Просмотр кода страницы Английская Википедия:Emanuel Lasker

{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{short description|World Chess Champion from 1894 to 1921}}
{{for|the German-American International Master|Edward Lasker}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox chess player
|name = Emanuel Lasker
|image = Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00457, Emanuel Lasker.jpg
|caption = Lasker in 1929
|country = Germany
|birth_date = December 24, 1868
|birth_place = [[Berlinchen]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]]
|death_date = January 11, 1941 (aged 72)
|death_place = New York City, United States
|worldchampion = 1894–1921
}}

'''Emanuel Lasker''' ({{IPA-de|eˈmaːnuɛl ˈlaskɐ|-|De-Emanuel Lasker.ogg}}; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was [[World Chess Champion]] for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champion in history. In his prime, Lasker was one of the most dominant champions, and he is still generally regarded as one of the [[Comparison of top chess players throughout history|strongest players in history]].

His contemporaries used to say that Lasker used a "psychological" approach to the game, and even that he sometimes deliberately played inferior moves to confuse opponents. Recent analysis, however, indicates that he was ahead of his time and used a more flexible approach than his contemporaries, which mystified many of them. Lasker knew contemporary analyses of openings well but disagreed with many of them. He published chess magazines and five chess books, but later players and commentators found it difficult to draw lessons from his methods.

Lasker made contributions to the development of other games. He was a first-class [[contract bridge]] player<ref name="Laskeratbridge">A detailed examination of Emanuel Lasker's involvement in bridge is provided by the chapter ''Nicht nur Schach Emanuel Lasker als Bridgespieler'' by Robert van de Velde on pages 332–363 of ''Emanuel Lasker Denker Weltenbürger Schachweltmeister'' edited by Richard Forster, Stefan Hansen and Michael Negele (Berlin, 2009).</ref> and wrote about bridge, [[Go (game)|Go]], and his own invention, [[Lasca]]. His books about games presented a problem that is still considered notable in the [[Mathematical game|mathematical analysis of card games]]. Lasker was a research mathematician who was known for his contributions to [[commutative algebra]], which included proving the [[Lasker–Noether theorem|primary decomposition]] of the [[ideal of a ring|ideal]]s of [[polynomial ring]]s. His philosophical works and a [[drama]] that he co-wrote, however, received little attention.

== Life and career ==
=== Early years 1868–1894 ===
[[Image:Lasker.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Lasker as a young man]]
Emanuel Lasker was born on December 24, 1868, at Berlinchen in [[Neumark]] (now [[Barlinek]] in [[Poland]]), the son of a [[Hazzan|Jewish cantor]]. At the age of eleven he was sent to study mathematics in Berlin, where he lived with his brother [[Berthold Lasker|Berthold]], eight years his senior, who taught him how to play chess. Berthold was among the world's top ten players in the early 1890s.<ref name="chessmetricsProfileBertholdLasker">{{cite web
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S073074000000111000000000017510100
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Berthold Lasker
 | publisher=Chessmetrics
 | author=Jeff Sonas
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
| author-link=Jeff Sonas
 }}</ref> To supplement their income, Emanuel Lasker played chess and card games for small stakes, especially at the Café Kaiserhof.<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography">{{cite book
 | title=UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography
 | editor=Tyle, L.B.
 | publisher=U·X·L
 | year=2002
 | isbn=0-7876-6465-0
 | url=https://archive.org/details/uxlencyclopediao0000unse_n3y4
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
 }}</ref><ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/>

Lasker won the Café Kaiserhof's annual Winter tournament 1888/89 and the ''Hauptturnier A'' ("second division" tournament) at the sixth [[DSB Congress]] (German Chess Federation's congress), held in [[Breslau]]. Winning the Hauptturnier earned Lasker the title of "master". The candidates were divided into two groups of ten. The top four in each group competed in a final. Lasker won his section, with 2½ points more than his nearest rival. However, scores were reset to 0 for the final. With two rounds to go, Lasker trailed the leader, Viennese amateur von Feierfeil, by 1½ points. Lasker won both of his final games, while von Feierfeil lost in the penultimate round (being mated in 121 moves after the position was reconstructed incorrectly following an adjournment) and drew in the last round. The two players were now tied. Lasker won a playoff and garnered the master title. This enabled him to play in master-level tournaments and thus launched his chess career.<ref>"The Start of a Chess Career", from ''Lasker & His Contemporaries'', issue 1, published by Thinkers Press, Inc.</ref>

Lasker finished second in an international tournament at [[Amsterdam]], ahead of Mason and Gunsberg.<ref name="Hannak">{{cite book | author=Dr. J. Hannak | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master | publisher=Dover | year=2011 | isbn=978-0486267067 }}</ref>{{rp|5}}<ref>{{cite web | website=chessgames.com | title=Amsterdam (1889) | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=79287 | access-date=July 23, 2019 }}</ref> In spring 1892, he won two tournaments in London, the second and stronger of these without losing a game.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Di Felice, Gino
 | title=Chess Results, 1747–1900
 | publisher=McFarland & Company
 | year=2004
 | pages=133–134
 | isbn=0-7864-2041-3
}}</ref><ref name="Gillam2008London1892Belfast1892"/> At [[New York City]] in 1893, he won all thirteen games,<ref name="storiascacchiTornei1880Al1899"/><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Di Felice, Gino
 | title=Chess Results, 1747-1900
 | publisher=McFarland & Company
 | year=2004
 | page=142
 | isbn=0-7864-2041-3
}}</ref><ref name="NYTimes1894PreSteinitzLasker">{{cite journal
 | journal=New York Times
 | date=March 11, 1894
 | title=Ready for a big chess match
 | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/03/11/106900358.pdf
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
}} Note: this article implies that the combined stake was $4,500, but Lasker wrote that it was $4,000: {{cite journal
 | journal=[[Lasker's Chess Magazine]]
 | volume=1
 |date=January 1905
 | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lasker%27s_Chess_Magazine/Volume_1
 | title=From the Editorial Chair
 | access-date=May 31, 2008
}}</ref> one of the few times in chess history that a player has achieved a [[List of world records in chess#Perfect tournament scores|perfect score]] in a significant tournament.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hooper, David
 | author2=Whyld, Kenneth
 | author2-link=Kenneth Whyld
 | title=The Oxford Companion to Chess
 | url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop
 | url-access=registration
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/81 81]
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
 | year=1992
 | author-link=David Hooper (chess player)
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Soltis, Andrew
 | title=Chess Lists Second Edition
 | publisher=McFarland & Company
 | year=2002
 | pages=81–83
 | isbn=0-7864-1296-8
 | author-link=Andrew Soltis
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Sunnucks, Anne
 | title=The Encyclopaedia of Chess
 | publisher=St. Martin's Press
 | year=1970
 | page=76
 | isbn=0-7091-1030-8
}}</ref>

[[Image:New York 1893 chess tournament.gif|thumb|right|300px|The players and tournament officials at the New York 1893 tournament]]
His record in matches was equally impressive: At Berlin in 1890 he drew a short playoff match against his brother Berthold and won all his other matches from 1889 to 1893, mostly against top-class opponents: [[Curt von Bardeleben]] (1889), [[Jacques Mieses]] (1889), [[Henry Edward Bird]] (1890), [[Berthold Englisch]] (1890), [[Joseph Henry Blackburne]] (1892), [[Jackson Showalter]] (1892–93) and [[Celso Golmayo Zúpide]] (1893).<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1880Al1999"/><ref name="chessmetricsCareerDetailsEmanuelLasker"/> 

In 1892 Lasker founded the first of his chess magazines, ''The London Chess Fortnightly'', which was published from August 15, 1892, to July 30, 1893. In the second quarter of 1893, there was a gap of ten weeks between issues, allegedly because of problems with the printer.<ref name="LondonChessFortnightly">{{cite book
 | title=The London Chess Fortnightly
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | publisher=Moravian Chess
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review302.pdf
 | access-date=June 6, 2008
 }}</ref> Shortly after its last issue, Lasker traveled to the US, where he spent the next two years.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/>

Lasker challenged [[Siegbert Tarrasch]], who had won three consecutive strong international tournaments ([[Breslau]] 1889, [[Manchester]] 1890, and [[Dresden]] 1892), to a match. Tarrasch haughtily declined, stating that Lasker should first prove his mettle by attempting to win one or two major international events.<ref name="Hannakp.31">{{cite book
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | publisher=Simon & Schuster
 | year=1959
 | page=31
 | isbn=0-486-26706-7
}}</ref>

=== Chess competition 1894–1918 ===
==== Matches against Steinitz ====
[[Image:Wilhelm Steinitz2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Wilhelm Steinitz]], whom Lasker beat in World Championship matches in 1894 and 1896]]
Rebuffed by Tarrasch, Lasker challenged the reigning World Champion, [[Wilhelm Steinitz]], to a match for the title.<ref name="Hannakp.31"/> Initially Lasker wanted to play for US$5,000 a side, and a match was agreed to at stakes of $3,000 a side, but Steinitz agreed to a series of reductions when Lasker found it difficult to raise the money. The final figure was $2,000, which was less than for some of Steinitz's earlier matches (the final combined stake of $4,000 would be worth over $495,000 at 2006 values<ref>Using incomes for the adjustment factor, as the outcome depended on a few months' hard work by the players; if prices are used for the conversion, the result is over $99,000—see {{cite web
 | url=http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/
 | title=Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to Present
 | publisher=MeasuringWorth
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
}} However, Lasker later published an analysis showing that the winning player got $1,600 and the losing player $600 out of the $4,000, as the backers who had bet on the winner got the rest: {{cite journal
 | journal=[[Lasker's Chess Magazine]]
 | volume=1
 | title=From the Editorial Chair
 |date=January 1905
 | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lasker%27s_Chess_Magazine/Volume_1
 | access-date=May 31, 2008
}}</ref>). The match was played in 1894 at venues in New York, [[Philadelphia]], and [[Montreal]]. Steinitz had previously declared he would win without doubt, so it came as a shock when Lasker won the first game. Steinitz won the second game and maintained the balance through the sixth. However, Lasker won all the games from the seventh to the eleventh, and Steinitz asked for a week's rest. When the match resumed, Steinitz looked in better shape and won the 13th and 14th games. Lasker struck back in the 15th and 16th, and Steinitz did not compensate for his losses in the middle of the match. Hence Lasker [[World Chess Championship 1894|won convincingly]] with ten wins, five losses, and four [[draw (chess)|draws]].<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Kažić, B. M.
 | title=International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events
 | publisher=Pitman
 | year=1974
 | page=212
 | isbn=0-273-07078-9
}}</ref><ref name="Giffard394">{{cite book
 | author=Giffard, Nicolas
 | year=1993
 | title=Le Guide des Échecs
 | language=fr
 | publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]]
 | page=394
}}</ref><ref name="chessvilleSteinitzLasker1894">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessville.com/instruction/Lasker_v_Steinitz/instr_annogames_laskervsteinitz1894.htm
 | title=Lasker v. Steinitz – World Championship Match 1894
 | publisher=ChessVille
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
}}</ref> On May 26, Lasker thus became the second formally recognized [[World Chess Champion]] and confirmed his title by beating Steinitz even more convincingly in their rematch in 1896–97 (ten wins, two losses, and five draws).<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1880Al1999"/><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Kažić, B. M.
 | title=International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events
 | publisher=Pitman
 | year=1974
 | page=213
 | isbn=0-273-07078-9
}}</ref>

==== Tournament successes ====
[[File:ELasker.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Sketch of Lasker, {{c.|1894}}]]
Influential players and journalists belittled the 1894 match both before and after it took place. Lasker's difficulty in getting backing may have been caused by hostile pre-match comments from Gunsberg and [[Leopold Hoffer]],<ref name="NYTimes1894PreSteinitzLasker"/> who had long been a bitter enemy of Steinitz.<ref name="WinterKKSCotch">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/scotch.html
 | title=Kasparov, Karpov and the Scotch
 | author=Winter, E.
 | publisher=ChessHistory
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
}}</ref> One of the complaints was that Lasker had never played the other two members of the top four, [[Siegbert Tarrasch]] and [[Mikhail Chigorin]]<ref name="NYTimes1894PreSteinitzLasker"/> – although Tarrasch had rejected a challenge from Lasker in 1892, publicly telling him to go and win an international tournament first.<ref name="LondonChessFortnightly"/><ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.chess-poster.com/great_players/lasker.htm
 |title       = Emanuel Lasker
 |access-date  = June 5, 2008
 |publisher   = Chess-Poster
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080527203548/http://www.chess-poster.com/great_players/lasker.htm
 |archive-date = May 27, 2008
}}</ref> After the match some commentators, notably Tarrasch, said Lasker had won mainly because Steinitz was old (58 in 1894).<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography"/><ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesscorner.com/worldchamps/lasker/lasker.htm
 | title=Chess World Champions – Emanuel Lasker
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | publisher=ChessCorner
}}</ref>

