Other World Champions have taken a different view. Garry Kasparov said Lasker had an enormous natural gift for chess and while he was a follower of Steinitz's positional theory, his understanding was deeper.
Mikhail Botvinnik said that over his lengthy and brilliant career, Lasker was not only a player, but also a chess researcher.
Former World Champion Vladimnir Kramnik wrote that he believed Lasker was the discoverer of modern chess because when you look at many of his games they could have been played by any modern player.
Lasker’s contemporaries appreciated his expertise. Nimzovich wrote, “We can appreciate how far ahead of his time lasker was...There is no master, living or dead, whose maneuvering ability approaches that of Laker.
Reti said that Lasker was neither dogmatic nor mystical; he relies on healthy common sense. Of Lasker, Spielmann said his games “...his games are more profound than those of any other player.” And, Tartakower opined that, “It (was) characteristic of Laker's philosophy of life that he was the first to demonstrate that in chess not only a brilliant combination or a methodical system, but (and chiefly!) a knowledge of the opponent’s personality, his weak and strong points, is an important element in obtaining victory.”
If you are looking for a good book on Laker’s games I can recommend Lasker’s Greatest Chess Games by...Fred Reinfeld. I know, Reinfeld’s chess books are pretty bad, but this one (originally titled Dr. Lasker’s Chess Career) was first published 1935 and it was during the time Reinfeld was writing good books and before he discovered the real money was in writing pot boilers. Also, the annotations are by both Reinfeld and Reuben Fine. The period covered is 1889-1914.
Let’s take a look at the defeat Lakser handed Capablanca at St. Petersburg in 1914. The game is well known, but it’s pretty impressive and worth playing over again.
The tournament was divided into two stages. The first stage was a round robin and the top five were seeded into the finals, a double round robin. The scores from the preliminaries were carried over to the final. The front runners were expected to be Lasker, Capablanca and Rubinstein, but Rubinstein failed to qualify for the finals.
It was this tournament that the Czar of Russia declared the five finalists to be Grand Masters.
Examining this old game with Stockfish 15.1 turned up some resources that were not seen by annotators of old...as is usually the case. Nevertheless, it doesn’t detract from the game at all; it was still a masterpiece by the alleged coffee house player.
[Event "St. Petersburg"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1914.05.18"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Jose R.Capablanca"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C68"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15.1"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "1914.04.21"]
{Ruy Lopez: Exchange Variation} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {The
idea of this move is to bring about a Queenless middlegame in which white has
a K-side P-majority and while black's Q-side P-majority is somewhat balanced
by the fact that the Ps are doubled. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
Lasker had great success with the Exchange Variation. Since then, black has
developed better defenses, but the variation had a resurgence of popularity
when Bobby Fischer played it against Lajos Portisch and Svetozar Gligoric at
the both played at the 11966 Chess Olympiad in Havana.} dxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4
Qxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd6 {Black's idea is to castle K-side because it will be needed
to oppose the advance of white's K-side Ps. Capablanca made the observation
that if now all the pieces were exchanged white would practically be a P ahead
and would therefore have a won ending.} 8. Nc3 Ne7 {This is the natural square
for the N because here it does not to obstruct black's Ps and also, depending
on the situation it may go to g6.or d4 via c6 after ... c5.} 9. O-O (9. Be3 {
is the other main option.} Bd7 10. O-O-O O-O-O 11. Nb3 Kb8 12. f4 f6 13. f5 b6
14. Nd2 Be5 15. Nc4 Bxc3 16. bxc3 c5 17. Bf4 Kc8 18. g4 Bb5 19. Rxd8+ Rxd8 20.
Nd2 Re8 21. h4 Nc6 22. g5 Na5 23. gxf6 {½-½ (23) Karpov,A (2660)-Furman,S
(2540) Madrid 1973}) 9... O-O 10. f4 {At the time this move was was not
unknown, but it was considered weak and even after this game Capablanca still
believed that it left the e-Pawn weak, unless it could advance to e5. Also, 10.
