. Stormy entanglements followed, at the end of which (26th move) an unclear position with black initiative emerged. Worse was winning after the 34th move, but with a faulty combination starting in the 37th move the position equalized again. After a faulty check bid by the black queen, Lasker remained with the higher quality without black compensation and won, albeit after a few confusions, after 71 moves; so he remained world champion.

Course of the game

1. d2-d4 d7-d5 2. c2-c4 c7-c6 3. Ng1-f3 Ng8-f6 4. e2-e3 g7-g6

Schlechter introduces a variant later named after him in the Slavic Queen's Gambit , with which he surprised Lasker. According to his own statements, Schlechter did not want to draw the game and therefore chose such a sequel.

5. Nb1-c3 Bf8-g7 6. Bf1-d3 0-0 7. Dd1-c2

Lasker wants to avoid Bg4, but the queen move is a loss of speed. Better according to Smyslow : 7. 0–0 Bg4. 7. h2 – h3 also serves its purpose.

7.… Nb8 – a6 ?!

Schlechter : A very daring undertaking, a solid move would have been 7.… Nbd7.

Tarrasch : The best thing to do is to develop the queen knight over d7 to b6 in order to either provoke the move b2 – b3, whereupon Bg7 could be dangerous, or c4 – c5, whereupon Black is favorably positioned with e7 – e5. At the edge the jumper is of course quite unfavorable.

8. a2-a3

To prevent Nb4.

8.… d5xc4 ?!

Tarrasch : With this abandonment of the center - a preparation for the following mistake - the black game loses its grip. A relatively favorable development plan is to bring the unlucky knight to d6 via c7 and e8, then let Bf5 follow, and finally land with the knight on e4 after exchanging the white king's bishop.

9. Bd3xc4 b7 – b5?

Tarrasch : With this, Black is completely and incurably ruining his queenside. Therefore, because White's game does not offer the slightest weakness as compensation, his game is theoretically lost from here on.

10. Bc4 – d3 b5 – b4 ?! 11. Nc3 – a4 b4xa3 12. b2xa3 Bc8 – b7 13. Ra1 – b1 Qd8 – c7 14. Nf3 – e5 ?!

Tarrasch : Steinitz, in his good time, hardly needed a dozen moves to blow the black game into the air. But Lasker is now beginning to leave the tracks of calm, consistent development and nervously to rush the attack, and so he is gradually offering the opponent a counter-chance ... Threatening (the text move) Bxa6 with a win for the c-pawn; but that would not have run away and it would certainly have been better to play on strengthening the position than on converting the positional advantage into material ones.

Kasparov : Black's chronic weaknesses would have given Lasker the idea of ​​14. 0–0 !? with the sequence 14.… Nd7 15. De2 Sab8 16. Bd2 with an overwhelming advantage for White.

14.… Nf6 – h5 15. g2 – g4?

Tarrasch : In principle, it is a mistake to offer the opponent compensation for the unfavorable position of the queenside by tearing open one's kingside. Instead, White was able to mitigate the mistake of the previous move with 15. f4.

Lasker : In such an important game, the opponents are easily excitable and often embark on real adventures ...

15.… Bg7xe5?

This exchange justifies Lasker's considerations. 15.… Nf6 would be better! with the sequence 16. 0–0 Nd5 17. f4 Nb6 18. Bd2 c5 19. Nxc5 Tac8 and White has only a small advantage, since the demarche of the g-pawn disturbs White's position and the game becomes more sharp.

16. g4xh5 Be5-g7 17. h5xg6 h7xg6 18. Qc2-c4

Tarrasch : threatens left on b7 and a6 and right on g6; both at the same time cannot be parried.

Tarrasch recommends 18. f4 here, in order to open the second row for the white queen and the field f2 for the king, as well as to block the line of sight of the black queen to h2.

18.… Bb7 – c8!

Tarrasch : If White now says B and captures the g6-pawn, it follows 19.… Be6 20. Qa6 fxg6 and Black gains a very dangerous attack. There is a threat of 21.… Bd5 and Qxh2, and on 19. f4 Black can ruthlessly initiate the attack with 19.… g5.

19. Th1-g1

Tarrasch : It is never easy to continue the game if the originally planned style of play has proven to be unfavorable. With the move, Lasker wants to suggest to the opponent that he is still the attacker and can dictate the law of action. Otherwise 19. Bd2 would have deserved the preference to continue the development and then - if 19.… e5 does not happen - to continue with 20. f4 or even with 20. 0-0.

Kasparov : An attractive move that creates the threat of Rxg6.

19.… Qc7 – a5 + 20. Lc1 – d2 Qa5 – d5 21. Rb1 – c1 Lc8 – b7 22. Qc4 – c2

Lasker apparently declined the exchange of queens psychologically to complicate the game.

22.… Qd5 – h5

With this the queen attacks pawn h2.

23. Bd3xg6 ?!

Lasker underestimates the counterplay in the open f-file.

23.… Qh5xh2 24. Rg1 – f1 f7xg6 25. Qc2 – b3 + Rf8 – f7 26. Qb3xb7 Ra8 – f8

The black position becomes unclear.

