Published by: McFarland
Paperback –
30 May 2024
by Hans
Renette (Author)
Hans
Renette
Format:
paperback (8.5 x 11 in 2 vols.)
Pages: 1125
Bibliographic
Info: 282 photos, notes, bibliography, indexes
Copyright
Date: 2024
pISBN:
978-1-4766-8457-4
eISBN:
978-1-4766-4442-4
The
Publisher’s Notes. (AKA The Blurb)
Emanuel
Lasker (1868-1941) had the longest reign of any world champion in chess-27
years. From 1894 through 1921, he wielded exceptional dominance over several
generations of contemporaries and is still regarded as one of the strongest
players the world has seen. A multifaceted personality, he excelled in other
fields as well, and his life has been the subject of a recent deep-digging
biographic trilogy.
This book
presents for the first time a detailed examination of Lasker's chess career,
with a complete collection of games, many presented with analysis by Lasker and
other first rank masters.
Who is
the author?
Historian
Hans Renette is FIDE master in chess (with 2 IM norms). He lives in Bierbeek,
Belgium.
Contents
Volume 1 –
Introduction and 36 chapters
Volume 2 –
26 chapters
Addendum,
Bibliography, Index of players, ECO index, General Index
My
overview
The title
says exactly what it is, a book about Lasker’s games – a chess biography. It
isn’t a biography of the man himself. There are other publications written that
cover this, although I certainly would have loved to read a little more about
the man’s life away from the chessboard in this publication. It covers games
from 1885 through to 1940. Lasker died on 11th January 1941 in New
York. I should mention at this point that although the cover says there is a
foreword by Neil Blackburn, there isn’t. No such foreword can be found, which
immediately set my ‘be alert’ radar off. It's also a shame because Mr. Blackburn is an authority not just on chess history but Lasker himself.
The
games
There are 1,827
games, so the reader will be occupied for a very long time indeed if they wish to play
through them all. The games include offhand, private, simultaneous and World
Championships as well as other contests between Lasker and a host of other
famous and little-known players.
There are plenty of diagrams and annotations to support many of the games. I could be greedy and declare that I would have liked a few more diagrams but this would probably extend the publication to three volumes, so I completely understand. There is incidentally an argument to say that it could have been a three volume publication anyway, but I shall set that aside here.
Looking through the games it was fascinating to see how Lasker could switch from ‘classical’ chess systems to hyper-modern set ups, and he even played a cheeky 1.a4 in a not so important game, showing that he enjoyed a bit of fun too. It struck me that he struggled a great deal against Pillsbury but seemed able to beat anyone else almost at will when at his zenith – depending upon his mindset and his health.
The reader will enjoy a veritable feast of games including
his World Championship games wresting the title from Steinitz in 1894 through
to losing it 27 years later to Capablanca. He crushed Frank Marshall in 1907,
Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch in 1908, and David Janowski in 1909. Then he drew 5-5
with Carl Schlecter in 1910 but retained the title after his must win final
game. Later in that year he smashed David Janowski and remained World Champion.
On June 27 1920, Lasker resigned his title in favour of Capablanca but he was
persuaded to play in Havana in March 1921 where he lost is title 5-9 to the
Cuban and that was the end of his record 27 year reign. I was particularly
captivated when I reached the point in the book when Capablanca – one of my
chess idols – was stormtrooping his way into the elite chess arena. I imaged myself sitting in the room
when the two played – it would be akin to witnessing a battle of the gods.
There is a bounty of other games from simuls and other match
games that any chess fan would be delighted to play through and doubtless learn a great
deal. My word, Lasker loved simuls!
How was
it for me?
I eagerly 'participated' tagging along on the journey of Lasker’s chess career from the moments that he
found the game right through to his sad death. The games reflected his style as a
positional player who did not feel the need to take risks early on. He was
happy to wait to finish off his opponent in the later stages of the game. I learned a lot about the man, which for me
gives the value to the book. Clearly, he travelled extensively despite
sometimes being ill and his passion for the game was astonishing, right into
his old age. He was capable of pulling the rabbit out of the hat even when
others believed that the magic for him was over.
I never
knew for example that he visited my hometown of Birmingham and gave a simul on
1 March 1897 where he played 31 boards, winning twenty-six, drawing three and
losing two.
The author also provides (perhaps) the shortest game that Lasker ever lost, in 11 moves as Black against
Robert Steel in an offhand game at Simpson’s Divan. The game went:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Ng5 d5
6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0–0 Be6 8.Re1 Qd7 9.Nxf7! Bb4 10.c3 0–0 11.Ng5 1-0
In 1892, Lasker gave birth to the Cambridge Springs Variation of the Queen’s Gambit (against A.B. Hodges) and later in May 1901 played J.L McCutcheon where the McCutcheon variation of the French Defence was tested – the game was drawn. There are several first’s in this respect. It is also intriguing to witness what openings were chosen in Lasker’s day from the romantic King’s Gambit to the Evans Gambit and of course the Ruy Lopez which continues to stand the test of time. Yes, this is chess history and I am always hungry to read about it.
