Richard Reti noted that Lasker routinely steered games into complex, seemingly inferior positions on purpose, relying on his unmatched defensive and psychological ability to outlast opponents at the "brink of an abyss,"
Garry Kasparov highly praised Lasker in My Great Predecessors, saying Lasker played from a "future era" and that he understood dynamic risk and practical problem solving long before modern theory caught up.
Mikhail Tal and Viktor Korchnoi both had respect for Lasker and considered him as the greatest player of all time because of his resilience and deep understanding of the psychological struggle.
Vladimir Kramnik regarded Lasker as the first 2700 rated player in modern terms.
Of course, everybody has their critics.
Bobby Fischer had a harsh opinion of Lasker and dismissed him as a "coffeehouse player" who allegedly did not truly understand the openings or sound positional principles. Fischer attributed Lasker’s success to merely trickery.
Max Euwe observ ed that Lasker’s games are extraordinarily difficult to learn from, describing them as a source of mystical wonder rather than a clear instructional blueprints.
The following game is, contrary to Euwe's claim, an instructive lesson on Knight outposts. In addition, Lasker’s play draws praise from Stockfish for being “extremely precise.”
[Event "London"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1899.06.26"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Emanuel Lasker"]
[Black "Samuel Tinsley"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D51"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 18"]
[PlyCount "91"]
[EventDate ""]
[EventType ""]
[EventRounds ""]
[EventCountry ""]
[Source ""]
[SourceVersion ""]
[SourceQuality "1"]
{D51: Queen's Gambit Declined} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 {At the time this was the fashionable move; today it's 4...Be7.} 5. e3 h6 {This gains tempo or the two Bs depending on how white wants to meet it.. Its main rival is 5...Be7} 6. Bh4 {Maintaining the pin is the most limiting to black.} c6 {One annotator called this move "horrible" because even though it is not an apparent tactical error it's weak because it "softens the d6–square without justification" and the consequences will be seen later on. Also, it "throws away valuable time" because ;ater black may want to counter with ...c5.This is complete nonsense. Black is perfectly equal here. The problem is that the annotator was a huge Lasker fan who praised everything Lasker did while denigrating Tinsley's play which is really not bad as his Weighted Error Value is only 0.49 indicating that on average his moves were half a P worse that Stockfish's. i.e. his play was moderately imprecise with notable mistakes,ut not a blunderfest! Tinsley was not a complete idiot! Chessmetrics estimates his higest ever rating to have been 2588 in 1900 and he was ranked #25 in the world 5 times om the monthly rating list between 1890 and 1891.} (6... Be7 7. Rc1 O-O 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Bd3 c6 {equals. Danilov,V (2405)-Marin,M (2560) Mamaia 2013}) 7. Bg3 {This is not the best. Normal is 7.Nge2} (7. cxd5 {is also a reasonable option.} exd5 8. Bd3 g5 $2 {Too weakening. Correct was8...Be7} 9. Bg3 Qe7 10. h4 {White has a good game. Zhukova,N (2322)-Buksa,N (2405) Petrovac MNE 2023}) 7... Be7 8. Bd3 Nb6 {This is a very poor choice as it loses time and at the same time yur=elds white space on the Q-side which is where black's play belongs. Good moves were 8...dxc4 or 78...o-o} 9. c5 {After this Lasker is in complete control of the game even though technically hisadvantage is very modest.} Nbd7 10. b4 O-O 11. h3 {A safety precaution to preserve his B.