27. Qb7 – b3?

Tarrasch : White makes the first best move, but not the best. It is much more advisable to repel the enemy attack with 27. f4. Because then Black has to be careful about protecting his knight and move him to b8, where he is much worse than on c7; after b8 he needs a bit more speed to get to a square where he has an effect. After 27. f4 Nb8 White could still evade the threat of e7 – e5 and move 28. Qb3. If Black then unleashes the rook with 28.… Kh8, as in the game, White has time to counter the threatening attack g6 – g5, namely very easily with 29.Nc5 followed by Ne6. In general, this knight finally comes back into play effectively, and his intervention on e6 threatens to directly bring the decision. Now, of course, after 27. f4 Nb8 28. Qb3, Black has the chance of conquering a pawn with 28.… Qg3 + 29. Kd1 Bxd4, but this pawn win is deceptive because White then quickly achieves a concentration of all his armed forces, and a decisive one Attack would have resulted, namely: 30. Kc2 Bg7 31. Nc5 (puts the black knight down and threatens to gain quality through 32. Ne6 and 33. Ng5), possibly followed by 32. Rg1. The continuation of 27. f4 and 28. Qb3 would have boosted White's defensive ability, refreshed the attack and in any case provided White with an excellent game.

27.… Kg8 – h8 28. f2 – f4 g6 – g5 29. Qb3 – d3 g5xf4 30. e3xf4

Of course not 30. Qxa6 ?? because of fxe3 and Black wins.

30.… Qh2 – h4 + 31. Ke1 – e2 Qh4 – h2 + 32. Rf1 – f2 Qh2 – h5 + 33. Rf2 – f3 Sa6 – c7 34. Rc1xc6

Tarrasch : Incredible! Lasker uses this situation, where he is threatened with ruin from all sides, to eat a farmer! This is reminiscent of the general who lights a cigar in the thickest rain of bullets! - Under all circumstances he now had to use his knight, the only consolation about his now miserable position could only have been found in the similar position of his antagonist, for defense as well as for attack: Na4 – c5 – e6.

34.… Nc7 – b5 35. Rc6 – c4 Rf7xf4?

The combination is flawed, as you will see in a moment. Schlechter had overlooked the 37th move with an intermediate check. According to Tarrasch, the immediate decision would have been 35.… Nd6 36. Rc5 Nf5 37. Ke1 Qh4 + 38. Kd1 Qg4 39. Kc1 Qg1 + 40. Rf1 Qxd4 41. Qxd4 Nxd4 with winning the endgame.

36. Bd2xf4 Rf8xf4 37. Rc4 – c8 + Bg7 – f8 38. Ke2 – f2 Dh5 – h2 + 39. Kf2 – e1 Dh2 – h1 +?

With 39. Qh4 + Black was able to force the draw.

40. Rf3-f1 Qh1-h4 + 41. Ke1-d2 Rf4xf1 42. Qd3xf1 Qh4xd4 + 43. Qf1-d3

Now Lasker is clearly better and at a profit.

43.… Qd4 – f2 + 44. Kd2 – d1 Nb5 – d6 45. Rc8 – c5 Bf8 – h6 46. Rc5 – d5 Kh8 – g8 47. Sa4 – c5 Qf2 – g1 + 48. Kd1 – c2 Qg1 – c1 + 49. Kc2– b3 Bh6 – g7 50. Nc5 – e6 Qc1 – b2 + 51. Kb3 – a4 Kg8 – f7 52. Ne6xg7 Qb2xg7 53. Qd3 – b3 Kf7 – e8 54. Qb3 – b8 + Ke8 – f7 55. Qb8xa7

With the fall of the a7-pawn, Black's position is finally lost. Now Schlechter can only extend the resistance, but Lasker is no longer naked.

55.… Qg7 – g4 + 56. Qa7 – d4 Qg4 – d7 + 57. Ka4 – b3 Qd7 – b7 + 58. Kb3 – a2 Qb7 – c6 59. Qd4 – d3 Kf7 – e6 60. Rd5 – g5 Ke6 – d7 61. Rg5– e5 Qc6 – g2 + 62. Re5 – e2 Qg2 – g4 63. Re2 – d2 Qg4 – a4 64. Qd3 – f5 + Kd7 – c7 65. Qf5 – c2 + Qa4xc2 + 66. Rd2xc2 + Kc7 – b6 67. Rc2 – e2 Nd6 – c8 68. Ka2 – b3 Kb6 – c6 69. Re2 – c2 + Kc6 – b7 70. Kb3 – b4 Nc8 – a7 71. Kb4 – c5 Black gave up, with which Lasker defended his world title at the last moment.

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Web link

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  • Robert Huebner : The world championship fight Lasker-Steinitz 1894 and other duels Laskers . Edition Marco, Verlag Arno Nickel, Berlin 2008. ISBN 978-3-924833-56-5 . (contains detailed analyzes of the game on pages 200 to 225)
  • Garry Kasparov : My great champions - The most important games of the world chess champions, Volume 1 . “Edition Olms” publishing house, Zurich
  • Siegbert Tarrasch : "The modern game of chess". Praxis Schach, Verlag Edition Olms, 5th edition 2003, ISBN 3-283-00454-4 .