Emanuel Lasker answered these criticisms by creating an even more impressive playing record. He came third at [[Hastings 1895 chess tournament|Hastings 1895]] (where he may have been suffering from the after-effects of [[typhoid fever]]<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography"/>), behind Pillsbury and Chigorin but ahead of Tarrasch and Steinitz, and then won first prizes at very strong tournaments in [[Saint Petersburg 1895-96 chess tournament|St&nbsp;Petersburg 1895–96]] (an elite, 4-player tournament, ahead of Steinitz, Pillsbury and Chigorin), [[Nuremberg 1896 chess tournament|Nuremberg (1896)]], [[London 1899 chess tournament|London (1899)]] and [[Paris 1900 chess tournament|Paris (1900)]]; tied for second at [[1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress|Cambridge Springs 1904]], and tied for first at the [[Chigorin Memorial]] in [[St&nbsp;Petersburg]] 1909.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker">{{cite book
 | author=Fine, Reuben
 | title=The World's Great Chess Games
 | chapter=Emanuel Lasker
 | year=1952
 | publisher=Andre Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover)
 | isbn=0-679-13046-2
 | author-link=Reuben Fine
}}</ref>

Later, at [[St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament|St&nbsp;Petersburg&nbsp;(1914)]], he overcame a 1½-point deficit to finish ahead of the rising stars, Capablanca and [[Alexander Alekhine]], who later became the next two World Champions.<ref name="storiascacchiTornei1880Al1899"/><ref name="chessmetricsCareerDetailsEmanuelLasker"/><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1900Al1909"/><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1910Al1919"/><ref>For good measure he also took first prize in a weaker tournament at Trenton Falls in 1906.</ref> For decades chess writers have reported that [[Tsar]] [[Nicholas II of Russia]] conferred the title of [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster of Chess]] upon each of the five finalists at St&nbsp;Petersburg 1914 (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch and [[Frank Marshall (chess player)|Marshall]]), but chess historian [[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Edward Winter]] has questioned this, stating that the earliest known sources supporting this story were published in 1940 and 1942.<ref name="KCAK">{{Cite book
 | last1=Winter
 | first1=Edward
 | author1-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=1999
 | title=Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations
 | edition=1
 | publisher=Russell Enterprises, Inc.
 | isbn=1-888690-04-6
 | pages=315–316
}}</ref><ref name="Chess Omnibus">{{Cite book
 | last1=Winter
 | first1=Edward
 | author1-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2003
 | title=A Chess Omnibus
 | edition=1
 | publisher=Russell Enterprises, Inc.
 | isbn=1-888690-17-8
 | pages=177–178
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter38.html#5144._Tsar_Nicholas_II
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | title=Chess Note 5144: Tsar Nicholas II
 | publisher=ChessHistory
 | author=Winter, Edward
}}</ref>

==== Matches against Marshall and Tarrasch ====
{{main|World Chess Championship 1907|World Chess Championship 1908}}
Lasker's match record was as impressive between his 1896–97 rematch with Steinitz and 1914: he won all but one of his normal matches, and three of those were convincing defenses of his title. 

In 1906 Lasker and [[Géza Maróczy]]  agreed to terms for a [[World Chess Championship|World Championship]], but the arrangements could not be finalised, and the match never took place.<ref>[https://en.chessbase.com/post/an-underrated-world-class-geza-maroczy An underrated world-class player: Geza Maroczy], [[Chessbase]], March 4, 2020</ref>

Lasker's first world championship match since 1897 was against [[Frank Marshall (chess player)|Frank Marshall]] in the [[World Chess Championship 1907]]. Despite his aggressive style, Marshall could not win a single game, losing eight and drawing seven (final score: 11½–3½).<ref name="Giffard396">Giffard, p.396</ref>

Lasker then played Tarrasch in the [[World Chess Championship 1908]], first at [[Düsseldorf]] then at [[Munich]]. Tarrasch firmly believed the game of chess was governed by a precise set of principles.<ref name="Giffard396"/> For him the strength of a chess move was in its logic, not in its efficiency. Because of his stubborn principles he considered Lasker as a {{chessgloss|coffeehouse|coffeehouse player}} who won his games only thanks to dubious tricks, while Lasker mocked the arrogance of Tarrasch who, in his opinion, shone more in [[Salon (gathering)|salons]] than at the chessboard. At the opening ceremony, Tarrasch refused to talk to Lasker, only saying: "Mr. Lasker, I have only three words to say to you: check and mate!"<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=1509 
 |author=Stefan Löffler 
 |publisher=The Atlantic Times 
 |title=Check and Mate 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524004826/http://www.atlantic-times.com/archive_detail.php?recordID=1509 
 |archive-date=May 24, 2011 
}}</ref><ref>Giffard, p.397</ref>

{{Chess diagram small
|tright
|Tarrasch vs. Lasker, <br />World Championship 1908<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1241474 |title=Tarrasch vs. Lasker, World Championship 1908}} [[Chessgames.com]]</ref>
|  |  |  |rd|rd|  |  |kd
|ql|  |pd|qd|bd|  |  |pd
|  |  |pd|pd|  |pd|  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |nl|  |  
|  |  |  |  |pl|  |  |  
|  |pl|  |  |  |  |  |  
|pl|  |pl|  |  |kl|pl|pl
|rl|  |  |  |rl|  |  |  
|Position after 19.Qxa7
}}
{{AN chess|pos=egright}}
Lasker gave a brilliant answer on the chessboard, winning four of the first five games, and playing a type of chess Tarrasch could not understand. For example, in the second game after 19 moves arose a situation ({{em|diagram}}) in which Lasker was a [[pawn (chess)|pawn]] down, with a {{chessgloss|bad bishop}} and {{chessgloss|doubled pawns}}. At this point it appeared Tarrasch was winning, but 20 moves later he was forced to [[Rules of chess#Resigning|resign]].<ref name="Giffard398">Giffard, p.398</ref> Lasker eventually won by 10½–5½ (eight wins, five draws, and three losses). Tarrasch claimed the wet weather was the cause of his defeat.<ref name="Giffard398"/>

==== Matches against Janowski ====
{{main|World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Janowski)}}

In 1909 Lasker drew a short match (two wins, two losses) against [[Dawid Janowski]], an all-out attacking [[Polish people|Polish]] expatriate. Several months later they played a longer match in Paris, and chess historians still debate whether this was for the World Chess Championship.<ref>Several authors have considered this match as a World Chess Championship, for instance:
*{{cite book
 | title=From Morphy to Fischer
 | author=Horowitz, Israel
 | publisher=Batsford
 | year=1973
 | pages=63–64
 | author-link=Israel Horowitz}}
*{{cite book
 | title=The Centenary Match – Kasparov-Karpov III
 | author=Keene, Raymond
 | author2=Goodman, David
 | publisher=Batsford
 | page=6
 | year=1986
 | isbn=0-02-028700-3
 | author-link=Raymond Keene}}
*{{cite book
 | title=Le guide des échecs
 | author=Giffard, Nicolas
 | language=fr
 | year=1993
 | publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]]
 | page=400}}
More recent sources consider it was only an exhibition match:
*{{cite web
 | author=Edward Winter
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter38.html#5199._Lasker_v_Janowsky_Paris_1909
 | title=Chess Notes 5199
 | publisher=ChessHistory.com
 | author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)}}
*{{cite web
 | author=Mark Weeks
 | title=1909 Lasker – Janowski Exhibition Matches
 | publisher=mark-weeks.com
 | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/09lj$wix.htm}}</ref> Understanding Janowski's style, Lasker chose to defend solidly so that Janowski unleashed his attacks too soon and left himself vulnerable. Lasker easily won the match 8–2 (seven wins, two draws, one loss).<ref name="Giffard400">{{cite book
 | title=Le guide des échecs
 | author=Giffard, Nicolas
 | language=fr
 | year=1993
 | publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]]
 | page=400}}</ref> This victory was convincing for everyone but Janowski, who asked for a revenge match. Lasker accepted and they played a [[World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Janowski)|World Chess Championship match]] in Berlin in November–December 1910. Lasker crushed his opponent, winning 9½–1½ (eight wins, three draws, no losses).<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1900Al1914"/> Janowski did not understand Lasker's moves, and after his first three losses he declared to [[Edward Lasker]], "Your [[homonym]] plays so stupidly that I cannot even look at the chessboard when he thinks. I am afraid I will not do anything good in this match."<ref name="Giffard400"/>

==== Match against Schlechter ====
{{main|World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Schlechter)}}
[[Image:Carl Schlechter (profile).png|thumb|upright|Schlechter would have taken Lasker's world title if he had won or drawn the last game of their 1910 match.]]
Between his two matches against Janowski, Lasker arranged another [[World Chess Championship 1910 (Lasker–Schlechter)|World Chess Championship]] in January–February 1910 against [[Carl Schlechter]]. Schlechter was a modest gentleman, who was generally unlikely to win the major chess tournaments by his peaceful inclination, his lack of aggressiveness and his willingness to accept most [[draw (chess)|draw]] [[draw by agreement|offers]] from his opponents (about 80% of his games finished by a draw).<ref name="Giffard404">Giffard 1993, p. 404</ref> 

At the beginning, Lasker tried to attack but Schlechter had no difficulty defending, so that the first four games finished in draws. In the fifth game Lasker had a big advantage, but committed a blunder that cost him the game. Hence at the middle of the match Schlechter was one point ahead. The next four games were drawn, despite fierce play from both players. In the sixth Schlechter managed to draw a game being a pawn down. In the seventh Lasker nearly lost because of a beautiful [[The exchange (chess)#The exchange sacrifice|exchange sacrifice]] from Schlechter. In the ninth only a blunder from Lasker allowed Schlechter to draw a lost [[chess endgame|ending]]. The score before the last game was thus 5–4 for Schlechter. In the tenth game Schlechter tried to win tactically and took a big advantage, but he missed a clear win at the 35th move, continued to take increasing risks and finished by losing.<ref name="Giffard406">Giffard 1993, p. 406</ref> Hence the match was a draw and Lasker remained World Champion.

It has been speculated that Schlechter played unusually risky chess in the tenth game because the terms of the match required him to win by a margin of two games.  But according to Isaak and Vladimir Linder, this was unlikely. The match was originally to be a 30-game affair and Schlechter would have to win by two games. But they note that according to the Austrian chess historian Michael Ehn, Lasker agreed to forgo the plus two provision in view of the match being subsequently reduced to only 10 games. For proof Ehn quoted Schlechter's comment printed in Allgemeine Sportzeitung (ASZ) of December 9, 1909 "There will be ten games in all. The winner on points will receive the title of world champion. If the points are equal, the decision will be made by the arbiter."
<ref>
{{cite book
| title=Emanuel Lasker, 2nd World Chess Champion
| author=Isaak and Vladimir Linder
| publisher=Russell Enterprises Inc.
| date=2010
| page=109 }}
</ref>

==== Abandoned challenges ====
In 1911 Lasker received a challenge for a world title match against the rising star [[José Raúl Capablanca]]. Lasker was unwilling to play the traditional "first to win ten games" type of match in the semi-tropical conditions of [[Havana]], especially as drawn games were becoming more frequent and the match might last for over six months. He therefore made a counter-proposal: if neither player had a lead of at least two games by the end of the match, it should be considered a draw; the match should be limited to the best of thirty games, counting draws; except that if either player won six games ''and'' led by at least two games before thirty games were completed, he should be declared the winner; the champion should decide the venue and stakes, and should have the exclusive right to publish the games; the challenger should deposit a forfeit of US$2,000 (equivalent to over $250,000 in 2020 values<ref>Using average incomes as the conversion factor; if prices are used for the conversion, the result is about $45,000—see {{cite web
 | url=http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/
 | title=Six Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to Present
 | publisher=MeasuringWorth
 | access-date=June 5, 2008
}}</ref>); the time limit should be twelve moves per hour; play should be limited to two sessions of 2½ hours each per day, five days a week. Capablanca objected to the time limit, the short playing times, the thirty-game limit, and especially the requirement that he must win by two games to claim the title, which he regarded as unfair. Lasker took offence at the terms in which Capablanca criticized the two-game lead condition and broke off negotiations, and until 1914 Lasker and Capablanca were not on speaking terms. However, at the 1914 St. Petersburg tournament, Capablanca proposed a set of rules for the conduct of World Championship matches, which were accepted by all the leading players, including Lasker.<ref name="graemecree1921WorldChessChampionship">{{Cite web
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050120165616/http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/world/world1921.htm
 | title=1921 World Chess Championship
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | archive-date=January 20, 2005
 | url=http://members.aol.com/graemecree/chesschamps/world/world1921.htm
}} This cites: a report of Lasker's concerns about the location and duration of the match, in the ''New York Evening Post'', March 15, 1911; Capablanca's letter of December 20, 1911, to Lasker, stating his objections to Lasker's proposal; Lasker's letter to Capablanca, breaking off negotiations; Lasker's letter of April 27, 1921, to Alberto Ponce of the Havana Chess Club, proposing to resign the 1921 match; and Ponce's reply, accepting the resignation.</ref>

