Emanuel Lasker

Introduction

Emanuel Lasker was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognized World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the strongest players in history. Lasker have a "flexible" approach to the game. He knew analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. 

He publish many books such as Common Sense in Chess, An Elementary Text Book for Beginners, Encyclopedia of Games, Das verständige Kartenspiel, Brettspiele der Volker, Das Bridgespiel, Über Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze, and Kampf.

Life and career

Emanuel Lasker was born on December 24, 1868, at Berlinchen in Neumark (now Barlinek in Poland), the son of a Jewish cantor. At the age of eleven he was sent to study mathematics in Berlin, where he lived with his brother Berthold, eight years his senior, who taught him how to play chess. Berthold was among the world's top ten players in the early 1890s. To supplement their income, Emanuel Lasker played chess with small stake. At New York City in 1893, he won all thirteen games, one of the few times in chess history that a player has achieved a perfect score in a significant tournament. At Berlin in 1890 he drew a short playoff match against his brother Berthold and won all his other matches from 1889 to 1893, mostly against top-class opponents. In 1892 Lasker founded the first of his chess magazines, The London Chess Fortnightly, which was published from August 15, 1892, to July 30, 1893.

Successes

Lasker challenged Siegbert Tarrasch ([5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934] was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century.) Tarrasch declined, stating that Lasker should first prove his mettle by attempting to win one or two major international events. Rebuffed by Tarrasch, Lasker challenged the reigning World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, to a match for the title. The final stake was $2,000 ($247,500 for 2006). Lasker won convincingly with ten wins, five losses, and four draws. So on May 26, Lasker thus became the second formally recognized World Chess Champion and confirmed his title by beating Steinitz even more convincingly in their rematch in 1896–97 (ten wins, two losses, and five draws). At St Petersburg (1914), he overcame a 1½-point deficit to finish ahead of the rising stars, Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine, who later became the next two World Champions.

World championship challenges.

Lasker's first world championship match since 1897 was against Frank Marshall in the World Chess Championship 1907, Marshall could not win a single game, losing eight and drawing seven (final score: 11½–3½). Lasker then played Tarrasch in the World Chess Championship 1908, first at Düsseldorf then at Munich. At the opening ceremony, Tarrasch refused to talk to Lasker, only saying: "Mr. Lasker, I have only three words to say to you: check and mate!" But Lasker win for of the first five games. Lasker eventually won by 10½–5½ (eight wins, five draws, and three losses). Janowski and Lasker played the world championship in 1909. Lasker easily won the match 8–2 (seven wins, two draws, one loss). In 1910 Lasker played Carl Schelechter. Lasker defended his world championship title with a tie (5-5).

Academic activities

Chess was not Lasker's only interest though. His parents recognized his intellectual talents, especially for mathematics. In 1895 he published two mathematical articles in Nature (Nature is a British weekly scientific journal founded and based in London, England.). In 1905, published a theorem on primary decompositions of which Emmy Noether developed a more generalized form, which is now regarded as of fundamental importance to modern algebra and algebraic geometry. In 1906 Lasker published a booklet titled Kampf (Struggle),[60] in which he attempted to create a general theory of all competitive activities, including chess, business and war. He also produced two other books which are generally categorized as philosophy. 
 
Capablanca and Lasker

In 1921 José Raúl Capablanca challenged Lasker to the world championship but if Lasker beat Capablanca, he would resign the title so that young master could compete for it. Unfortunately, Lasker lost to Capablanca with 8 draws, 0 wins and 4 losses. He later died in 1941, at the age of 72.

Conclusion

Inconclusion, Lasker have many influence on chess, for example there are Lasker's Defense to the Queen's Gambit, Lasker's Defense to the Evans Gambit (which effectively ended the use of this gambit in tournament play until a revival in the 1990s), and the Lasker Variation in the McCutcheon Variation of the French Defense.

Fun facts!

Chess and Checkers Champion: Lasker was also a skilled checkers player and even wrote a book on the game, demonstrating his versatility in board games.

Friendship with Albert Einstein: Lasker was friends with the renowned physicist Albert Einstein. They shared a mutual respect and admiration for each other’s work, and Einstein even wrote the foreword for one of Lasker’s books.

A Passion for Bridge: Later in life, Lasker developed a passion for the card game bridge. He became an expert player and wrote extensively about the game, further showcasing his strategic mind.

Philosophical Writings: Lasker authored several philosophical works, including “The Philosophy of the Unattainable,” where he explored the limits of human knowledge and understanding.

The following table gives Lasker's placings and scores in tournaments.^{[10][19][29][30][76][88][142]} The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

Here are Lasker's results in matches.^{[16][17][43][52]} The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

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 ( main source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emanuel_Lasker )

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