Emmanuel Lasker: A Lethal Weapon

In this article I want to show an incredible game, Emanuel Lasker-William Napier, Cambridge Spring 1904. This is one of the most known Lasker games. It was such a tremendous game, that Napier considered it his best game ever! Napier wrote: “This is, I think so, my best game and the one I most enjoy reproducing. The impetuous project started with 12…d5 it was irresistibly attractive, and very few players, and only the most ingenious, would have stopped. Finished the game, Lasker told me that let’s propose the game for the brilliancy prize together, saying: ‘It was your brilliancy, though I won.’ In the time trouble, Lasker amazed me playing nine moves from 21 to 30, in three minutes only!”

Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a natural fighter, and in this game he showed why he held the crown for 27 years! (1894-1921) This extended prowess that is unthinkable that someone would surpass. The general opinion believes he practiced a psychological chess, but I think, he was a colossal gladiator in any position, and mainly how he struggled in difficult positions! Let’s see!