Late in 1912 Lasker entered into negotiations for a world title match with [[Akiba Rubinstein]], whose tournament record for the previous few years had been on a par with Lasker's and a little ahead of Capablanca's.<ref name="chessmetricsProfileRubinstein">{{cite web
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=188510SSSSS3S112008189006131000000000026310100
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Akiba Rubinstein
 | publisher=Chessmetrics
 | author=Jeff Sonas
 | access-date=June 4, 2008
| author-link=Jeff Sonas
 }}</ref> The two players agreed to play a match if Rubinstein could raise the funds, but Rubinstein had few rich friends to back him and the match was never played. This situation demonstrated some of the flaws inherent in the championship system then being used. The start of World War I in summer 1914 put an end to hopes that Lasker would play either Rubinstein or Capablanca for the World Championship in the near future.<ref name="Horowitz1973MorphyToFischer">{{cite book
 | title=From Morphy to Fischer
 | author=Horowitz, I.A.
 | publisher=Batsford
 | year=1973
 | author-link=Israel Horowitz
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | title=Classical Chess Matches, 1907–1913
 | author=Wilson, F.
 | year=1975
 | publisher=Dover
 | isbn=0-486-23145-3
}}</ref>
Throughout World War I (1914–1918) Lasker played in only two serious chess events. He convincingly won (5½−½) a non-title match against Tarrasch in 1916.<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1915Al1929"/> In September–October 1918, shortly before the [[Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)|armistice]], he won a quadrangular (four-player) tournament, half a point ahead of Rubinstein.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.endgame.nl/berlin1928.htm
 |title       = Berlin 1897, 1918 and 1928
 |publisher   = Endgame
 |access-date  = June 5, 2008
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080619004619/http://www.endgame.nl/berlin1928.htm
 |archive-date = June 19, 2008
}}</ref>

=== Academic activities 1894–1918 ===
[[Image:Hilbert.jpg|thumb|upright|[[David Hilbert]] encouraged Lasker to obtain a [[PhD]] in mathematics.]]
Despite his superb playing results, chess was not Lasker's only interest. His parents recognized his intellectual talents, especially for mathematics, and sent the adolescent Emanuel to study in Berlin (where he found he also had a talent for chess). Lasker gained his [[abitur]] (high school graduation certificate) at [[Landsberg an der Warthe]], now a [[Poland|Polish]] town named Gorzów Wielkopolski but then part of [[Prussia]]. He then studied mathematics and philosophy at the universities in Berlin, [[Göttingen]] (where [[David Hilbert]] was one of his doctoral advisors) and [[Heidelberg]].<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/>

In 1895 he published two mathematical articles in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]''.<ref>{{cite journal
 | title=Metrical Relations of Plane Spaces of ''n'' Manifoldness
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | journal=Nature
 | volume=52
 | issue=1345
 | pages=340–343
 |date=August 1895
 | doi=10.1038/052340d0
 |bibcode = 1895Natur..52R.340L | s2cid=4017358
 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429368
 }}<br />{{cite journal
 | title=About a certain Class of Curved Lines in Space of ''n'' Manifoldness
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | journal=Nature
 | volume=52
 | issue=1355
 |date=October 1895
 | pages=596
 | doi=10.1038/052596a0
 |bibcode = 1895Natur..52..596L | s2cid=4016031
 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429372
 }}</ref> On the advice of [[David Hilbert]] he registered for doctoral studies at [[Erlangen]] during 1900–1902.<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/> In 1901 he presented his doctoral thesis ''Über Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze'' ("On Series at Convergence Boundaries") at Erlangen and in the same year it was published by the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite book
 | title=Great Chess Upsets
 | author=Reshevsky, Samuel
 | publisher=Arco
 | year=1976
 | isbn=0-668-03492-0
 | author-link=Samuel Reshevsky
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
 | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
 | title=Über Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | year=1901
 | volume=196
 | issue=274–286
 | pages=431–477
 | bibcode=1901RSPTA.196..431L
 | doi=10.1098/rsta.1901.0009
| doi-access=
 }}</ref> He was awarded a doctorate in mathematics in 1902.<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/> His most significant mathematical article, in 1905, published a [[Lasker–Noether theorem|theorem on primary decompositions]] of which [[Emmy Noether]] developed a more generalized form, which is now regarded as of fundamental importance to modern [[algebra]] and [[algebraic geometry]].<ref>{{Cite journal
 |first   = E.
 |last    = Lasker
 |title   = Zur Theorie der Moduln und Ideale
 |journal = Math. Ann.
 |volume  = 60
 |year    = 1905
 |issue   = 1
 |pages   = 20–116
 |doi     = 10.1007/BF01447495
 |s2cid = 120367750
 |url     = http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/index.php?id=11&PPN=PPN235181684_0060&DMDID=DMDLOG_0008&L=1
}}{{Dead link|date=November 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}<br />{{Cite journal
 |author1-link = Emmy Noether
 |title        = Idealtheorie in Ringbereichen
 |year         = 1921
 |journal      = [[Mathematische Annalen]]
 |volume       = 83
 |issue        = 1
 |doi          = 10.1007/BF01464225
 |author       = Noether, Emmy
 |pages        = 24–66
 |url          = http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/index.php?id=11&PPN=PPN235181684_0083&DMDID=DMDLOG_0008&L=1
 |bibcode      = 1921MatAn..83...24N
 |s2cid = 121594471
 |access-date  = September 30, 2013
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20160305071858/http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/index.php?id=11&PPN=PPN235181684_0083&DMDID=DMDLOG_0008&L=1
 |archive-date = March 5, 2016
 |url-status     = dead
}} For the relationship between Lasker's work and Noether's see {{cite encyclopedia
 |url        = https://encyclopediaofmath.org/wiki/Lasker_ring
 |title      = Lasker ring
 |encyclopedia       = [[Encyclopedia of Mathematics]]
 |publisher  = Springer
 |access-date = May 31, 2008
}}</ref><ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/>

Lasker held short-term positions as a mathematics lecturer at [[Tulane University]] in [[New Orleans, Louisiana|New Orleans]] (1893) and [[Victoria University of Manchester|Victoria University]] in [[Manchester]] (1901; Victoria University was one of the "parents" of the current [[University of Manchester]]).<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/> However, he was unable to secure a longer-term position, and pursued his scholarly interests independently.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.lasker-gesellschaft.de/forum/johannes-fischer/lasker-new-approaches.html
 |title        = Lasker: New Approaches
 |publisher    = Lasker-Gesellschaft
 |access-date   = November 21, 2008
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20110726190525/http://www.lasker-gesellschaft.de/forum/johannes-fischer/lasker-new-approaches.html
 |archive-date = July 26, 2011
 |url-status     = dead
}}; also available at {{cite web
 |url        = http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles158.pdf
 |title      = Lasker: New Approaches
 |publisher  = ChessCafe
 |access-date = May 2, 2008
 }}. This refers to {{cite book
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: Schach, Philosophie und Wissenschaft (Emanuel Lasker: Chess, Philosophy and Science)
 | author=Sieg, Ulrich
 | author2=Dreyer, Michael
 | publisher=Philo
 | year=2001
 | isbn=3-8257-0216-2
}}.</ref>

In 1906 Lasker published a booklet titled ''Kampf'' (''Struggle''),<ref name="Lasker1906Kampf">Many sources say ''Kampf'' was published in 1907, but Lasker said 1906 - {{cite book
 | title=Lasker's Manual of Chess
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 |orig-year=1932
|date=1960
 | publisher=Courier Dover
 | isbn=0-486-20640-8
}}</ref> in which he attempted to create a general theory of all competitive activities, including chess, business and war. He produced two other books which are generally categorized as philosophy, ''Das Begreifen der Welt'' (''Comprehending the World''; 1913) and ''Die Philosophie des Unvollendbar'' (sic; ''The Philosophy of the Unattainable''; 1918).<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/>

=== Other activities 1894–1918 ===
In 1896–97 Lasker published his book ''Common Sense in Chess'', based on lectures he had given in London in 1895.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=Common Sense in Chess
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 |orig-year=1896 (German edition)
|date=1965
 | publisher=Courier Dover
 | isbn=0-486-21440-0
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1MP1FhWELmAC&q=%22common+sense+in+chess%22+lasker
 | access-date=May 2, 2008
}}</ref>

{{Chess diagram small
| tright
| [[Rice Gambit]]

|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|__|__|rd
|pd|pd|pd|__|__|pd|__|pd
|__|__|__|bd|__|nd|__|__
|__|__|__|pl|nl|__|__|__
|__|__|bl|__|__|pd|pd|pl
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__
|pl|pl|pl|pl|__|__|pl|__
|rl|nl|bl|ql|__|rl|kl|__
| {{hidden|multiline=y|ta1=left|fw1=normal| Position after 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6 8.0-0 | White [[sacrifice (chess)|sacrifices]] the knight on e5 in order to get his king to safety and enable a rook to join the attack against the under-developed black position.}}
}}
{{algebraic notation|pos=egright}}

In 1903, Lasker played in [[Ostend]] against [[Mikhail Chigorin]], a six-game match that was sponsored by the wealthy lawyer and industrialist [[Isaac Rice (businessman)|Isaac Rice]] in order to test the [[Rice Gambit]].<ref>{{cite journal
 | journal=New York Times
 | title=Chess World's Doings; Lasker to Test Rice Gambit
 | date=August 2, 1903
 | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1903/08/02/101312061.pdf
 | access-date=May 2, 2008
}}</ref> Lasker narrowly lost the match. Three years later Lasker became secretary of the Rice Gambit Association, founded by Rice in order to promote the Rice Gambit,<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/> and in 1907 Lasker quoted with approval Rice's views on the convergence of chess and military strategy.<ref>{{Cite journal
 | pages=35
 | journal=Lasker's Chess Magazine
 | date=November 1907
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html
 | title=Chess Notes by Edward Winter
 | access-date=May 2, 2008
}}</ref>

In November 1904, Lasker founded ''Lasker's Chess Magazine'', which ran until 1909.<ref>{{cite web
 |url        = http://moravian-chess.cz/katalog.php?idkat=11
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070704013603/http://www.moravian-chess.cz/katalog.php?idkat=11
 |url-status   = dead
 |archive-date = July 4, 2007
 |title      = Moravian chess publishing – Catalogue
 |publisher  = Moravian Chess
 |access-date = May 2, 2008
}}</ref>

Beginning in 1910, he wrote a weekly chess column for the [[New York Evening Post]], for which he was Chess Editor.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Emanuel Lasker |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/lasker-emanuel |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |access-date=April 11, 2021}}</ref>

Emanuel Lasker became interested in the strategy game [[Go (board game)|Go]] after being introduced to it by his namesake [[Edward Lasker]], probably in 1907 or 1908 (Edward Lasker wrote a successful book ''Go and Go-Moku'' in 1934<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.games.go/LGH6DOZtaZc|title=Google Groups|website=groups.google.com|access-date=April 7, 2016}}</ref>). He and Edward played Go together while Edward was helping him prepare for his 1908 match with Tarrasch. He kept his interest in Go for the rest of his life, becoming one of the strongest players in Germany and Europe and contributing occasionally to the magazine ''Deutsche Go-Zeitung''. It is alleged that he once said "Had I discovered Go sooner, I would probably have never become world chess champion".<ref>Forster, Richard; Negele, Michael; Tischbierek, Raj (eds.): ''Emanuel Lasker: volume II, choices and chances, chess and other games of the mind'' – Berlin, Excelsior Verlag, 2020, {{ISBN|978-3-935800-10-5}}, Chapter 4, pages 165–213: ''Lasker and Go'', Theo van Ees and Hans-Christian Wolfarth.</ref>

At the age of 42, in July 1911, Lasker married Martha Cohn (née Bamberger), a rich widow who was a year older than Lasker and already a grandmother. They lived in Berlin.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/><ref>{{cite book
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | publisher=Simon & Schuster
 | year=1959
 | pages=152, 160–61
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hooper, D.
 | author2=Whyld, K.
 | title=The Oxford Companion to Chess
 | edition=2
 | year=1992
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/218 218]
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
| title-link=The Oxford Companion to Chess
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 }}</ref> Martha Cohn wrote popular stories under the pseudonym "L. Marco".<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/><ref>{{cite book
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | publisher=Simon & Schuster
 | year=1959
 | page=125
}}</ref>

During [[World War I]], Lasker invested all of his savings in German [[war bond]]s, which lost nearly their entire value with the wartime and [[hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic|post-war inflation]]. During the war, he wrote a pamphlet which claimed that civilization would be in danger if Germany lost the war.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/>

=== Match against Capablanca ===
{{main|World Chess Championship 1921|}}
In January 1920 Lasker and [[José Raúl Capablanca]] signed an agreement to play a World Championship match in 1921, noting that Capablanca was not free to play in 1920. Because of the delay, Lasker insisted on a final clause that allowed him to play anyone else for the championship in 1920, that nullified the contract with Capablanca if Lasker lost a title match in 1920, and that stipulated that if Lasker resigned the title Capablanca should become World Champion. Lasker had previously included in his agreement before World War I to play [[Akiba Rubinstein]] for the title a similar clause that if he resigned the title, it should become Rubinstein's.<ref name="WinterHowCapaBecameChampion"/>

