By Kevin Marchese March 21, 2016
This game is from the infamous St. Petersburg International Chess Tournament of 1914. Then world champion, Emanuel Lasker plays fellow German and nemesis, Siegbert Tarrasch .
Lasker was 45 years old at the time of this match and had convincingly defeated Tarrasch (+8 -3 =5) in a world championship match just six years earlier. The veteran Lasker would win the game and also go on to win the tournament. Tarrasch would place fourth behind Lasker and future world champions Jose Raul Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, but ahead of an impressive group consisting of Bernstein, Blackburne, Gunsberg, Janowsky, Marshall, Nimzowitsch, and Rubinstein.
[Event "St Petersburg"]
[Site "St. Petersburg (RUS)"]
[Date "1914.05.14"]
[EventDate "1914.04.21"]
[Round "4"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Lasker, Emanuel"]
[Black "Tarrasch, Siegbert"]
[ECO "D30"]
[PlyCount "91"]
{Notes by Dr. Tarrasch} 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 c5 3. c4 e6 4. cxd5
exd5 5. g3 Nc6 6. Bg2 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. Nbd2 d4
{Usually in this variation, what with the White Kt on c3, this
move wins a tempo which makes all the difference and gives
Black the superior position. Here, however, the move loses an
important tempo which should have better been used for
development.}
10. Nb3 Bb6 11. Qd3!
{Lasker now refutes the ill- considered pawn-push very shrewdly. Since his pawn would
get lost by Rd1, Black must go in for an unfavourable exchange.}
11...Be6 12. Rd1 Bxb3 13. Qxb3
{Here, as will soon be
evident, the White Queen is excellently placed.}
13...Qe7
{So as to dodge the attack of the e-pawn. Black’s position now looks
reasonably good, but he is a tempo behind in develop men and
that makes all the difference.}
14. Bd2 O-O 15. a4
{A very subtle move, the force of which Black fails to recognize. The
pawn is to push on to a6 so as to loosen the position of the
Black pieces, particularly the Queen Knight. Naturally Black
must not take the e-pawn since 16 Re1 Qa6 17 Bf1 would cost
him the Queen.}
15...Ne4
{It would have been best to stop the
further advance of the pawn by either …Bc5 or a6 but White
would have had the better game in any case; Black’s position,
though, may still have been tenable, whereas now it breaks
down very quickly.}
16. Be1 Rad8?
{Rac8!}
17. a5 Bc5 18. a6 bxa6
{After …b6 White would still maintain his advantage by
19 Qa4 followed by 20 b4.}
19. Rac1 Rc8 20. Nh4
{Forcing material gain, since White threatens to win the Knight or the
Bishop.}
20...Bb6 21. Nf5 Qe5 22. Bxe4 Qxe4 23. Nd6 Qxe2 24. Nxc8
Rxc8
{For the loss of the exchange Black, at any rate, has a
strong passed pawn which might enable him to save the game so
long as he can avoid the exchange of rooks.}
25. Qd5 Qe6 26. Qf3
{At this juncture the exchange of queens would not be quite favourable enough for White.}
h6 27. Bd2 Ne5 28. Rxc8+ Qxc8 29. Qe4 Nd7 30. Rc1 Qf8 31. Bxh6! Nc5
{If …gxh6 White would regain the piece by 32 Qg4+.}
32. Qg4 f5 33. Qg6 Qf7 34. Qxf7+ Kxf7 35. Bg5 Nd3 36. Rb1
{Not, of course, Rc2 since Black would win a piece by …Ne1 followed by …Nf3+.}
Ke6 37. b3 Kd5 38. f3 a5 39. h4 Nc5 40. h5 d3
{Black is hopelessly lost since there is no way to stop White from getting a passed Pawn on the King’s-wing.} 41. Kf1 a4 42. bxa4
Nxa4 43. Bf6! Ke6 44. Bxg7 Kf7 45. Be5 Nc5 46. Rd1
{Obviously the d-pawn will get lost. A beautifully played game, but then almost all of Lasker’s games in this Tournament are worthy of a World Champion.} 1-0
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GAME SOURCE St. Petersburg 1914 International Chess Tournament (Tarrasch)
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