f5 makes it possible for Black to pin the N by ...Bc5.} Re8 {This move
threatens 11...Bc5 12.Be3 Nd5. At the same time it prevents 11.Be3 because of
11...Nd5 (or 11...Nf5). Lasker's play was so impressive that commentators
tried to improve black's play at an earlier stage, but Kasparov agred with
Capablanca that in this position black had little to worry about. Stockfish
agrees!} (10... f6 11. Be3 c5 12. Nf3 Nc6 13. Rae1 Re8 {Black is slightly
better. Bierkens,P (2128)-Kaufman,L (2347) Arlington, VA 2013}) (10... f5 {
was suggested by Tarrasch and it leads to equality after} 11. e5 Bb4 12. Nce2)
11. Nb3 {This prevents ...Bc5} f6 {Capa is preparing ... b6, followed by ...
c5 and ... Bb7 in conjunction with ... Ng6 which would put white in great
difficulties to meet the combined attack against the two center Ps.} 12. f5 {
It has been wrongly claimed that this wins the game, but I would like nothing
better than to have such a position again. It required several mistakes on my
part finally to obtain a lost position.} b6 13. Bf4 Bb7 {Capalayed against his
better judgement. He was correct in saying the right move is 13...Bxf4} (13...
Bxf4 14. Rxf4 c5 15. Rd1 Bb7 16. Rd7 Rac8 {with a completely equal position.})
14. Bxd6 cxd6 15. Nd4 {Capa wrote that it was "a curious but true fact that I
did not see this move when I played 13 ... Bb7, otherwise I would have played
the right move 13 ... Bxf4. Actually, there is absolutely nothing wrong with
his position at this point.} Rad8 {Capa, wrote. "The game is yet far from lost,
as against the entry of the Knight." Nevertheless,, `5...Rad8 is a slight
inaccuracy.} ({keeps the position equal after} 15... d5 16. exd5 Nxd5 17. Nxd5
cxd5) 16. Ne6 $14 Rd7 17. Rad1 {Capa strated that here ge suddenkly became
ambitious and thought he could play his next move and later on sacrifice the
exchange for theN on e6 winning a P for it, plus white's e-Pawn would still
weak.} Nc8 {Here he toyed with the idea of playing 17...c57...c5 to be
followed by ...d5, which he thought would give him a draw. He was correct in
that 17...s5 was best because after the move played white gains the advantage.}
(17... c5 {and white mist resort to positional maneuvering . For example...}
18. Rf3 (18. Nd5 {doesn't lead anywhere.} Bxd5 19. exd5 b5 {with equality.})
18... d5 19. Rg3 g6 20. fxg6 d4 21. gxh7+ Kh8 22. Ng7 {Wgite is slightly
better.}) 18. Rf2 {The aggressive 18.g4 was worth considering.} b5 (18... Rxe6
{Turns out to be a very bad idea.} 19. fxe6 Re7 20. e5 Rxe6 (20... dxe5 21.
Rd8+ {mate next move}) (20... fxe5 21. Rdf1 Re8 22. Rf7 {is winning.}) 21. exd6
Nxd6 22. Re2 Kf7 23. Rxe6 Kxe6 24. Na4 Kd7 25. Nxb6+ {with a won ending.}) (
18... d5 {This is the correct move. After} 19. g4 Nd6 20. b3 Kf7 {the position
is roughly equal.}) 19. Rfd2 $16 Rde7 20. b4 Kf7 21. a3 {[%mdl 32]} Ba8 {
Capa wrote, "Once more changing my plan and this time without any good reason."
