Emanuel Lasker

Is Emanuel Lasker the best ever?

http://www.chessgames.com/player/lasker.html

Are there any students of Lasker who would like to talk him up or to explain the benefits of studying his body of work?

Anyone think Lasker stunk?

Chime in to the Lasker thread!

Are there really no Lasker fans on this site?

Lasker  is defintely one of the best ever.  The only knock on him would be that he didnt accept a challenge from anyone that could seriously jeopardize is title.

I mean come on...

Frank Marshall - fine tournament player, but less successful in matches

Tarrasch - Played when hes way past his prime

Janowski - Never a serious threat to anyones title

Who should he have accepted a match from?

 Rubinstein (?) or Capablanca when he was first challenged. 

Didn't Lasker defeat Capablanca handily in 1914 in St. Petersburg?

Rubinstein and Pillsbury were the only serious contenders at the time and Rubinstein could not get funding for a match. Pillsbury died too soon.

Should Lasker have played Rubinstein even though the money wasn't there. I would liked to have seen it, but Lasker was a professional and that means money.

Yes he did. It was a tournament with the top 5 players advancing for a match play against the others. Capa had a 1 and a 1/2 pt lead over Lasker. Lasker played the exchange variation of the ruy lopez when he needed a win. Capa only needed a draw. Capa was so upset that he lost the next game as well allowing Lasker to take the lead. This was the tournament where the five top players were declared grandmasters of chess by czar Nicholass II.

So, given that Rubenstein had no money, Pillsbury died, and Lasker already defeated Capablanca, what's to complain about? It looks like he has a fine body of work and was devestatingly logical and consistent.

Agreed! Definately one of the best ever. And his books are great as well..

Which books of his have you studied?

Lasker's Chess Manual.

Is it written in classic or algebraic notation?

The one I have is descriptive but I think there is a algebraic edition now. The tribute to Steinitz in the beginning is worth the price alone.

Classic.

Classic is harder to follow but better than nothing. I have never read any of his books. I have just looked at his games on the internet and read a little about him.

Based on the video analysis here, Capa played uncharacteristically weakly in that game

An amazing person. He was a very accomplished mathamatician. Praised by Einstein so his math must be pretty good. He played the opponent more that the position. He often chose his to make a move that was inferior because it was more uncomfortable for his opponent. 

The cat disagrees

My first book was written by Lasker in Classical notation. Can't recall the name of it.  Was hard for me to follow at my age at the time.  Great player, he was, though.