A report in the ''American Chess Bulletin'' (July–August 1920 issue) said that Lasker had resigned the world title in favor of Capablanca because the conditions of the match were unpopular in the chess world. The ''American Chess Bulletin'' speculated that the conditions were not sufficiently unpopular to warrant resignation of the title, and that Lasker's real concern was that there was not enough financial backing to justify his devoting nine months to the match.<ref name="WinterHowCapaBecameChampion">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablanca2.html
 | title=How Capablanca Became World Champion
 | author=Winter, Edward
 | publisher=ChessHistory
 | access-date=June 5, 2008
 | author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
}} Winter cites: ''American Chess Bulletin'' (July–August 1920 issue) for Lasker's resignation of the title, the ''ACB''{{'s}} theory about Lasker's real motive and Havana's offer of $20,000; [[Amos Burn]] in ''The Field'' of July 3, 1920, the ''British Chess Magazine'' of August 1920 and other sources for protestations that Lasker had no right to nominate a successor; [[Amos Burn]] in ''The Field'' of July 3, 1920, and E.S. Tinsley in ''The Times'' (London) of June 26, 1920, for criticism of the conditions Lasker set for the defense of the title; ''American Chess Bulletin'' September–October 1920 for Lasker's and Capablanca's statements that Capablanca was the champion and Lasker the challenger, for Capablanca's statement that Lasker's contract with Rubinstein had contained a clause allowing him to abdicate in favor of Rubinstein, for Lasker's intention to resign the title if he beat Capablanca and his support for an international organization, preferably based in the Americas, to manage international chess. Winter says that before Lasker's abdication some chess correspondents had been calling for Lasker to be stripped of the title. For a very detailed account given by Capablanca after the match, see {{Cite journal
 | journal=British Chess Magazine
 | author=Capablanca, José Raúl
 | date=October 1922
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablancalasker.html
 | title=Capablanca's Reply to Lasker (presented by Edward Winter)
 | access-date=June 5, 2008
 | author-link=José Raúl Capablanca
}}</ref> When Lasker resigned the title in favor of Capablanca he was unaware that enthusiasts in [[Havana]] had just raised $20,000 to fund the match provided it was played there. When Capablanca learned of Lasker's resignation he went to the Netherlands, where Lasker was living at the time, to inform him that Havana would finance the match. In August 1920 Lasker agreed to play in Havana, but insisted that he was the challenger as Capablanca was now the champion. Capablanca signed an agreement that accepted this point, and soon afterwards published a letter confirming this. Lasker also stated that, if he beat Capablanca, he would resign the title so that younger masters could compete for it.<ref name="WinterHowCapaBecameChampion"/>

The match was played in March–April 1921. After four draws, the fifth game saw Lasker [[blunder (chess)|blunder]] with Black in an equal [[chess endgame|ending]]. Capablanca's solid style allowed him to easily draw the next four games, without taking any risks. In the tenth game, Lasker as White played a position with an [[Isolated Queen Pawn]] but failed to create the necessary activity and Capablanca reached a superior ending, which he duly won. The eleventh and fourteenth games were also won by Capablanca, and Lasker resigned the match.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=Le guide des échecs
 | author=Giffard, Nicolas
 | language=fr
 | year=1993
 | publisher=[[Éditions Robert Laffont]]
 | page=412
}}</ref>

[[Reuben Fine]] and [[Harry Golombek]] attributed this to Lasker's being in mysteriously poor form.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Golombek, H.
 | chapter=On the Way to the World Championship |page=59
 | title=Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess
 | editor=Golombek, H.
 | publisher=G. Bell & Sons
 | year=1959
 | isbn=0-679-14044-1
}}</ref> On the other hand, [[Vladimir Kramnik]] thought that Lasker played quite well and the match was an "even and fascinating fight" until Lasker blundered in the last game, and explained that Capablanca was 20 years younger, a slightly stronger player, and had more recent competitive practice.<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov"/>

=== European life and travels ===
Lasker was in his early 50s when he lost the world championship to Capablanca, and he retired from serious match play afterwards;<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1915Al1929"/><ref name="storiascacchiMatches1930Al1949">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1930-49.htm
 | title=I matches 1930/49
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 3, 2009
}}</ref> his only other match was a short exhibition against [[Frank James Marshall]] in 1940, which was never completed due to Lasker's illness and subsequent death a few months after it started.<ref name="Hannak" />{{rp|311}} After winning the [[Moravská Ostrava 1923 chess tournament]] (without a single loss) and the [[New York 1924 chess tournament]] (1½ points ahead of Capablanca) and finishing second at Moscow in 1925 (1½ points behind [[Efim Bogoljubow]], ½ point ahead of Capablanca),<ref name="storiascacchiTornei1920Al1929"/> he effectively retired from serious chess.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/>

[[Image:Lasker.png|thumb|Emanuel Lasker (left) and his elder brother [[Berthold Lasker|Berthold]] in 1907]]
During the [[Moscow 1925 chess tournament]], Lasker received a telegram informing him that the drama written by himself and his brother [[Berthold Lasker|Berthold]], ''{{ill|Vom Menschen die Geschichte|de}}'' ("History of Mankind"), had been accepted for performance at the Lessing theatre in Berlin. Lasker was so distracted by this news that he lost badly to [[Carlos Torre]] the same day.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3779
 | title=Production of Lasker trainer cancelled
 | date=April 7, 2007
 | publisher=ChessBase
 | access-date=May 2, 2008
}} includes an image of part of the original newspaper report.</ref> The play, however, was not a success.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/>

In 1926, Lasker wrote ''Lehrbuch des Schachspiels'', which he re-wrote in English in 1927 as ''[[Lasker's Manual of Chess]]''.<ref name="LaskersManualOfChess">{{cite book
 | title=Lasker's Manual of Chess
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | publisher=Dover
 | orig-year=1927
|date=1960
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vNXFc-JWpH0C&q=%22lasker%27s+manual+of+chess%22&pg=PP1
 | access-date=June 6, 2008
 | isbn=0-486-20640-8
}}</ref> He also wrote books on other games of mental skill: ''Encyclopedia of Games'' (1929) and ''Das verständige Kartenspiel'' (means "Sensible Card Play"; 1929; English translation in the same year), both of which posed a problem in the [[Mathematical game|mathematical analysis of card games]];<ref name="Wastlund2005TwoPersonSingleSuitWhist">{{cite journal
 | title=A solution of two-person single-suit whist
 | author=Johan Wăstlund
 | journal=The Electronic Journal of Combinatorics
 | volume=12
 | date=September 5, 2005
 | url=http://www.emis.de/journals/EJC/Volume_12/PDF/v12i1r43.pdf
 | access-date=June 6, 2008
 }}</ref> ''Brettspiele der Völker'' ("Board Games of the Nations"; 1931), which includes 30 pages about [[Go (board game)|Go]] and a section about a game he had invented in 1911, [[Lasca]].<ref name="ResearchInterfaceLasca">{{cite web
 |url         = http://research.interface.co.uk/lasca/about.htm
 |title       = About Lasca – a little-known abstract game
 |access-date  = June 6, 2008
 |publisher   = Human–Computer Interface Research
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509062029/http://research.interface.co.uk/lasca/about.htm
 |archive-date = May 9, 2008
}}</ref>

In 1930, Lasker was a special correspondent for Dutch and German newspapers<ref name="Culbertson">{{cite book | last = Culbertson | first = Ely | author-link = Ely Culbertson | title = The Strange Lives of One Man | publisher = The John C. Winston Company | pages = 552–553| location = Chicago | year= 1940 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/culbertson.html}}</ref> reporting on the [[Ely Culbertson#Anglo-American matches|Culbertson-Buller]] bridge match during which he became a registered teacher of the [[Ely Culbertson|Culbertson]] system.<ref name=Culbertson/> He became an expert bridge player,<ref name=Laskeratbridge/> representing Germany at international events in the early 1930s,<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/><ref name="Giffard394"/> and wrote ''Das Bridgespiel'' ("The Game of [[Contract bridge|Bridge]]") in 1931.<ref name="WinterBridge">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/bridge.html
 | title=Chess and Bridge
 | publisher=ChessHistory
 | access-date=June 6, 2008
}}</ref>

In October 1928 Emanuel Lasker's brother [[Berthold Lasker|Berthold]] died.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/><ref>{{cite book
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | publisher=Simon and Schuster
 | year=1959
 | page=266
 | isbn=0-486-26706-7
}}</ref>

In spring 1933 [[Adolf Hitler]] started a campaign of [[Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses|discrimination and intimidation]] against [[Jew]]s, depriving them of their property and [[citizenship]]. Lasker and his wife Martha, who were both Jewish, were forced to leave Germany in the same year.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | publisher=Simon & Schuster
 | year=1959
 | page=268
 | isbn=0-486-26706-7
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hooper, D.
 | author2=Whyld, K.
 | title=The Oxford Companion to Chess
 | url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop
 | url-access=registration
 | edition=2
 | year=1992
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/218 218]
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}</ref> After a short stay in England, in 1935 they were invited to live in the USSR by [[Nikolai Krylenko]], the Commissar of Justice who had been responsible for [[Show trial]]s and, in his other capacity as Sports Minister, was an enthusiastic supporter of chess.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/> In the USSR, Lasker renounced his German citizenship and received Soviet citizenship.<ref>{{cite book
 |author1=Litmanowicz, Władysław  |author2=Giżycki, Jerzy
 | title=Szachy od A do Z
 | publisher=Wydawnictwo Sport i Turystyka Warszawa
 | year=1986
 | isbn=83-217-2481-7 
 | id=(1. A-M), (2. N-Z)
}}</ref> He took permanent residence in Moscow, and was given a post at Moscow's Institute for Mathematics<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/> and a post of trainer of the USSR national team.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Weinstein, Boris Samoilovich
 | title='''Myslitel''' (''Thinker'')
 | publisher=Fizkultura i sport
 | year=1981
 | pages=104 (Russian edition)
 }}</ref>
Lasker returned to competitive chess to make some money, finishing fifth in [[Zürich 1934 chess tournament|Zürich 1934]] and third in [[Moscow 1935 chess tournament|Moscow 1935]] (undefeated, ½ point behind [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] and [[Salo Flohr]]; ahead of Capablanca, [[Rudolf Spielmann]] and several Soviet masters), sixth in Moscow 1936 and equal seventh in [[Nottingham]] 1936.<ref name="storiascacchiTornei1930Al1939"/> His performance in Moscow 1935 at age 66 was hailed as "a biological miracle".<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Reuben Fine
 | title=The World's Great Chess Games
 | publisher=Dover
 | year=1976
 | page=51
 | isbn=0-486-24512-8
}}</ref>

===Settling in the United States===
In August 1937, Martha and Emanuel Lasker decided to leave the Soviet Union, and they moved, via the Netherlands, to the United States (first Chicago, next New York) in October 1937.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Weinstein, Boris Samoilovich
 | title='''Myslitel''' (''Thinker'')
 | publisher=Fizkultura i sport
 | year=1981
 | pages=105 (Russian edition)
 }}</ref> They were visiting Martha's daughter, but they may also have been motivated by political upheaval in the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite book
| title=Emanuel Lasker, 2nd World Chess Champion
| author=Isaak and Vladimir Linder
| publisher=Russell Enterprises Inc.
| date=2010
| page=244 }}
</ref> In the United States Lasker tried to support himself by giving chess and bridge lectures and exhibitions, as he was now too old for serious competition.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/><ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/> In 1940 he published his last book, ''The Community of the Future'', in which he proposed solutions for serious political problems, including [[anti-Semitism]] and unemployment.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/>

== Assessment ==
=== Playing strength and style ===
Lasker was considered to have a "psychological" method of play in which he considered the subjective qualities of his opponent, in addition to the objective requirements of his position on the board. [[Richard Réti]] published a lengthy analysis of Lasker's play in which he concluded that Lasker deliberately played inferior moves that he knew would make his opponent uncomfortable.<ref>Réti wrote, "In analyzing Lasker's tournament games, I was struck by his lasting and at first seemingly incredible good luck. ... There is no denying the fact that over and over again Lasker's exposition is poor, that he is in a losing position hundreds of times and, nevertheless, wins in the end."{{cite book
 | author=Réti, Richard
 | title=Masters of the Chessboard
 | publisher=Dover Publications
 | year=1976
 | page=132
 | isbn=0-486-23384-7
}} Réti considered, but rejected as too improbable, the "hypothesis of lasting luck", finally concluding that the only explanation for Lasker's repeated success from bad positions is that he "often plays badly on purpose". ''Id.'' Réti concluded that Lasker studied his opponents' strong and weak points, and that, "He is not so much interested in making the objectively best moves as he is in making those most disagreeable to his opponent; he turns the game in a direction not suitable to the style of his opponent and on this unaccustomed road leads him to the abyss, often by means of intentionally bad moves, as I have previously described." ''Id.'' at 133.</ref> [[William Pollock (chess player)|W. H. K. Pollock]] commented, "It is no easy matter to reply correctly to Lasker's bad moves."<ref>{{cite book
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SECAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Pollock+Memories%22
 | author=Rowland, Mrs. F.F.
 | title=Pollock Memories: A Collection of Chess Games, Problems, &c., &c.
 | publisher=Chess Player's Chronicle
 | year=1899
 | page=78
 | isbn=978-1-4371-9392-3
}}</ref>

