A1896
Emanuel Lasker, philosopher, mathematician, chess player, world chess champion 1894-1921, portrait at the chessboard, 1896.
Emanuel Lasker, PhD, German chess player who was World Chess Champion for 27 years (1894-1921).
Emanuel Lasker
The play in the recent chess tournament at Hastings was rendered interesting by reason of the encounters between Lasker, Pillsbury, Bird and Steinitz. It is our purpose, however, to deal here with the performances of the former alone. No other player in the chess world possesses the daring and skill associated with the name of Lasker. In that respect he stands unrivalled amongst masters of the game. Unfortunately, however, he is not of robust physique such as Tchigorin, the Russian champion. He takes advantage of every opportunity, but as the game progresses, move by move, he tires perceptibly to one who closely watches the play. To this fact may be ascribed some of the defeats sustained in his most recent series of engagements. To Lasker, however, belongs the honour of being the first to defeat the great Steinitz, about a year and eight months ago. At Hastings, however, he only showed brief glimpses of his real form. Pillsbury and Tchigorin admittedly deserved their victories, but the subject of this sketch showed an all-round superiority of play at times which he failed to maintain, owing to a lack of coolness and robustness. His failure to secure the first prize renders the question of the championship quite an open one. Possibly the five leaders may meet during the winter at St. Petersburg, where it is intended by the chess club to invite them to contest a series of matches amongst themselves. The vexed question of the championship may then be settled.
