Emanuel Lasker - 2nd World Chess Champion

Emanuel Lasker – 2nd World Chess Champion

Immanuel (later changed to Emanuel) Lasker was born in Berlinchen (now Barlinck, Poland as of 1945), the Prussian province of Brandenberg, on December 24, 1868. He was the second son of Michaelis Aaron Lasker (who later changed his name to Adolf), a Jewish cantor (musician that leads the congregation in songful prayer) in a synagogue. His mother was Rosalie Israelssohn. Emanuel was the second of four children. He had an older brother, Berthold (born Dec 31, 1860), and two younger sisters (Theophilia and Amalia). One of his sisters later died in a Nazi gas chamber.
In 1879, at the age of 11, Emanuel was sent to Berlin to attend school. There, he was taught how to play chess by his older brother, who was a medical student and later became a medical doctor. Emanuel displayed unusual mathematical abilities and wanted to be a mathematician. His father wanted him to be a cantor. Emanuel studied the Talmud with his father and his grandfather, a rabbi.
Emanuel Lasker was accepted into one of Berlin’s best high schools and was advanced two class years ahead of his peers after scoring very high on all his exams. Soon, however, Emanuel fell ill with measles and had to be sent to a hospital. It was this period that Berthold began teaching Emanuel how to play chess to help Emanuel pass the time while in the hospital.
In the early 1880s, Emanuel began visiting the “Tea Salon” with his brother. Berthold was making extra money by hustling chess and Emanuel observed chess play at the master level for the first time. It was here that Emanuel first met and played Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934), who was a medical student in Berlin. Tarrasch was also a daily visitor of the Café Kaiserhof.
In 1884 Emanuel Lasker became a serious chess player. He was soon a frequent visitor at the Cafe Kaiserhof, a chess meeting-place. He was spending so much time studying and playing chess, that is parents told Berthold to find another school for Emanuel. Berthold did find a new school for Emanuel, in the small town of Landsberg (now Gorzow Wielkopolski, Poland). However, the head of the new school was president of the local chess club and Lasker’s math teacher, Kevitz, was the local chess champion. This encouraged Emanuel even more to play chess.
In 1888 he was the best chess player at the Cafe Kaiserhof, the gathering place of the strongest chessplayers in Berlin. Berthold had graduated from the University of Berlin Medical School and moved to Elberfeld to set up his medical practice.
In the spring of 1888, Lasker finished high school at Landsberg-on-the-Warthe, Prussia, and attended the university of Berlin and Gottingen to study mathematics and philosophy.
In the winter of 1888-89, Emanuel Lasker won his first tournament, the Kaiserhof Café championship, with the score of 20-0. His victory now attracted friends and supporters. One supporter was Jakob Bamberger (1822-1907), a banker, who sent Emanuel 10 marks every month. Years later, Emanuel married Jackob’s daughter, Martha (born Nov 19, 1867). Lasker did not marry until he was 42 and Martha had been a widow.
In July, 1889, he gained the German master title (schachmeister) in the Hauptturnier A section of the German Chess League at Breslau. Tarrasch won the International Masters’ section. This was part of the 6th Congress of the German Chess Federation. Lasker won this tournament by accident. Another competitor, Emil Ritter von Feyerfeil (died Feb 28, 1917), had lost his final game to Paul Lipke (1870-1955) after 121 moves. If von Feyerfeil would have drawn or won, he would have won the event and the master title. It was later discovered that one of his pawns was knocked off the board just before sealing the adjourned move. They had sealed a position (rook + knight + pawn against 2 bishops + knight + 2 pawns) with a missing pawn that would have given Von Feyerfeil a drawing or winning game. Lasker, who told his brother that he would give up serious chess if he did not win, won the event and the master title. Lasker won the Hauptturnier 1 section with 7 wins and 2 draws. He tied in the final section (with von Feyerfeil) with 4 wins and 2 losses. In the play-off, Lasker beat von Feyerfeil.
After winning his master title, he was invited to the master tourney in Amsterdam, where he took 2nd, behind Amos Burn (1848-1925). The event was held Aug 26-31, 1889. Lasker won 5, drew 2, and lost 1. It was the 20-year old Lasker’s first foreign chess tournament.
In November, 1889, Lasker defeated Curt Von Bardeleben (1861-1924) in a match in Berlin. Lasker won 2, drew1, and lost 1.