Lasker himself denied the claim that he deliberately played bad moves, and most modern writers agree. According to [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] [[Andrew Soltis]] and [[International Master]] [[John L. Watson]], the features that made his play mysterious to contemporaries now appear regularly in modern play: the g2–g4 "Spike" attack against the [[Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation|Dragon Sicilian]];{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} [[Sacrifice (chess)|sacrifices]] to gain positional advantage; playing the "practical" move rather than trying to find the best move; counterattacking and complicating the game before a disadvantage became serious.<ref name="SoltisLaskerMatters">{{cite book
 | title=Why Lasker Matters
 | author=Soltis, A.
 | publisher=Batsford
 | year=2005
 | page=5
 | isbn=0-7134-8983-9
 | url=http://www.chesscenter.com/twic/jwatsonbkrev80.html
}} The URL is a review by [[John L. Watson]]. Another review, with examples, is at {{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review538.pdf
 | access-date=January 1, 2009
 | title=Analyzing an Enigma
 | publisher=ChessCafe
 | author=Taylor Kingston
}}</ref><ref>"Lasker's greatest skill in defense was his ability to render a normal (inferior) position chaotic": {{cite book
 | author=Crouch, C.
 | title=How to Defend in Chess
 | publisher=Everyman
 | year=2000
 | isbn=1-85744-250-4
}}; review including this quotation at {{cite web
 | title=How to Defend in Chess: review
 | author=Watson, J.
 | url=http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_jw/jw_ht_defend_chess.html
 | publisher=JeremySilman
 | access-date=November 19, 2008
}}</ref> Former World Champion [[Vladimir Kramnik]] said, "He realized that different types of advantage could be interchangeable: tactical edge could be converted into strategic advantage and vice versa", which mystified contemporaries who were just becoming used to the theories of Steinitz as codified by [[Siegbert Tarrasch]].<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov"/>

[[Max Euwe]] opined that the real reason behind Lasker's success was his "exceptional defensive technique" and that "almost all there is to say about defensive chess can be demonstrated by examples from the games of Steinitz and Lasker", the former exemplifying passive defence and the latter an active defence.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=[[Max Euwe]] and Hans Kramer
 | title=The Middlegame
 | publisher=Hays Publishing
 | year=1994
 | pages=93, 101
}}</ref>

The famous win against [[José Raúl Capablanca]] at [[St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament|St. Petersburg in 1914]], which Lasker needed in order to retain any chance of catching up with Capablanca, is sometimes offered as evidence of his "psychological" approach. [[Reuben Fine]] describes Lasker's choice of opening, the [[Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation|Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez]], as "innocuous but psychologically potent".<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/> [[Luděk Pachman]] writes that Lasker's choice presented his opponent with a [[dilemma]]: with only a ½&nbsp;point lead, Capablanca would have wanted to play safe; but the Exchange Variation's [[pawn structure]] gives White an [[Chess endgame|endgame]] advantage, and Black must use his {{chessgloss|bishop pair}} aggressively in the [[middlegame]] to nullify this.<ref name="Pachman1987StPetersburg1914">{{cite book|last=Pachman|first=L.|title=Decisive Games in Chess History|publisher=Courier Dover|year=1987|pages=64–68|chapter=St&nbsp;Petersburg 1914: Drawing Variation – The Way to Victory|isbn=0-486-25323-6|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlgJTCyonAgC&q=capablanca&pg=PA1|access-date=June 4, 2009}}</ref> However, an analysis of Lasker's use of this variation throughout his career concludes that he had excellent results with it as White against top-class opponents, and sometimes used it in "must-win" situations.<ref name="WrinnLaskerRuyExchangeVariation">As White in [[Ruy Lopez, Exchange Variation|Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez]] Lasker scored ten wins, three draws and just one loss, to Steinitz in 1894. Lasker also won the three recorded games in which he played the variation as Black; one was against [[Alexander Alekhine|Alekhine]], in the 1914 St. Petersburg Tournament, the day before Lasker beat Capablanca.{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles230.pdf
 | title=Lasker and the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez – Part 1
 | author=Wrinn, Steve
 | access-date=June 9, 2008
 | publisher=ChessCafe
 }} and {{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles232.pdf
 | title=Lasker and the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez – Part 2
 | author=Wrinn, Steve
 | access-date=June 9, 2008
 | publisher=ChessCafe
 }}</ref> In Kramnik's opinion, Lasker's play in this game demonstrated deep positional understanding, rather than psychology.<ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov">{{cite web
 |url          = http://www.kramnik.com/eng/interviews/getinterview.aspx?id=61
 |access-date   = January 2, 2009
 |title        = Kramnik Interview: From Steinitz to Kasparov
 |author       = Vladimir Kramnik
 |publisher    = Kramnik.com
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080512052013/http://www.kramnik.com/eng/interviews/getinterview.aspx?id=61
 |archive-date = May 12, 2008
 |url-status     = dead
|author-link = Vladimir Kramnik
 }}</ref>

Fine reckoned Lasker paid little attention to the openings,<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/> but Capablanca thought Lasker knew the openings very well but disagreed with a lot of contemporary opening analysis. In fact before the 1894 world title match, Lasker studied the openings thoroughly, especially Steinitz's favorite lines. He played primarily e4 openings, particularly the [[Ruy Lopez]]. He opened with 1.d4 relatively rarely, although his d4 games had a higher winning percentage than his e4 ones. With the Black pieces, he mainly answered 1.e4 with the [[French Defense]] and 1.d4 with the [[Queen's Gambit]]. Lasker also used the [[Sicilian Defense]] fairly often. In Capablanca's opinion, no player surpassed Lasker in the ability to assess a position quickly and accurately, in terms of who had the better prospects of winning and what strategy each side should adopt.<ref name="HavanurReviewWhyLaskerMatters">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessville.com/reviews/WhyLaskerMatters2.htm
 | title=Why Lasker Matters – review by Nagesh Havanur
 | author=Nagesh Havanur
 | publisher=ChessVille
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
}}</ref> Capablanca also wrote that Lasker was so adaptable that he played in no definite style, and that he was both a tenacious defender and a very efficient finisher of his own attacks.<ref>{{Cite news
 | author=Capablanca, José Raúl
 | title=The Ideal Style of the Masters
 | newspaper=Mundial
 | date=May 1927
 | pages=1–4
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/capablanca3.html
 | access-date=January 2, 2009
 | author-link=José Raúl Capablanca
}}</ref>

Lasker followed [[Wilhelm Steinitz|Steinitz]]'s principles, and both demonstrated a completely different chess paradigm than the "romantic" mentality before them. Thanks to Steinitz and Lasker, positional players gradually became common ([[Siegbert Tarrasch|Tarrasch]], [[Carl Schlechter|Schlechter]], and [[Akiba Rubinstein|Rubinstein]] stand out.) But, while Steinitz created a new school of chess thought, Lasker's talents were far harder for the masses to grasp; hence there was no Lasker school.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Garry Kasparov
 | title=My Great Predecessors – Part I
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | year=2003
 | pages=187–222
 | isbn=1857443306
}}</ref>

In addition to his enormous chess skill, Lasker was said to have an excellent competitive temperament: his rival [[Siegbert Tarrasch]] once said, "Lasker occasionally loses a game, but he never loses his head."<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/> Lasker enjoyed the need to adapt to varying styles and to the shifting fortunes of tournaments.<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography"/> Although very strong in matches, he was even stronger in tournaments. For over 20 years, he always finished ahead of the younger Capablanca: at St. Petersburg 1914, New York 1924, Moscow 1925, and Moscow 1935.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Harry Golombek
 | title=Capablanca's 100 Best Games of Chess
 | publisher=David McKay
 | year=1978
 | pages=37, 88, 116, 222
 | isbn=0-679-14044-1
}}</ref> Only in 1936 (15 years after their match), when Lasker was 67, did Capablanca finish ahead of him.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Reuben Fine
 | title=The World's Great Chess Games
 | publisher=Dover
 | year=1976
 | page=50
 | isbn=0-486-24512-8
}}</ref>

In 1964, ''Chessworld'' magazine published an article in which future World Champion [[Bobby Fischer]] listed the ten greatest players in history.<ref>Bobby Fischer, "The Ten Greatest Masters in History", ''Chessworld'', Vol. 1, No. 1 (January–February 1964), pp. 56–61.</ref> Fischer did not include Lasker in the list, deriding him as a "coffee-house player [who] knew nothing about openings and didn't understand positional chess".<ref>Fischer, "The Ten Greatest Masters in History", p. 59.</ref> In a poll of the world's leading players taken some time after Fischer's list appeared, Tal, Korchnoi, and [[Robert Byrne (chess player)|Robert Byrne]] all said that Lasker was the greatest player ever.<ref>{{cite book
 | title=Profile of a Prodigy
 | author=Brady, Frank
 | publisher=David McKay
 | year=1973
 | edition=2nd
 | page=78
 | isbn=0-486-25925-0
}}</ref> Both [[Pal Benko]] and Byrne stated that Fischer later reconsidered and said that Lasker was a great player.<ref name="Benko">{{cite book
 | title=Pal Benko: My Life, Games and Compositions
 | author1=Benko, Pal
 | author2=Silman, Jeremy
 | publisher=Siles Press
 | year=2003
 | page=429
 | isbn=1-890085-08-1
}}</ref><ref>Brady 1973, p. 79.</ref>

Statistical ranking systems place Lasker high among the greatest players of all time. The book ''Warriors of the Mind'' places him sixth, behind [[Garry Kasparov]], [[Anatoly Karpov]], Fischer, [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] and Capablanca.<ref name="WarriorsOfTheMind">{{Cite book
 | title=Warriors of the Mind
 | last1=Keene
 | first1=Raymond
 | author1-link=Raymond Keene
 | last2=Divinsky
 | first2=Nathan
 | author2-link=Nathan Divinsky
 | year=1989
 | publisher=Hardinge Simpole
 | location=Brighton, UK
 | isbn=0-9513757-2-5
}} See the summary list at {{cite web
 |url=http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html 
 |access-date=November 21, 2008 
 |publisher=Edinburgh University Chess Club 
 |title=All Time Rankings 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091126000035/http://chess.eusa.ed.ac.uk/Chess/Trivia/AlltimeList.html 
 |archive-date=November 26, 2009 
}}</ref> In his 1978 book ''The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present'', [[Arpad Elo]] gave retrospective ratings to players based on their performance over the best five-year span of their career. He concluded that Lasker was the joint second strongest player of those surveyed (tied with Botvinnik and behind Capablanca).<ref>{{cite book
 | title=The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present
 | author=Elo, A.
 | year=1978
 | publisher=Arco
 | isbn=0-668-04721-6
 | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1160
 | author-link=Arpad Elo
}} The URL provides greater detail, covering 47&nbsp;players whom Elo rated, and notes that [[Bobby Fischer]] and [[Anatoly Karpov]] would have topped the list if the January 1, 1978, [[FIDE]] ratings had been included (FIDE ratings use Elo's system).</ref> The most up-to-date system, [[Chessmetrics]], is rather sensitive to the length of the periods being compared, and ranks Lasker between fifth and second strongest of all time for peak periods ranging in length from one to twenty years.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSS1S000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |title=Peak Average Ratings: 1 year peak range 
 |publisher=Chessmetrics 
 |author=Jeff Sonas 
 |access-date=June 10, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309155451/http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSS1S000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 
|author-link=Jeff Sonas 
 }}{{cite web
 |url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSS5S000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |title=Peak Average Ratings: 5 year peak range 
 |publisher=Chessmetrics 
 |author=Jeff Sonas 
 |access-date=June 10, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309154749/http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSS5S000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 
|author-link=Jeff Sonas 
 }}{{cite web
 |url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSTS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |title=Peak Average Ratings: 10 year peak range 
 |publisher=Chessmetrics 
 |author=Jeff Sonas 
 |access-date=June 10, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309155152/http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSTS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 
|author-link=Jeff Sonas 
 }}{{cite web
 |url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSFS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |title=Peak Average Ratings: 15 year peak range 
 |publisher=Chessmetrics 
 |author=Jeff Sonas 
 |access-date=June 10, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309154756/http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSFS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 
|author-link=Jeff Sonas 
 }}{{cite web
 |url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSWS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |title=Peak Average Ratings: 20 year peak range 
 |publisher=Chessmetrics 
 |author=Jeff Sonas 
 |access-date=June 10, 2008 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309155602/http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PeakList.asp?Params=199510SSSSSWS000000000000111000000000000010100 
 |archive-date=March 9, 2012 
|author-link=Jeff Sonas 
 }}</ref> Its author, the statistician [[Jeff Sonas]], concluded that only Kasparov and Karpov surpassed Lasker's long-term dominance of the game.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2409
 | title=The Greatest Chess Player of All Time – Part IV
 | author=Jeff Sonas
 | publisher=ChessBase
 | year=2005
 | access-date=November 19, 2008
| author-link=Jeff Sonas
 }} Part IV gives links to all three earlier parts.</ref> By Chessmetrics' reckoning, Lasker was the number 1 player in 292 different months—a total of over 24 years. His first No. 1 rank was in June 1890, and his last in December 1926—a span of 36½ years.<ref>{{cite web
| title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Emanuel Lasker | publisher=Chessmetrics.com
| url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S073076000000111000000000017510100
| access-date=June 5, 2009
}}</ref> Chessmetrics also considers him the strongest 67-year-old in history: in December 1935, at age 67 years and 0 months, his rating was 2691 (number 7 in the world), well above second-place [[Viktor Korchnoi]]'s rating at that age (2660, number 39 in the world, in March 1998).<ref>{{cite web
| title=Age-Aligned Rating List: 67 years, 0 months | publisher=Chessmetrics.com
| url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/SingleAge.asp?Params=188510SSSSS3S073076193512131000000000000010804
| access-date=November 11, 2009
}}</ref>