Here is another example of the instructive chess that one can find within the pages. The game was Steinitz – Lasker played in London on 5 July 1899. In the position below, Lasker essayed 15…Nxg2 and won the game, securing first prize – a gold medal.
I shall let you play through the lines on your own board to see what was going on in Emanuel's head.
From his beginnings as a young man to his peak as a chess master in Nuremburg 1896, London 1899 and Paris 1900 the reader will surely enjoy playing through the games and reading the informative excerpts and comments from the author.
There is a wealth of superb photographs to accompany the text. Many are taken with kind permission from the Cleveland Public Library. These include Lasker and other players that I have never seen before such as Otto Roething and Julius Perlis. Some of these images really are stunning and I feel lucky to have seen them. One example is Lasker playing chess in California with a group of admiring gentlemen, and another depicts him seated at a live chess exhibition game with Rubinstein in Russia. Looking at the images, I was very surprised to see how tiny Lasker was, certainly as a youth. He was described by one Richard Martin as:
‘small as a boy and extremely weakly built. His chest as
well as his neck is very small but his head, with highly sumptuous hair is
vigorous as well as interesting.’
Some of the games showed that Lasker’s Opening knowledge, along with all the other great masters was still developing and this demonstrates just how far this aspect of the game has developed in the last century. As White he had a penchant for 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bd3 (the Swiss Variation) which is not played as much these days as it just allows the immediate counter 4…c5. It is true that 4.Bg5 is by far the most popular move nowadays but one much not be too harsh – he went his own way for his own reasons and as with today, opening theory was never static.
I
mentioned the pros – but were there any ‘cons’?
Frankly speaking, yes. It would be remiss of me not to mention the significant number of typos throughout the book, many of which are very basic. One occurs even at the beginning of the second paragraph! These errors range from ‘Lakser’ to ‘bavardous’ which I am still not sure what it means. Is it a word or a typo? There are also some incorrect move orders that do not relate to the accompanying diagrams. For this I have to admonish whoever the proofreaders were – because for the price of this publication the reader would expect better. I must also remark that the paper quality could be superior than it is – especially the covers which are already peeling at the edges. I should openly declare that I am not an authority on Lasker or some of the characters of the time so it might be that there are anomalies with names or events. I hope not.
Does the
book achieve its aim?
First of
all I want to say that I have nothing but admiration for with the amount of work that Hans
Renette must have done to release this publication. Truly, it must have taken
years. It is a book to treasure because not only does it contain so many chess
games, but it portrays chess history. I take my hat off to Renette and I
acknowledge that the typos and other matters I have mentioned might not be down
to him.
The aim of
this book is to give 1,827 of Lasker’s games with notes so in that sense it does
meet the goal, however let’s look a little deeper than this. For me personally it took
me on a captivating journey with the great man, and I felt a part of it as he
travelled from country to country and town to town being received like a king,
giving innumerable simultaneous exhibitions whilst puffing away on his beloved
cigars. He was chivalrous in those simuls, yet tough on his World Championship
challengers. He had a proclivity for colds but often played on regardless, not
succumbing on the chessboard. It also brought to mind just how exhausting
travel must have been, constantly on board a ship or being rocked back and
forth in a noisy horse or train carriage. It’s a wonder he was able to function
when he arrived in America or Russia after such extensive travel but he did,
and he love it by all accounts.
The book also introduced other characters of course and I have mentioned how wonderful the photographs are – priceless actually.
Lasker – courtesy
Cleveland Public Library
I particularly enjoyed reading about his relationship with the British
Chess Federation (oddly called the English Chess Federation on page 829) and he
was received like the true star he was up until the First World War when he
championed his German kinfolk and supported their attempt to bring other
European nations to their knees, England was not happy and ceased to invite him
to their shores ever again. In the Reading Observer on 17th
November, William Henry Butler wrote that there was ‘a general feeling of
revulsion and contempt towards a prominent member of the barbarian Prussian
race, who has, since the war started, on many occasions vilified us, and bitten
the hand that showed him such kindness and hospitalities. The Prussian chess
player aped the skunk, vilified his late friends and cast insults right and left,
to expose to everyone the contemptible cur that he was.’
The anger was deep rooted, and England felt betrayed.
After the war he was well received in Holland but England never
forgave him. To be fair – Lasker was from that part of the world (now Germany) and maybe he
never appreciated the full extent of what was to come as he waved off the
Germans soldiers on their trains, but I have to make it my business to separate
the personality from the chess games, which essentially is what this book is
about.
In any event. To those who were close to him he was apparently generous and kind and that’s how I like to think of him. In terms of the chess games, I shall say that the reader will find much joy and they can dip in and out of each chapter at will to get the best from the games.
Is it worth the money? As with any purchase, this is a subjective question. Fans of Lasker and chess history will undoubtedly want to add it to their collection. Chess players are notoriously 'prudent' with their money so I don't see many club players forking out. I fall into the former bracket so it is something I shall treasure.
With regard to the man, then I shall finish with a wonderful quote that reflects the style of writing at the time.
‘Lasker
was the sun, and all the others were the planets that received their light from
him.
Joseph
Platz
