Let's Do The Lasker Stomp Again!

It’s just a jump to the left. And then a step to the right. With your hands on your hips, you bring you knees in tight...Let’s do the time warp again!

That’s right! Once again I will take you down a time warp that pushes us back to the 1890s and 1904 (tip your hat to Tim Curry) and gives us a chance to beat the second world chess champion to a bloody pulp.

Tim Curry.

Yes, these are simultaneous exhibitions, and yes, he’s going to make some bad moves on purpose so we have a chance, but we won’t give him any mercy in return...none whatsoever!

If you haven’t looked at our first "stomp," then please check it out.

Lasker via Wikipedia. 

But I have a question: can the chess aficionados on Chess.com play as well as Lasker’s opponents? After all, Lasker’s conquerors didn’t just beat him, they nuked the guy. This is your chance to see if the players of yore were better than the players of today.

I will also add this: When he did simultaneous exhibits in the U.S., Lasker would often play against extremely strong players. For example, Oscar Chajes was a very strong master and eventually was in the 2500-range. George Wainwright, whose rating was in the mid to high 2300s. John Barry, who (in 1904) was around 2400 (he was 2500 a few years earlier). Abraham Sussman (master strength). Walter Penn Shipley (around 2400 strength). Otto Roething (2300). Salomon Lipschutz (2500 to 2600). Walter Lovegrove (2550). Hermann Voigt (2400). Julius Finn (2400). Just to name a few!

ONE

Incredibly, the creator of jacks played chess. Errr...what? He didn’t create jacks? Sorry, forget I even mentioned it. But there is one thing I can say about Mr. Jacks: he is quite a good player.

Lasker knows he’s ready to be obliterated. Now all that’s left is Black to demonstrate the killing blows.

TWO

I haven’t been able to find an FM Carroll (that name was given on ChessBase), but I did find an F.C. Carroll, but he was quite weak. I think that Lasker gave his opponent a break by not playing 14.f5, which is extremely strong. Little did Lasker know that his opponent was going to demonstrate amazing tactical skills. In fact, this is my favorite game in these two “Stomp Lasker” articles.

It’s time for Black to lower the boom.

THREE

I wasn’t able to find anything about Gibberd, but it’s clear that he’s quite a good tactician.

Time to find some really cool stuff for Black.

FOUR

This game was part of a 10-game simul in Moscow against fairly strong players. They ranged from 1800 to the high 2400s. Lasker won five, drew one, and lost four.

FIVE

This time Lasker didn’t have to be nice to his opponent since he fell into a book trap and never recovered. However, though this game was said to be on a U.S. tour (in ChessBase), other sources think it was in Paris, it’s also not a simul, and the name “Thillaye Chatard” is not a real name at all; instead it’s a consultation game played by a person named Chatard and another named Thillaye (thus Lasker was White playing two people as a team as Black).

This is clearly a job for our favorite chess historian, "batgirl," who most likely knows the truth concerning this very odd historic mixup.

If you don’t like violence, close your eyes.

SIX

Yet another unknown player who had serious tactical skills.

Tear down the wall!

SEVEN

White’s rating was around 2100, and in this game he looks far better than that!

You will need to be accurate.

EIGHT

Hartlaub’s rating was in the 2150-to-2200 range. Just like the previous game, White played like he was a chess god.

Flawless play by White and a magnificent finish.