When I asked about what qualifies a game to be considered one of the greatest, ChessHistorian responded simply, “high stakes”. It’s a good point.
If there’s something to be said against Bernstein - Capablanca (see: ICCC#2) it’s that it was an exhibition game and not played in a formal match or tournament. You can make a similar argument about Anderssen’s most famous wins (against Kieseritzky and Dufresne) - although brilliant both were casual encounters - andthe vast majority of Morphy’s gems.
Any amateur chesser knows the difference between a real rated game and some internet blitz battle that will be immediately forgotten if the genius combo turns out to have a flaw and gets refuted.
Pressure. It makes a difference.
In today’s game, at one of the leading tournaments of the time - indeed of all time - Lasker had to win. And win he did, ending up taking first place over Capablanca who finished half a point behind.
As a by the by, this game was played three months after Bernstein - Capablanca. I wonder if Lasker knew of the previous encounter and was inspired by the Cuban’s decision to leave a backward pawn and outpost on an open file.
NOTE:
This week’s game is 42 moves long. That’s 2-4 times the length of the games we usually have as visualisation exercises.
Don’t let the number of moves intimidate you, though. Use your Stepping Stones and take your time. Remember the goal is to get a gain memorised so we can visualise it any time we want at any point in the future. Break the game down into chunks, if that helps. It doesn’t matter if it takes several sessions to get the source material into our heads.
Emmanuel Lasker - Capablanca
St Petersburg 1914
1 e4 e5
2 Nf3 Nc6
3 Bb5 a6
4 Bxc6 dxc6
5 d4 exd4
6 Qxd4 Qxd4
7 Nxd4 Bd6
8 Nc3 Ne7
9 0-0 0-0
10 f4 Re8
11 Nb3 f6
12 f5 b6
13 Bf4 Bb7
14 Bxd6 cxd6
15 Nd4 Rad8
16 Ne6 Rd7
17 Rad1 Nc8
18 Rf2 b5
19 Rfd2 Rde7
20 b4 Kf7
21 a3 Ba8
22 Kf2 Ra7
23 g4 h6
24 Rd3 a5
25 h4 axb4
26 axb4 Rae7
27 Kf3 Rg8
28 Kf4 g6
29 Rg3 g5+
30 Kf3 Nb6
31 hxg5 hxg5
32 Rh3 Rd7
33 Kg3 Ke8
34 Rdh1 Bb7
35 e5 dxe5
36 Ne4 Nd5
37 N6c5 Bc8
38 Nxd7 Bxd7
39 Rh7 Rf8
40 Ra1 Kd8
41 Ra8+ Bc8
42 Nc5
1-0
So, why did Black resign?
No bonus questions this week. If you can play through a 40+ move game in your head and be sure you know where all the pieces are at the end, you’ve already put in your shift for the week.
Took me a long time, but I got there! I had to recheck to make sure Capablanca wasn’t is zugzwang (the Rg8 could have moved). What a finish with the two weaknesses! I’ll carry that one around for a good while! Thanks, JB!
Soz, I forgot to check for typos before this one was released and two more got through.
27 should be ... Rf8
and
39 .should be ... Rg8.
Fixed now.