=== Influence on chess ===
[[Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-14194, Emanuel Lasker.jpg|thumb|upright|Lasker at home in Berlin, in 1933]]
Lasker founded no school of players who played in a similar style.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker"/> [[Max Euwe]], World Champion 1935–1937 and a prolific writer of chess manuals, who had a lifetime 0–3 score against Lasker,<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=&player=Euwe&pid2=&player2=Lasker&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=
 | title=Euwe–Lasker Results
 | author=ChessGames.com
 | access-date=December 3, 2008
}}</ref> said, "It is not possible to learn much from him. One can only stand and wonder."<ref name="JeffreysReviewWhyLaskerMatters">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessville.com/reviews/WhyLaskerMatters.htm
 | title=Why Lasker Matters – review by Michael Jeffreys
 | author= Michael Jeffreys
 | publisher=ChessVille.com
 | access-date=June 10, 2008
}}</ref> However, Lasker's pragmatic, combative approach had a great influence on [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] players like [[Mikhail Tal]] and [[Viktor Korchnoi]].<ref name="CrouchOnLasker">{{cite book
 | author=Crouch, C.
 | year=2000
 | title=How to Defend in Chess
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | page=115
 | isbn=1-85744-250-4
}}</ref>

There are several "Lasker Variations" in the [[chess opening]]s, including Lasker's Defense to the [[Queen's Gambit]], Lasker's Defense to the [[Evans Gambit]] (which effectively ended the use of this [[gambit]] in tournament play until a revival in the 1990s),<ref name="FineIdeasBehindOpenings">Lasker's Defense: {{cite book
 | author=[[Reuben Fine|Fine]], R.
 | title=The Ideas behind the Chess Openings
 | year=1948
 | page=63
 | publisher=Bell
 | isbn=0-8129-1756-1
}} Revival:{{cite book
 | title=Batsford's Modern Chess Openings
 | author=De Firmian, N.
 | chapter=Evans Gambit
 | page=26
 | publisher=Batsford
 | year=2000
 | isbn=0-7134-8656-2
}}</ref> and the Lasker Variation in the McCutcheon Variation of the [[French Defense]].<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessville.com/instruction/Openings/French_Defense/instr_open_french_eco.htm
 | title=French Defense
 | publisher=ChessVille.com
 | access-date=June 10, 2008
}}</ref>

Lasker was shocked by the poverty in which [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] died and did not intend to die in similar circumstances.<ref>Lasker wrote "I who vanquished him must see to it that his great achievement, his theories should find justice, and I must avenge the wrongs he suffered". {{cite book
 | title=Lasker's Manual of Chess
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | publisher=Dover
 | orig-year=1925| year=1960
 | isbn=0-486-20640-8
 | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/z4ls$wix.htm
 | access-date=May 31, 2008
}}</ref> He became notorious for demanding high fees for playing matches and tournaments, and he argued that players should own the [[copyright]] in their games rather than let publishers get all the profits.<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography"/><ref name="wikisourceLaskersChessMagazineVol1">{{cite journal
 | journal=[[Lasker's Chess Magazine]]
 | volume=1
 | date=January 1905
 | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Lasker%27s_Chess_Magazine/Volume_1
 | title=From the Editorial Chair
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | access-date=May 31, 2008
}}</ref> These demands initially angered editors and other players, but helped to pave the way for the rise of full-time chess professionals who earn most of their living from playing, writing and teaching.<ref name="UXLEncyclopediaBiography"/> Copyright in chess games had been contentious at least as far back as the mid-1840s,<ref name="WinterChessNote4767">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html#4767._Copyright
 | title=Chess Note 4767 Copyright
 | publisher=ChessHistory.com
 | author=Edward Winter
 | access-date=June 25, 2008
}}</ref> and Steinitz and Lasker vigorously asserted that players should own the copyright and wrote copyright clauses into their match contracts.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/copyright.html
 | title=Copyright on Chess Games
 | publisher=ChessHistory.com
 | author=Edward Winter
 | access-date=January 11, 2022
}}</ref> However, Lasker's demands that challengers should raise large purses prevented or delayed some eagerly awaited World Championship matches—for example [[Frank James Marshall]] challenged him in 1904 to a match for the World Championship but could not raise the stakes demanded by Lasker until 1907.<ref name="Horowitz1973MorphyToFischer"/><ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio">{{cite web
 | url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Lasker/
 | title=Lasker biography
 | publisher=University of St Andrews
 | access-date=May 31, 2008
}}</ref> This problem continued throughout the reign of his successor, Capablanca.<ref name="chessmaniacCapablancaOnlineTribute">{{cite web
 | title=Jose Raul Capablanca: Online Chess Tribute
 | url=http://www.chessmaniac.com/2007/06/jose-raul-capablanca-online-chess.php
 | date=June 28, 2007
 | publisher=ChessManiac.com
 | access-date=May 20, 2008
}}</ref><ref name="chessgamesNewYork1924">{{cite web
 | title=New York 1924
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1007158
 | publisher=ChessGames.com
 | access-date=May 20, 2008
}}</ref>

Some of the controversial conditions that Lasker insisted on for championship matches led Capablanca to attempt twice (1914 and 1922) to publish rules for such matches, to which other top players readily agreed.<ref name="graemecree1921WorldChessChampionship"/><ref name="chessvilleLondonRules">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.chessville.com/misc/History/Mad_Aussie_Trivia_Archive_Three.htm
 |title       = The Mad Aussie's Chess Trivia – Archive #3
 |author      = Graham Clayton
 |publisher   = ChessVille.com
 |access-date  = June 9, 2008
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080516220224/http://www.chessville.com/misc/History/Mad_Aussie_Trivia_Archive_Three.htm
 |archive-date = May 16, 2008
}}</ref>

=== Work in other fields ===
In his 1905 article on [[commutative algebra]], Lasker introduced the theory of [[Lasker–Noether theorem|primary decomposition]] of [[ideal of a ring|ideal]]s, which has influence in the theory of [[Noetherian ring]]s.<ref>He defined the [[primary decomposition]] property of the [[ring ideal|ideal]]s of some [[commutative ring]]s when he proved that [[polynomial ring]]s have the primary decomposition property.</ref> Rings having the ''primary decomposition property'' are called "[[Laskerian ring]]s" in his honor.<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/><ref>{{cite book
 | title=Unknown Quantity: A Real and Imaginary History of Algebra
 | author=Derbyshire, J.
 | publisher=National Academy Press
 | date=December 2006
 | isbn=0-309-09657-X
 | chapter=12: The Lady of the Rings
 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780309096577/page/234 234–235]
 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5SIPdYbUhU0C&q=lasker+einstein+hannak&pg=PP1
 | access-date=December 29, 2008
 | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780309096577/page/234
 }}</ref>

His attempt to create a general theory of all competitive activities were followed by more consistent efforts from [[John von Neumann|von Neumann]] on [[game theory]],<ref name="LeonardCreationOfGameTheory">{{cite web
 | url=http://www.cesmep.unito.it/WP/2007/7_WP_Cesmep.pdf
 | title=Working Paper – New Light on von Neumann: politics, psychology and the creation of game theory
 | author=Leonard, J.
 | publisher=Department of Economics, University of Turin
 | access-date=May 1, 2008
 }}</ref> and his later writings about card games presented a significant issue in the [[Mathematical game|mathematical analysis of card games]].<ref name="Wastlund2005TwoPersonSingleSuitWhist"/>

However, his dramatic and philosophical works have never been highly regarded.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/>

==Death==
Lasker died of a [[kidney]] infection in New York on January 11, 1941, at the age of 72, as a charity patient at the [[Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)|Mount Sinai Hospital]]. His funeral service was held at the [[Riverside Memorial Chapel]],<ref>{{Cite news|date=1941-01-14|title=LEADERS IN CHESS AT LASKER SERVICE; 200 Attend Rites for the Former Champion of the World (Published 1941)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/01/14/archives/leaders-in-chess-at-lasker-service-200-attend-rites-for-the-former.html|access-date=2021-01-09|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and he was buried at historic [[Beth Olam Cemetery]], Queens, New York.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Steinitz|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NltT4BinugsC&pg=PA265|title=The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion|date=2002-08-27|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-1193-1|location=|pages=265|language=en}}</ref><ref>[https://en.chessbase.com/post/visiting-steinitz-and-lasker-at-their-final-resting-places ChessBase: Visiting Steinitz and Lasker at Their Final Resting Places]</ref>

== Personal life, family and friends==
His wife Martha and his sister, Mrs. Lotta Hirschberg, survived him.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=5076. Lasker's last words
 | author=Winter, Edward
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter36.html#5076._Laskers_last_words_C.N._4705
 | publisher=ChessHistory
 | access-date=December 28, 2008
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | author=Landsberger, K.
 | title=The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion
 | publisher=McFarland
 | year=2002
 | isbn= 0-7864-1193-7
 | page=295
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NltT4BinugsC&q=lasker+capablanca+1921&pg=PA295
 | access-date=December 28, 2008
}}</ref>

Poet [[Else Lasker-Schüler]] was his sister-in-law.

[[Edward Lasker]], born in Kempen (Kępno), [[Greater Poland]] (then [[Prussia]]), the German-American [[International Master|chess master]], engineer, and author, claimed that he was distantly related to Emanuel Lasker.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/relatives.htm |access-date=April 19, 2023 |title=Relatives of Chess Masters |website=Bill Wall's Chess Paage |author=Bill Wall }}</ref> They both played in the great [[New York 1924 chess tournament]].<ref>{{cite magazine
 | last=Lasker
 | first=Edward
 | date=March 1974
 | title=The New York Tournament of 1924
 | magazine=Chess Life & Review
 | quote=I did not discover that we were actually related until he told me shortly before his death that someone had shown him a Lasker family tree on one of whose branches I was dangling
}}</ref>

Lasker was a good friend of [[Albert Einstein]], who wrote the introduction to the posthumous biography ''Emanuel Lasker, The Life of a Chess Master'' by Dr. Jacques Hannak (1952).<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | title=Emanuel Lasker, The Life of a Chess Master
 | year=1952
 | publisher=Courier Dover Publications
 | url=http://philosophyofscienceportal.blogspot.com/2008/05/einstein-laskers-and-chess.html
 | access-date=January 5, 2009
 | isbn=0-486-26706-7
}}</ref> In this preface Einstein expresses his satisfaction at having met Lasker, writing:
{{blockquote|Emanuel Lasker was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people I came to know in my later years. We must be thankful to those who have penned the story of his life for this and succeeding generations. For there are few men who have had a warm interest in all the great human problems and at the same time kept their personality so uniquely independent.}}

== Publications ==
=== Chess ===
[[Image:Lasker's Chess Magazine cover.jpg|thumb|''Lasker's Chess Magazine'' cover from November 1906]]
* ''The London Chess Fortnightly'', 1892–93<ref name="LondonChessFortnightly"/>
* ''Common Sense in Chess'', 1896 (an abstract of 12 lectures delivered to a London audience in 1895)
* ''Lasker's How to Play Chess: An Elementary Text Book for Beginners, Which Teaches Chess By a New, Easy and Comprehensive Method'', 1900
* ''Lasker's Chess Magazine'', {{OCLC|5002324}}, 1904–1907.<ref name="BillWallEmLasker"/>
* ''The International Chess Congress, St. Petersburg, 1909'', 1910
* ''[[Lasker's Manual of Chess]]'', 1925, is as famous in chess circles for its philosophical tone as for its content.<ref>"
Emanuel Lasker's Manual of Chess is the most expressly philosophical chess book ever written" {{cite web
 | url=http://www.vachess.org/content/book_review_MODERNCH.htm
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | title=Modern Chess Anarchy?
 | author=Shibut, M.
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203175103/http://www.vachess.org/content/book_review_MODERNCH.htm <!--Added by H3llBot-->
 | archive-date=December 3, 2008
}}</ref>
* ''Lehrbuch des Schachspiels'', 1926 – English version [[Lasker's Manual of Chess]] published in 1927.
* ''Lasker's Chess Primer'', 1934

=== Other games ===
* ''Encyclopedia of Games'' Vol. I, Card Strategy, New York 1929, {{URN|nbn|de:hbz:5:1-331264}}.
* ''Das verständige Kartenspiel'' (''Sensible Card Play''), Berlin 1929, {{URN|nbn|de:hbz:5:1-331248}} – not only a translation of ''Encyclopedia of Games''.
* ''Brettspiele der Völker'' (''Board Games of the Nations''), Berlin 1931, {{URN|nbn|at:at-ubms:3-1736}} – includes sections about [[Go (board game)|Go]] and [[Lasca]].<ref name="LeipzigGoReBrettspiele">{{Cite web
 | url=http://www.leipzig-go.de/fruehgeschichte_e.php
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | title=History of Go in Europe 1880–1945
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060528115529/http://www.leipzig-go.de/fruehgeschichte_e.php
 | archive-date=May 28, 2006
 
