PRACTICAL CHESS ENDGAME or BRIAN'S CHESS FOLLY . 26/4/98

The new position will occur each SUNDAY and I will always be pleased to receive POSITIVE feedback about the positions and the analysis and I will try to acknowledge these where relevant.

 

Edward Lasker (1885-1981 ) was another American writer/player who made a big impact on the game. Originally German he moved to the United States at the outbreak of the 1st World war. His first book, "Chess Strategy" which he wrote while he was still a student in Berlin, was an instant success. It was a practical book written to explain strategic principles to the emerging chess playing public. It can still be read with profit today.

Edward Lasker was never a full professional but he did play in a number of top class events. In 1923 he played a match against Marshall for the United States Championship and lost by a narrow margin. 

  

Does lightning strike twice? It did for Edward Lasker. Twice he had similar winning pawn endings in important championship games and each time he went wrong.

Lasker fancied his chances against Marshall. He was a player who was well passed his peak and his style was not suited to the trench warfare of long matches. Lasker won the first two games and then in the 3rd game came to the above ending. He had just played the longest combination he had ever conceived. He remembered the ending he played against Moll many years earlier.The pawn structure on the Kingside was similar. ( This was the 2nd position of the Easter Competition.) He remembered the win in the ending which he allowed to slip between his fingers. The winning idea is similar in each position and remarkably Lasker missed it each time.

This is the position that Lasker had misjudged in his analysis and stopped him playing the winning g5 variation.The hullucination he had was that Black would Queen with check after forcing the White King to the first rank.He failed to realise that there was a symmetrical variation which forced Blacks King on to the back rank and because he now had the move he would queen first with check.

Edward Lasker had a very long chess career with periodic breaks spanning over sixty years. He knew and played most of the great players of the first half of this century and his autobiography " Chess Secrets " makes fascinating reading. His humanity, honesty and integrity seems to be the hallmark of his writing.

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