} (21... Rxe6 {is playable, but white is better after} 22. fxe6+ Rxe6 23. Rd4 {
but black probably has aqequate defensive resources.}) 22. Kf2 Ra7 {Capa's
plan is to advance the a-Pawn which turns out to be rather pointless.} 23. g4
h6 24. Rd3 a5 25. h4 axb4 26. axb4 {Black has a very cramped position and
there is no way he cam make use of the a-file he has just opened up. In fact.
white's position is approaching being a winning one.} Rae7 {Rather aimless,
but there is really nothing better. According to Capa white's next two moves
were weak because the white K does nothing on f4.} (26... Rxe6 {still does not
work out well after} 27. fxe6+ Kxe6 28. Ne2 Ke5 29. Nd4 {Now, of course, black
must not play} Kxe4 30. Ne6 {and mate next move.}) 27. Kf3 Rg8 28. Kf4 {
Actually. Capa was wrong because Lasker's last two moves have not hurt his
position one bit according to Stockfish.} g6 {Capa recommended28...g5+ and
added thgat after black missed this chance white has it all his own way, and
finishes the game most accurately and black becomes more helpless with each
move.} (28... g5+ {There are several other moves black could play, but because
white already has what amounts to a decisive advantage there is no point in
playing passively. Stockfish evaluates this position as three Ps in white's
favor, a clearly decisive advantage, but the further you look into the
position, the more difficult the win would become , especially over the board!}
29. Kg3 gxh4+ 30. Kxh4 Rxe6 {Faced with a passive defense this is the best
practical chance.} 31. fxe6+ Kxe6 32. Rf3 Ne7 33. Rdf1 Ng6+ 34. Kh5 Ne5 35.
Rxf6+ Ke7 36. Rxh6 Nxg4 37. Rg6 Rxg6 38. Kxg6 Ne5+ 39. Kf5 {Now allwhite has
to do is bring his R to the 7th rank.} Bb7 40. Rg1 Kd8 41. Rg7 Bc8+ 42. Kf4 Nc4
{White's nest step is to imptove the position of his N.} 43. Ne2 Be6 44. Nd4
Bd7 45. Nf3 Kc7 46. e5 dxe5+ 47. Nxe5 Nb6 {Niw he must improve the position of
his K.} 48. Ke4 Kd6 49. Rg6+ Kc7 50. Kd4 Be8 51. Rh6 Bd7 52. Rh7 Kd6 53. c4
bxc4 54. Nxc4+ Nxc4 55. Kxc4 {White has a theoretical win.} Bg4 56. Rh6+ Ke5
57. Kc5 Be2 (57... Bf3 58. Rxc6 Be2 59. b5 {etc}) 58. Rxc6 {etc.}) 29. Rg3 (29.
g5 {is more incisive.} hxg5+ 30. hxg5 Rxe6 {This is still worth a try!} 31.
fxe6+ Kxe6 32. gxf6 Kxf6 33. e5+ dxe5+ 34. Ke3 g5 35. Ne4+ Ke7 36. Rd7+ Ke6 37.
Nc5+ Kf5 38. Rf1+ {White will eventually win because black's position is just
too passive.}) 29... g5+ {Once again, sacrificing the exchange might have been
worth s shot.} (29... Rxe6 30. fxe6+ Kxe6 31. Rgd3 g5+ {and black is still
kicking.}) 30. Kf3 {Very good!} (30. hxg5 {is much weaker because after} hxg5+
31. Kf3 Rh8 {and suddenly black has counterplay; perhaps even enough that he
can avoid defeat!}) 30... Nb6 (30... Rxe6 {Yes, this is still worth trying!}
31. fxe6+ Kxe6 32. hxg5 hxg5 33. Rh3 Rg7 {and white still has a lot of work to
do!}) 31. hxg5 hxg5 32. Rh3 {Prevents Rh8.} Rd7 33. Kg3 Ke8 34. Rdh1 Bb7 35. e5
{The penetration of the other N forces the win.} dxe5 36. Ne4 Nd5 37. N6c5 Bc8
38. Nxd7 Bxd7 39. Rh7 Rf8 40. Ra1 {White threatens Ra8+ and mate.} Kd8 41. Ra8+
Bc8 42. Nc5 {Capablanca resigned. White has a forced mate!} (42. Nc5 Ne7 43.
Ne6+ Kd7 44. Nxf8+ Kc7 45. Rxe7+ Kd6 46. Rea7 Kd5 47. Rxc8 Kd4 48. Rxc6 Ke3 49.
Rd6 Ke2 50. Ra1 e4 51. Ra3 e3 52. Kg2 Ke1 53. Rxe3#) 1-0
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