} Nh7 {The previously mentioned annotator stated that this makes s no sense at all and Tinsley played it because he was afraid of e3–e4 and so prepares to prevent it with ...f5. In that respect the move does make sense. That said, it is a poor idea because os results in black getting a very passive position. Counterplay against white's Q-side was his best bet, so ...b6 and ...a5 were his best course of action.]} 12. Nf3 f5 13. Ne2 {[%mdl 32] Very deep! The plan is to invade on the K-side.} Nhf6 {Black now intends ...Ne4 with a Stonewall formation, but it turns out to not be very strong, After white's reply, in order to de fend e6 black will play the dubious withdrawal of his N to b8 which leaves him even more undeveloped.} (13... Ng5 {could probably be considered safer.} 14. Nxg5 hxg5 15. O-O {White has a positional advantage, not a tactical one.}) 14. Nf4 {This targets both the e6 Pawn and g6. As the previously mentioned annotator observed, now begins the lessom on N outposts.} Nb8 {After this engines eveluate the position as won for white...Lasker will prove them right.} (14... Kf7 {Technically this is not evaluated as being any better than 14...Nb8, but practically it it seems a better choice because black's inferiority is positional, not tactical. Here is the main variation...} 15. O-O g5 16. Ne2 Ne4 17. Bh2 h5 18. Ne5+ Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Nf6 {and, I think , only an engine can see that black is nealy lose, In Shoot out white scored +3 -1 =2 is some highly tactcal games, so clearly 14...Kf7 was the move that should have benn played.}) 15. Ng6 Re8 16. Nxe7+ {Black is left with a horrible weakness on the dark squares around his K and his Q-side is totally undeveloped.} Rxe7 17. Bd6 {It's unusual to see a B replacing a N on an outpost, but the B is extremely we;; placed.} Rd7 18. Ne5 Rxd6 {This is his best try and although he gets a B+P for his R white still has a winning advantage.} 19. cxd6 Qxd6 20. a3 {[%mdl 32]} Nbd7 21. f4 a5 22. Rb1 {There is no way white can launch a direct attack, so instead he continues to methodically build up his position.} axb4 23. axb4 Ne4 {Black has his own N outpost, but not for long. Comparing his remaining pieces to white's and it's clear that white has much greater freedom.} 24. Bxe4 {Eliminating black's only active piece.} dxe4 25. O-O Nf6 26. Nc4 Qc7 27. Ra1 Rxa1 28. Qxa1 Nd5 {Black's remaining N finds a home, but it's not accomplishing anything.} 29. Qa5 b6 30. Qa3 Kh7 {He had to move something and this is a safe move.} (30... c5 {to reduce the number of Ps comes up short adfter} 31. bxc5 b5 32. Nb6 Nxb6 33. cxb6 Qxb6 34. Rc1 Bb7 35. Qe7 Bd5 36. Rc7 {and wins.}) 31. Rc1 g5 {Realizing that just sitting passively by is not going to get him anywhere, Tinsley makes a practical decision and tries to launch a counterattack, but in the long run all it's going to do is end up exposing his K.} 32. Ne5 gxf4 33. Rxc6 Qb7 34. exf4 e3 35. g3 Bd7 36. Rd6 {This is a major slip that should have allowed black to equalize. The correct strategy was to keep up the pressure with the positional maneuver Rc2–a2 so as to invade on the a-file} Bb5 $2 {[%mdl 8192]} (36... e2 $3 37. Qa1 (37. Kf2 Nf6 38. Kxe2 Bb5+ 39. Ke3 Qe4+ {draws}) 37... Bb5 38. Kf2 Qe7 {and black should be abke to squeeze out a draw.}) 37. Rxe6 Qc7 38. Qb2 Kg7 39. Rg6+ {The start of a decisive attack.} Kh7 40. Qb1 Qc3 {Lasker's next move can only be described as stunning.} 41. Rc6 $3 {[%mdl 512]} Bd3 {You have to admire Tinsley's ingenuity here; he is setting a trap.} (41... Bxc6 42. Qxf5+ Kh8 43. Qf8+ Kh7 44. Qf7+ Kh8 45. Ng6#) 42. Qxd3 Qe1+ 43. Qf1 Qxg3+ {This position is a good illustration of the point that it's never to late to blunder and throw away the win.} 44. Qg2 $1 (44. Kh1 e2 45. Qxe2 Qxh3+ 46. Kg1 (46. Qh2 Qf1+ 47. Qg1 Qh3+) 46... Qg3+ 47. Kh1 (47. Kf1 Ne3+ 48. Qxe3 Qxe3) {draws} 47... Qh3+) 44... Qe1+ 45. Kh2 Qd2 46. Rc2 {Black resigend.} 1-0
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