Chess is not only about finding the best moves, but is is also a war of nerves. At the uooer levels especially being a fighter is often more important that always finding the best moves.
Back in the old days Emanuel Lasker was familiar with this fact and it was his great fighting spirit that explains how he managed to hold the World Championship for a quarter of a century.
In the early rounds of the great St. Petersburg 1914 tournament it was Capablanca who had the lead as he toppled one player after another. As a result the mighty Capablanca soon had what seemed like an insurmountable lead. Lasker was playing well, but he was trailing Capablanca until near the end when the two finally met. 
Capablanca was content with a draw while Lasker had to
win, so the natural course would have been to seek complications and take risks. Instead Lasker's approach was a subtle psychological one. He played for the early exchange of Queens and no doubt Capablanca must have relieved.
But, then Lasker started to offer his opponent difficult choices. At first Capablanca’s choices only seem bad, but eventually they are bad.
Concerning the following game Lasker wrote: “The spectators followed the final moves breathlessly….(when) Capablanca turned over his King...(from) the several hundred spectators, there came such applause as I have never experienced in all my lite as a
chess player. It was like the wholly spontaneous applause which thunders forth in the theater, of which the individual is almost unconscious."
Emanuel Lasker–Jose Capablanca1–0C68St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg RUE18.05.1914Stockfiah 16
[%evp 15,83,-12,-9,-43,-18,-43,-46,-77,-21,-24,-24,-24,11,14,16,18,76,75,66,
68,95,62,96,106,127,131,140,114,163,118,177,177,204,168,228,223,212,224,227,
193,242,223,252,227,231,254,457,436,500,492,527,517,516,510,609,603,678,669,
662,644,836,813,784,760,1549,1273,29980,29981,29979,29980] C68: Ruy Lopez:
Exchange Variation 1.e4 e5 2.f3 c6 3.b5 a6 4.xc6 In the Exchange
Variation white's long term plan is to play d4. exchange all the pieces and
win the pure Pawn ending. Lasker and Fischer used it with success. dxc6
Capturing with the c-Pawn gives white the advantage in the center. 5.d4 exd4 6.xd4 xd4 7.xd4 d6 8.c3 e7 9.0-0 The main alternative is 9.Be3 0-0 Despite the exchange of Qs, the is plenty oof tension. Black's Q-side
P=majority is practically worthless because of the doubled Ps, but he ahgs the
two Bs. As a result, Lasker has the psychological situation he wanted...a
position full of tension. 10.f4 e8 11.b3 Prevents Bc5+. f6 In the old
pre-engine days it was believed that this move created a weakness at e6 which
later became disasterous. While it's true that later e6 is a weakness, at this
time there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. 12.f5 Well played! True it
leaves white with a backward e-Pawn, but more importantly, it leaves black
with some developmental difficulties. Even so, the position is still quite
equal. b6 13.f4 b7 14.xd6 cxd6 Old annotators considered that from this
point the game may be considered lost for black because his Q-side Ps are weak
and his pieces are in each other's way. In fact, the position is dead even. 15.d4 ad8 The first tiny slip. 15....Bc8 keeps the N out of e6 16.e6 d7 17.ad1 White has just a smidgen of an advantage. c8 18.f2 b5 The start
of a bad plan. Best was 18...d5 19.fd2 de7 Lasker now has the
advantage and it is very instructive to see how he builds up a won game. Black
can undertake very little. 20.b4 A preparation for the ultimate opening of
the a-file. f7 21.a3 a8 An indication that black is short of
ideas! 22.f2 a7 23.g4+- h6 24.d3 a5 25.h4 axb4 26.axb4 ae7
Because black has no mobility, the open file is useless to him. 27.f3 g8 28.f4 g6 29.g3 g5+ 30.f3 b6 At this point black is theoretically lost,
but this move sets a little trap which Lasker ignores. 31.hxg5 31.xd6 c4 32.d8 xd8 33.xd8+ g8 White is better, but at least black has a bit of
play. 31...hxg5 32.h3 The decisive invasion of black's position. d7 33.g3 Preparing for his 35th move, when his King must be off the diagonal. e8 34.dh1 b7 He is helpless about what is coming invasion. 35.e5 After
this the stored up energy of white's position explodes with terrific effect. dxe5 36.e4 d5 37.6c5 c8 A good alternative was 37...Resigns 38.xd7 xd7 39.h7 f8 40.a1 d8 41.a8+ c8 42.c5 Black resigned. Nearly
flawless play by Lasker. 1–0
No comments:
Post a Comment