}}</ref><ref name="ResearchInterfaceLasca" />
* ''Das Bridgespiel'' ("The Game of [[Contract bridge|Bridge]]"), 1931.<ref name="WinterBridge" />

=== Mathematics ===
*{{cite journal
 | title=Metrical Relations of Plane Spaces of ''n'' Manifoldness
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | journal=Nature
 | volume=52
 | issue=1345
 | pages=340–343
 |date=August 1895
 | doi=10.1038/052340d0
 |bibcode = 1895Natur..52R.340L | s2cid=4017358
 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429368
 }}
*{{cite journal
 | title=About a certain Class of Curved Lines in Space of ''n'' Manifoldness
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | journal=Nature
 | volume=52
 | issue=1355
 |date=October 1895
 | pages=596
 | doi=10.1038/052596a0
 |bibcode = 1895Natur..52..596L | s2cid=4016031
 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/1429372
 }}
*{{cite journal
 | doi=10.1098/rsta.1901.0009
 | journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
 | title=Über Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze ( "On Series at Convergence Boundaries" )
 | author=Lasker, Emanuel
 | year=1901
 | volume=196
 | issue=274–286
 | pages=431–477
 | bibcode=1901RSPTA.196..431L| doi-access=
 }} – Lasker's PhD thesis.
*{{Cite journal
 | first=E.
 | last=Lasker
 | title=Zur Theorie der Moduln und Ideale
 | journal=Math. Ann.
 | volume=60
 | year=1905
 | issue=1
 | pages=20–116
 | doi=10.1007/BF01447495| s2cid=120367750
 | url=https://zenodo.org/record/2052447
 }}

=== Philosophy ===
* ''Kampf'' (''Struggle''), 1906.<ref name="Lasker1906Kampf" />
*''Das Begreifen der Welt'' (''Comprehending the World''), 1913.<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/>
*''Die Philosophie des Unvollendbar'' (sic; ''The Philosophy of the Unattainable''), 1918.<ref name="dcsStAndrewsLaskerBio"/>
* ''Vom Menschen die Geschichte'' ("History of Mankind"), 1925 – a play, co-written with his brother [[Berthold Lasker|Berthold]].<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches"/>
*''The Community of the Future'', 1940.<ref name="laskergesellschaftLaskerNewApproaches" />

==In popular culture==
In [[Michael Chabon]]'s [[alternate history]] [[Mystery fiction|mystery]] novel, ''[[The Yiddish Policemen's Union]]'', the murdered man, Mendel Shpilman (born during the 1960s), being a chess enthusiast, uses the name "Emanuel Lasker" as an alias. The reference is clearly understood by the protagonist, Detective Meyer Landsman, because he has also studied chess.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rafferty |first=Terrence |date=2007-05-13 |title=Cops and Rabbis (Published 2007) |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/books/review/Rafferty-t.html |access-date=2023-07-29}}</ref>

== Tournament results ==
The following table gives Lasker's placings and scores in tournaments.<ref name="storiascacchiTornei1880Al1899">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itornei1880-99.htm
 | title=I tornei di scacchi dal 1880 al 1899
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 4, 2009
}}</ref><ref name="BillWallEmLasker">{{cite web|url=http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/articles/Emanuel_Lasker.htm |title=Emanuel Lasker  |website=Bill Wall's Chess Page |author=Bill Wall |access-date=April 19, 2023 }}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1900Al1909">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itornei1900-09.htm
 | title=I tornei di scacchi dal 1900 al 1909
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 4, 2009
}}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1910Al1919">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itornei1910-19.htm
 | title=I tornei di scacchi dal 1910 al 1919
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 4, 2009
}}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1920Al1929">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itornei1920-29.htm
 | title=I tornei di scacchi dal 1920 al 1929
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 4, 2009
}}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiTornei1930Al1939">{{cite web
 | url=http://xoomer.virgilio.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itornei1930-39.htm
 | title=I tornei di scacchi dal 1930 al 1939
 | publisher=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=September 4, 2009
}}</ref><ref name="wndgameNLLondon1883And1899">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.endgame.nl/london1883.htm
 |title       = London 1883 and 1899
 |publisher   = Endgame.nl
 |access-date  = May 29, 2008
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080619023129/http://www.endgame.nl/london1883.htm
 |archive-date = June 19, 2008
}}</ref> The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto;"
! Date !! Location !! Place !! class="unsortable" colspan="2"|Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 1888/89 || align=left|Berlin (Café Kaiserhof) || 1st || 20/20 || +20−0=0 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1889 || align=left|[[Breslau]] "B" || 1st = || 12/15 || +11−2;=2
| align=left | Tied with von Feyerfeil and won the play-off. This was ''Hauptturnier A'' of the sixth [[DSB Congress]], i.e. the "second-division" tournament.
|-
| 1889 || align=left|[[Amsterdam]] "A" tournament || 2nd || 6/8 || +5−1=2
| align=left | Behind [[Amos Burn]]; ahead of [[James Mason (chess player)|James Mason]], [[Isidor Gunsberg]] and others. This was the stronger of the two Amsterdam tournaments held at that time.
|-
| 1890 || align=left|Berlin || 1–2 || 6½/8 || +6−1=1
| align=left | Tied with his brother [[Berthold Lasker]].
|-
| 1890 || align=left|[[Graz]] || 3rd || 4/6 || +3−1=2
| align=left | Behind [[Gyula Makovetz]] and [[Johann Hermann Bauer]].
|-
| 1892 || align=left|London || 1st || 9/11 || +8−1=2
| align=left | Ahead of Mason and [[Rudolf Loman]].<ref name="Gillam2008London1892Belfast1892">{{cite book
 | author=Gillam, A.J.
 | title=London March 1892; London March/April 1892; Belfast 1892
 | publisher=The Chess Player
 | year=2008
 | isbn=978-1-901034-59-2
 | url=http://www.schachversand.de/e/detail/buecher/9414.html
 | access-date=November 23, 2008
}}</ref>
|-
| 1892 || align=left|London || 1st || 6½/8 || +5−0=3
| align=left | Ahead of [[Joseph Henry Blackburne]], Mason, Gunsberg and [[Henry Edward Bird]].
|-
| 1893 || align=left|New York City || 1st || 13/13 || +13−0=0
| align=left | Ahead of [[Adolf Albin]], [[Jackson Showalter]] and a newcomer named [[Harry Nelson Pillsbury]].
|-
| [[Hastings 1895 chess tournament|1895]] || align=left|[[Hastings]] || 3rd || 15½/21 || +14−4=3
| align=left | Behind Pillsbury and [[Mikhail Chigorin]]; ahead of [[Siegbert Tarrasch]], [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] and the rest of a strong field.
|-
| 1895/96 || align=left|[[St. Petersburg|St.&nbsp;Petersburg]] || 1st || 11½/18 || +8−3=7
| align=left | A ''Quadrangular'' tournament; ahead of Steinitz (by two points), Pillsbury and Chigorin.
|-
| [[Nuremberg 1896 chess tournament|1896]] || align=left|[[Nuremberg]] || 1st || 13½/18 || +12−3=3
| align=left | Ahead of [[Géza Maróczy]], Pillsbury, Tarrasch, [[Dawid Janowski]], Steinitz and the rest of a strong field.
|-
| [[London 1899 chess tournament|1899]] || align=left|London || 1st || 23½/28 || +20−1=7
| align=left | Ahead of Janowski, Pillsbury, Maróczy, [[Carl Schlechter]], Blackburne, Chigorin and several other strong players.
|-
| [[Paris 1900 chess tournament|1900]] || align=left|Paris || 1st || 14½/16 || +14−1=1
| align=left | Ahead of Pillsbury (by two points), [[Frank James Marshall]], Maróczy, Burn, Chigorin and several others.
|-
| 1904 || align=left|[[1904 Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress|Cambridge&nbsp;Springs]] || 2nd = || 11/15 || +9−2=4
| align=left | Tied with Janowski; two points behind Marshall; ahead of [[Georg Marco]], Showalter, Schlechter, Chigorin, [[Jacques Mieses]], Pillsbury and others.
|-
| 1906 || align=left| Trenton Falls || 1st || 5/6 || +4−0=2
| align=left | A ''Quadrangular'' tournament; ahead of Curt, [[Albert Fox]] and Raubitschek.
|-
| [[Chigorin Memorial|1909]] || align=left|St.&nbsp;Petersburg || 1st = || 14½/18 || +13−2=3
| align=left | Tied with [[Akiba Rubinstein]]; ahead of [[Oldřich Duras]] and [[Rudolf Spielmann]] (by 3½ points), [[Ossip Bernstein]], [[Richard Teichmann]] and several other strong players.
|-
| [[St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament|1914]] || align=left|St.&nbsp;Petersburg || 1st || 13½/18 || +10−1=7
| align=left | Ahead of [[José Raúl Capablanca]], [[Alexander Alekhine]], Tarrasch and Marshall. This tournament had an unusual structure: there was a preliminary tournament in which eleven players played each other player once; the top five players then played a separate final tournament in which each player who made the "cut" played the other finalists twice; but their scores from the preliminary tournament were carried forward. Even the preliminary tournament would now be considered a "super-tournament". Capablanca "won" the preliminary tournament by 1½ points without losing a game, but Lasker achieved a plus score against all his opponents in the final tournament and finished with a combined score ½ point ahead of Capablanca's.
|-
| 1918 || align=left|Berlin || 1st || 4½/6 || +3−0=3
| align=left | ''Quadrangular'' tournament. Ahead of Rubinstein, Schlechter and Tarrasch.
|-
| [[Moravská Ostrava 1923 chess tournament|1923]] || align=left|[[Ostrava|Moravská Ostrava]] || 1st || 10½/13 || +8−0=5
| align=left | Ahead of [[Richard Réti]], [[Ernst Grünfeld]], [[Alexey Selezniev]], [[Savielly Tartakower]], [[Max Euwe]] and other strong players.
|-
| [[New York 1924 chess tournament|1924]] || align=left|New York City || 1st || 16/20 || +13−1=6
| align=left | Ahead of Capablanca (by 1½ points), Alekhine, Marshall, and the rest of a very strong field.
|-
| [[Moscow 1925 chess tournament|1925]] || align=left|Moscow || 2nd || 14/20 || +10−2=8
| align=left | Behind [[Efim Bogoljubow]]; ahead of Capablanca, Marshall, Tartakower, [[Carlos Torre]], other strong non-[[Soviet Union|Soviet]] players and the leading Soviet players.
|-
| 1934 || align=left|[[Zürich]] || 5th || 10/15 || +9−4=2
| align=left | Behind Alekhine, Euwe, [[Salo Flohr]] and Bogoljubow; ahead of Bernstein, [[Aron Nimzowitsch]], [[Gideon Ståhlberg]] and various others.
|-
| 1935 || align=left|Moscow || 3rd || 12½/19 || +6−0=13
| align=left | half a point behind [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] and Flohr; ahead of Capablanca, Spielmann, [[Ilya Kan]], [[Grigory Levenfish]], [[Andor Lilienthal]], [[Viacheslav Ragozin]] and others. Emanuel Lasker was about 67 years old at the time.
|-
| 1936 || align=left|Moscow || 6th || 8/18 || +3−5=10
| align=left | Capablanca won.
|-
| [[Nottingham 1936 chess tournament|1936]] || align=left|[[Nottingham]] || 7–8th || 8½/14 || +6−3=5
| align=left | Capablanca and Botvinnik tied for first place.
|}

