A Brilliant Finish by Lasker

    St. Petersburg 1895/96 was a quadrangular event with the four strongest players in the world, Lasker, Steinitz, Pillsbury and Chigorin who played 6 games each against the other three competitors. 

    The only top player missing from this event was Tarrasch. According to Chessmetrics' December 1895 rating lisi the top players were Lasker ((2842), Tarrasch (2803), Chigorin (2794), Steinitz (2746) and Pillsbury (2727). 

    Lasker clearly maintained his right to claim the World Championship despite the fact that he had a minus score of +1 -2 =3 against Pillsbury. Pillsbury was the most dangerous opponent that Lasker faced during the first years of his reign and between 1893 and 1904 they faced each other in 12 tournament games. The final score was +5 -4 =3 in Lasker’s favor. 

    The openings in this event were mostly QP, Ruy Lopez, Petrov and the Evans Gambit. Steinitz was experimenting with his line against the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6) without much success and later abandoned it in favor of 3…a6 followed by 4…d6. It was also rumored that in three of their game Pillsbury and Steinitz agreed to open with 1.d4. 

 

 

    Blunders. Lasker hardly made any while Steinitz and Pillsbury (most of Pillsbury’s were because of time pressure) made a fair share. Chigorin also made quite a few, but his seemed to have mostly been caused by fatigue, perhaps due to illness. 

    In the following game, while Steinitz wastes a lot of time maneuvering on the K-side, Lasker methodically builds up his position and when Steinitz blunders on move 26, it’s all over. You’ll like Lasker’s refutation of Steinitz’ mistake and it’s worth playing through the final moves several times trying to visualize the possibilities.

[Event "St. Petersburg 1895/96"] [Site ""] [Date "1895.12.15"] [Round "2"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Wilhelm Steinitz"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C71"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "63"] [EventDate "1895.12.13"] {C87: ClRuy Lopez} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 {The ideas for both sides are somewhat limited with this defense and black's main disadvantage is that he remains cramped.} 5. d4 Bd7 6. c3 {These days this is the most popular move, but also playable is the immediate 6.O-O} Nf6 7. Nbd2 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Re1 Re8 10. Nf1 Bf8 11. Ng3 g6 12. h3 Bg7 13. Bc2 (13. d5 {is also effective.} Ne7 14. Bc2 Rf8 15. c4 Nh5 16. Nxh5 gxh5 17. Nh2 Be8 18. Qxh5 {Gruenfeld,Y (2545)-Adams,M (2660) New York, 1994}) 13... Bc8 {Black has tried multiple moves here, but none are especially promiaing.} (13... h6 {is the usual move today. At the time Steinitz was experimenting.} 14. Nh2 Kh7 15. f4 exd4 16. cxd4 {White is still better. Reti,R-Bogoljubow,E Dortmund 1928}) 14. d5 Ne7 15. Be3 {In the tournament book James Mason was critical of Steinitz’ play hereabouts because he does a lot of shifting about of his pieces, eventually playing for ...f5. This was typical of Steinitz’ play, but in the meantime Lasker methodically prepares his attack. But there appears to be no better plan for black.} Rf8 16. Qd2 Ne8 17. Bh6 Kh8 $14 18. Rad1 Ng8 {Black seems to be wasting a lot time fiddling around here, but his position is so solid that it is difficult for white to make any headway.} 19. Bxg7+ Nxg7 20. c4 {[%mdl 2048] Black is under pressure and with his nexr nive seeks some freedom..} f5 21. Qc3 {Better woulld have been 21.exf5} fxe4 (21... f4 {This was Mason’s recommendation and it does seem better. The N’s aren’t well placed, but there is some possibility that Black would be able to work up a K-side attack. Opening up the file has some disadvantages in this position as we shall see.} 22. Nf1 g5 {with about equal chances.}) 22. Bxe4 Nf6 {Evidently played with the intention of exchanging the B, but the result is that white's N finds a nive outpost on e4. Something like the precautionary 22...b6 hindering white's counterplay with c5 was in order.} 23. Qe3 Nxe4 24. Nxe4 {The N occupies a nice outpost from here.} Rf4 {This turns out to be a poor idea.} (24... Nf5 25. Qd3 b6 26. b4 {and white is only slightly better.}) 25. c5 Bf5 (25... dxc5 26. Nxe5 {Threatening Nf7+} Qf8 27. Nxc5 {with a technically won position.}) 26. Nfg5 Qd7 {Lasker finishes the game in great style.} 27. Qxf4 {[%mdl 512] This must have come as a shock to Steinitz.} exf4 28. Nf6 Ne6 (28... Qc8 29. Nf7#) ( 28... Qd8 29. Nf7#) 29. Nxd7 Nxg5 30. Re7 Kg8 31. Nf6+ Kf8 32. Rxc7 {Black resigned, White is up the exchange and a P/} 1-0