Decisive Games

    Vacation is over and now it’s back to the routine. Roanoke, Virginia is a nice place, but the trip back home was marred by a truck throwing a stone into my windshield, cracking it and causing it to have to be replaced. 

    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."

 

[Event "St. Petersburg"] [Site "St. Petersburg RUE"] [Date "1914.05.18"] [Round "?"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Jose Capablanca"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C68"] [Annotator "Stockfiah 16"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1914.04.21"] {[%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. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Bxc6 {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. Qxd4 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 Bd6 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. O-O {The main alternative is 9.Be3} O-O {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 Re8 11. Nb3 {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. Bf4 Bb7 14. Bxd6 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. Nd4 Rad8 {The first tiny slip. 15....Bc8 keeps the N out of e6} 16. Ne6 Rd7 17. Rad1 {White has just a smidgen of an advantage.} Nc8 18. Rf2 b5 {The start of a bad plan. Best was 18...d5} 19. Rfd2 {[%mdl 32]} Rde7 {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.} Kf7 21. a3 {[%mdl 32]} Ba8 {An indication that black is short of ideas!} 22. Kf2 Ra7 23. g4 $18 h6 24. Rd3 a5 25. h4 axb4 26. axb4 Rae7 { Because black has no mobility, the open file is useless to him.} 27. Kf3 Rg8 28. Kf4 g6 29. Rg3 g5+ 30. Kf3 Nb6 {At this point black is theoretically lost, but this move sets a little trap which Lasker ignores.} 31. hxg5 (31. Rxd6 Nc4 32. Rd8 Rxd8 33. Nxd8+ Kg8 {White is better, but at least black has a bit of play.}) 31... hxg5 32. Rh3 {The decisive invasion of black's position.} Rd7 33. Kg3 {Preparing for his 35th move, when his King must be off the diagonal.} Ke8 34. Rdh1 Bb7 {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. Ne4 Nd5 37. N6c5 Bc8 {A good alternative was 37...Resigns} 38. Nxd7 Bxd7 39. Rh7 Rf8 40. Ra1 Kd8 41. Ra8+ Bc8 42. Nc5 {Black resigned. Nearly flawless play by Lasker.} 1-0