== Match results ==
Here are Lasker's results in matches.<ref name="storiascacchiMatches1880Al1999">{{cite web
 | url=http://storiascacchi.altervista.org/storiascacchi/matches/1880-99.htm
 | title=I matches 1880/99
 | website=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=February 12, 2020
}}</ref><ref name="chessmetricsCareerDetailsEmanuelLasker">Select the "Career details" option at {{cite web
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=188510SSSSS3S073076189006131000000000017510100
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Emanuel Lasker (career details)
 | publisher=Chessmetrics.com
 | author=Jeff Sonas
 | access-date=May 30, 2008
| author-link=Jeff Sonas
 }}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiMatches1900Al1914">{{cite web
 | url=http://storiascacchi.altervista.org/storiascacchi/matches/1900-14.htm
 | title=I matches 1900/14
 | website=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=February 12, 2020
}}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiMatches1915Al1929">{{cite web
 | url=http://storiascacchi.altervista.org/storiascacchi/matches/1915-29.htm
 | title=I matches 1915/29
 | website=La grande storia degli scacchi
 | access-date=February 12, 2020}}</ref> The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto;"
! Date !! Opponent !! Result !! class="unsortable" | Location !! class="unsortable" colspan="2"|Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes
<!-- ***************** Source for von Feyerfeil play-off -->
|-
| 1889 || E.R. von Feyerfeil || Won || [[Breslau]] || 1−0 || +1−0=0 || Play-off match
|-
| 1889/90 || [[Curt von Bardeleben]] || Won || Berlin || 2½–1½ || +2−1=1 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1889/90 || [[Jacques Mieses]] || Won || [[Leipzig]] || 6½–1½ || +5−0=3 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1890 || [[Berthold Lasker]] || Drew || Berlin || ½–½ || +0−0=1 || Play-off match
|-
| 1890 || [[Henry Edward Bird]] || Won || [[Liverpool]] || 8½–3½ || +7−2=3 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1890 || N.T. Miniati || Won || [[Manchester]] || 4–1 || +3−0=2 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1890 || [[Berthold Englisch]] || Won || [[Vienna]] || 3½–1½ || +2−0=3 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1891 || [[Francis Joseph Lee]] || Won || London || 1½–½ || +1−0=1 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1892 || [[Joseph Henry Blackburne|Joseph&nbsp;Henry&nbsp;Blackburne]] || Won || London || 8–2 || +6−0=4 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1892 || Bird || Won || [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] || 5–0 || +5−0=0 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1892/93 || [[Jackson Showalter]] || Won || [[Logansport, Indiana|Logansport]] and [[Kokomo, Indiana]] || 7–3 || +6−2=2 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1893 || [[Celso Golmayo Zúpide]] || Won || [[Havana]] || 2½–½ || +2−0=1 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1893 || Andrés&nbsp;Clemente&nbsp;Vázquez || Won || Havana || 3–0 || +3−0=0 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1893 || A. Ponce || Won || Havana || 2–0 || +2−0=0 || &nbsp; <!-- Source?-->
|-
| 1893 || Alfred Ettlinger || Won || New York City || 5–0 || +5−0=0 || &nbsp; <!-- Source?-->
|-
| 1894 || [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] || Won || New York, [[Philadelphia]], [[Montreal]] || 12–7 || +10−5=4 || Won [[World Chess Championship]]
|-
| 1896/97 || Steinitz || Won || Moscow || 12½–4½ || +10−2=5 || Retained World Chess Championship
|-
| 1901 || [[Dawid Janowski]] || Won || Manchester || 1½–½ || +1−0=1 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1903 || [[Mikhail Chigorin]] || Lost || [[Brighton]] || 2½–3½ || +1−2=3 || Rice Gambit-themed match
|-
| 1907 || [[Frank James Marshall]] || Won || New York, Philadelphia, [[Washington, D.C.]],<br/> [[Baltimore]], [[Chicago]], [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] || 11½–3½ || +8−0=7 || Retained World Chess Championship
|-
| 1908 || [[Siegbert Tarrasch]] || Won || [[Düsseldorf]], [[Munich]] || 10½–5½ || +8−3=5 || Retained World Chess Championship
|-
| 1908 || [[Abraham Speijer]] || Won || [[Amsterdam]] || 2½–½ || +2−0=1 || &nbsp; <!-- Source?-->
|-
| 1909 || Janowski || Drew || Paris || 2–2 || +2−2=0 || Exhibition match
|-
| 1909 || Janowski || Won || Paris || 8–2 || +7−1=2 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1910 || [[Carl Schlechter]] || Drew || Vienna−Berlin || 5–5 || +1−1=8 || Retained World Chess Championship<!-- World Championship status controversial, see http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/buckley.html -->
|-
| 1910 || Janowski || Won || Berlin || 9½–1½ || +8−0=3 ||Retained World Chess Championship
|-
| 1914 || [[Ossip Bernstein]] || Drew || Moscow || 1–1 || +1−1=0 || Exhibition match
|-
| 1916 || Tarrasch || Won || Berlin || 5½–½ || +5−0=1 || &nbsp;
|-
| 1921 || [[José Raúl Capablanca]] || Lost || Havana || 5–9 || +0−4=10 || Lost World Chess Championship
|-
| 1940 || [[Frank James Marshall]] || Unfinished due to Lasker's illness and death || New York || ½–1½ || +0−1=1 || exhibition match<ref name="Hannak" />{{rp|311}}
|}

== Notable games ==
*Lasker vs. Johann Hermann Bauer, Amsterdam 1889.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1026352
 | title=Emanuel Lasker vs. Johann Hermann Bauer, Amsterdam 1889
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> Although this was not the earliest-known game with a successful two-bishops [[sacrifice (chess)|sacrifice]], this combination is now known as a "Lasker–Bauer combination" or "Lasker sacrifice".<ref name="JeffreysReviewWhyLaskerMatters"/>
*Harry Nelson Pillsbury vs. Lasker, St&nbsp;Petersburg 1895.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1109097
 | title=Harry Nelson Pillsbury vs. Emanuel Lasker, St&nbsp;Petersburg 1895
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> A brilliant sacrifice on the 17th move leads to a victorious attack.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker" />
*Wilhelm Steinitz vs. Lasker, London 1899.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1132758
 | title=Wilhelm Steinitz vs. Emanuel Lasker, London 1899
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> The old champion and the new one really go for it.<ref>{{cite book
| title=500 Master Games of Chess |author1=Tartakower, S.G.  |author2=du Mont, J. | publisher=Courier Dover Publications | year=1975 | isbn=0-486-23208-5 | page=[https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart/page/270 270] (game number 209)
| url=https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart | url-access=registration | quote=steinitz lasker. | access-date=December 29, 2008
}}</ref>
*Frank James Marshall vs. Lasker, World Championship Match 1907, game 1.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1094674
 | title=Frank James Marshall vs. Emanuel Lasker, World Championship Match 1907, game 1
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> Lasker's attack is insufficient for a quick win, so he trades it in for an [[chess endgame|endgame]] in which he quickly ties Marshall in knots.<ref>{{cite book
| title=Chess Fundamentals | author=Capablanca, J.R. | chapter=Example 30 | isbn=1-85744-073-0 | edition=Algebraic, 1994
| chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/chessfundamental00capa/chessfundamental00capa_djvu.txt | access-date=December 29, 2008
| year=1994
| publisher=Everyman Chess
| location=London
}} A key position is discussed at {{cite web
| url=http://chessforallages.blogspot.com/2006/12/endgame-marshall-lasker-1907-match-game.html | access-date=December 29, 2008
| title=Endgame: Marshall – Lasker, 1907 Match, Game 1 | author=Mark Weeks
}}</ref>
*Lasker vs. Carl Schlechter, match 1910, game 10.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1121156
 | title=Emanuel Lasker vs. Carl Schlechter, match 1910, game 10
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> Not a great game, but the one that saved Lasker from losing his world title in 1910.<ref name="Pachman1987DecisiveGamesWCh1910">{{cite book
| title=Decisive Games in Chess History | author=Pachman, L.
| publisher=Courier Dover Publications | year=1987 | isbn=0-486-25323-6
| pages=48–51 | chapter=11: World Championship Match 1910
| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jlgJTCyonAgC&q=lasker+schlechter+1910&pg=PA48 | access-date=December 29, 2008 | others=Russell, A.S.
}}</ref>
*Lasker vs. Jose Raul Capablanca, St&nbsp;Petersburg 1914.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1258181
 | title=Emanuel Lasker vs. Jose Raul Capablanca, St&nbsp;Petersburg 1914
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> Lasker, who needed a win here, surprisingly used a {{chessgloss|quiet}} opening, allowing Capablanca to {{chessgloss|simplify}} the game early. There has been much debate about whether Lasker's approach represented subtle psychology or deep positional understanding.<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGamesEmLasker" /><ref name="KramnikSteinitzToKasparov" /><ref name="Pachman1987StPetersburg1914" />
*Max Euwe vs. Lasker, Zurich 1934.<ref>{{cite web
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1008008
 | title=Max Euwe vs. Emanuel Lasker, Zurich 1934
 | website=[[Chessgames.com]]
}}</ref> 66-year-old Lasker beats a future World Champion, sacrificing his queen to turn defence into attack.<ref>{{cite book
| title=How to Defend in Chess: Learn from the World Champions | author=Crouch, C.
| publisher=Gambit Publications | year=2007 | isbn=978-1-904600-83-1 | chapter=Game 9
| chapter-url=http://www.jeremysilman.com/book_reviews_jw/jw_ht_defend_chess.html | access-date=December 29, 2008
}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Jewish chess players]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== Further reading ==
*{{Cite book |author-link=Irving Chernev |first=Irving |last=Chernev |year=1995 |title=Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games |location=New York |publisher=Dover |isbn=0-486-28674-6 |pages=143–162 }}
*{{cite book
 | author=Hannak, J.
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master
 | orig-year=1952
|date=1991
 | isbn=0-486-26706-7
 | publisher=Dover
 | location=New York}}
*{{cite book
 | author=Kasparov, Garry
 | year=2003
 | title=My Great Predecessors, part I
 | publisher=[[Everyman Chess]]
 | isbn=1-85744-330-6
 | author-link=Garry Kasparov| title-link=My Great Predecessors
 }}
*{{cite book
 | title=Why Lasker Matters
 |author=Soltis, Andrew
 | year=2005
 | publisher=Batsford
 | isbn=0-7134-8983-9
 | author-link=Andrew Soltis}}
*{{cite book
 | author=Whyld, Ken
 | title=The Collected Games of Emanuel Lasker
 | year=1998
 | publisher=The Chess Player
 | author-link=Ken Whyld}}
*{{cite book
 | title=World chess champions
 | author=Winter, Edward
 | isbn=0-08-024094-1
 | year=1981
 | location=Oxford
 | author-link=Edward G. Winter}}
*{{cite book
 | last1= Forster | first1= Richard | last2= Hansen | first2= Stefan | last3= Negele | first3= Michael
 | title=Emanuel Lasker: Denker, Weltenburger, Schachweltmeister
 | year=2009
 | publisher= Exzelsior Verlag
 | isbn= 978-3935800051}}
*{{cite book
 | last1= Forster | first1= Richard | last2= Negele | first2= Michael | last3= Tischbierek | first3= Raj
 | title=Emanuel Lasker Volume 1: Struggle and Victories: World Chess Champion for 27 Years
 | year=2018
 | publisher=Exzelsior Verlag
 | isbn=978-3935800099}}<br/>{{cite book
 | title=Emanuel Lasker Volume 2: Choices and Chances: Chess and other Games of the Mind 
 | year=2020
 | isbn=978-3935800105| last1=Forster
 | first1=Richard
 | last2=Negele
 | first2=Michael
 | last3=Tischbierek
 | first3=Raj
 | publisher=Exzelsior Verlag
 }}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{commons category|Emanuel Lasker}}
{{wikisource|Lasker's Chess Magazine/Volume 1|Lasker's Chess Magazine<br/>Volume 1}}
*{{cite web
 |url       = http://www.lasker-gesellschaft.de/society/flyer.html
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040131131548/http://www.lasker-gesellschaft.de/society/flyer.html
 |url-status  = dead
 |archive-date = January 31, 2004
 |publisher = Lasker-gesellschaft.de
 |title     = Emanuel Lasker Society
}}
*{{chessgames player|id=19149}}
*{{MacTutor Biography|id=Lasker}}
*{{MathGenealogy|id=60257}}
*{{cite web
 |url         = http://research.interface.co.uk/lasca/about.htm
 |title       = About Lasca – a little-known abstract game
 |publisher   = Human–Computer Interface Research
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080509062029/http://research.interface.co.uk/lasca/about.htm
 |archive-date = May 9, 2008
}}
*{{cite web
 | author=Hans Kmoch
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kmoch08.pdf
 | title=Grandmasters I have known
 | publisher=ChessCafe.com| author-link=Hans Kmoch
 }}
*{{cite web
 | url=http://www.gtryfon.demon.co.uk/bcc/Technical_Articles/worldchamps/lasker/lasker.htm
 | title=Biography of Emanuel Lasker
 | author1=Tryfon Gavriel
 | author2=Janet Edwardson
 | publisher=Barnet chess club
 | access-date=October 15, 2010
 | archive-date=May 30, 2013
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530182557/http://www.gtryfon.demon.co.uk/bcc/Technical_Articles/worldchamps/lasker/lasker.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}
*{{cite web
 | url=http://www.100bestwebsites.org/lcm-jan1905.htm
 | publisher=100bestwebsites.org
 | title=Lasker's Chess Magazine, January 1905 edition, excerpts}}
*{{Cite book
 | editor-last=Singer
 | editor-first=Isidore
 | editor-link=Isidore Singer
 | last1=Jacobs
 | first1=Joseph
 | author-link1=Joseph Jacobs
 | last2=Porter
 | first2=A.
 | year=1901–1906
 | title=Jewish Encyclopedia
 | contribution=Lasker, Emanuel
 | contribution-url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=84&letter=L
 | access-date=November 21, 2008
 | volume=7
 | pages=622–3| title-link=Jewish Encyclopedia
 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|ach}}
{{succession box
 | before=[[Wilhelm Steinitz]]
 | title=[[World Chess Champion]]
 | years=1894–1921
 | after=[[José Raúl Capablanca]]
}}
*{{Internet Archive author |sname=  Emanuel Lasker}}
*[http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Obits/Lasker.html Obituary of Emanuel Lasker], [[The Times]], 1941
*[https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/laskerfeaturearticles.html Articles about Emanuel Lasker by Edward Winter]
{{s-end}}

{{World Chess Championships}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasker, Emanuel}}
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