In February 1890, Lasker defeated Henry Bird (1830-1908) in a match, held in Liverpool. Lasker won 7, drew 3, and lost 2.
In March 1890, Lasker defeated Nicholas Miniati (1860-1909) in a match held in Manchester. He won 3, drew 2, with no losses.
In July 1890, Emanuel Lasker and his brother, Berthold Lasker, tied at a tournament in Berlin. Emanuel Lasker’s score was 5 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. Emanuel than had a play-off with his brother and won win 1 win and 1 draw.
In Aug-Sep 1890, Lasker took 3rd at Graz, Austria, behind Gyula Makovetz and Johann Bauer. Lasker won 3, drew 2, and lost 1.
In 1890, Lasker defeated Berthold Englisch in a match, held in Vienna. He won 2, drew 3, and lost none.
Lasker travelled to London in 1891 to run a chess pavilion at a German exhibition. He accepted the invitation so that he could make enough money for his sisters to move to Berlin. After the exhibition ended, Lasker decided to remain in England and take up chess professionally. He stayed in England from 1891 to 1893, then from 1895 to 1904, and from 1934 to 1935.
In 1891, he defeated Francis Lee in London with 1 win, 1 draw, and no losses.
In March 1892, Lasker finished 1st at the 7th British Chess Association Tournament, held in London. He won 8, drew 2, and lost 1. He finished 1.5 points ahead of second place prize winner – James Mason. Joseph Blackburne objected to inviting a German master to this national event. He boycotted the event and did not play.
In April 1892, Lasker won the British Chess Club Invitational with 5 wins, 3 draws, and no losses. The event has held in London. Blackburne took 2nd.
In June 1892, Lasker defeated Henry Blackburne in a match held in London. Lasker won 6, drew 4, and lost none.
From August 1892 to July 1893 Lasker published his first chess magazine, 19 issues of The London Chess Fortnightly chess magazine.
In September 1892, Lasker defeated Henry Bird in a match, held at Newcastler on Tyne. Lasker won 5-0.
During the two years that Lasker stayed in London, Lasker lost only one game (to Bird) in four events against the strongest masters in the country. It gave hims confidence to try to play for the world championship.
He moved to New York in 1892 in hopes of playing Wilhelm Steinitz for the world chess championship.
In April 1893, Lasker defeated Jackson Whipps Showalter in a match held in Kokomo. Lasker won 6, drew 2, and lost 2. Lasker received $375 for his efforts.
In September 1893, he won all his games (13-0) at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York.
In late 1893, Lasker lectured on differential equations at Tulane University in New Orleans.
On March 15, 1894 Lasker began his world chess championship match with Wilhelm Steinitz in New York. On May 26, 1894, he defeated Steinitz (14 wins, 3 draws, 4 losses) for the world championship. The match was held in New York, Philadelphia, and Montreal. He became the second world chess champion and held the title from 1894 to 1921 (27 years). Lasker was 25 and Steinitz was 58. Lasker received $2,000 for his efforts. Lasker then returned to Germany in late 1894. There, he contracted typhoid fever and almost died. (Henry Buckle died of typhoid fever in 1862 and Samuel Boden died of typhoid fever in 1882).
In 1894, Berthold Lasker married Else Schuler. They divorced in 1899.
In 1895, Lasker moved back to England, this time as world chess champion. He first lived in London, where he was the resident master of the Divan Chess Association. He later moved to Manchester where he wrote a chess column for the local newspaper, gave lectures at the Manchester Chess Club, and performed simuls.
In 1895, world champion Lasker came in 3rd place (behind Pillsbury and Chigorin) at Hastings, despite recovering from typhoid fever. Lasker won 13, drew 3, and lost 4. Lasker stayed in England and gave a series of lectures on chess.
Lasker gave a series of chess lectures in London in 1895. The lectures were later published as Common Sense In Chess.
In January 1896, Lasker won at St. Petersburg with 8 wins, 7 draws, and 3 losses.
In 1896 he wrote Common Sense in Chess, based on a series of 12 chess lectures that he gave in London. The German edition was published in 1896 and the English edition was published in 1897.
In August 1896, Lasker won at Nuremberg with 12 wins, 3 draws, and 3 losses.
Lasker defeated Steinitz in a return world championship (6th official world chess championship) match held in Moscow in 1896-97 with 10 wins, 5 draws, and 2 losses.
In 1897 Lasker enrolled at Heidelberg University and transferred to Erlangen University in 1900.
In 1898, Lasker gave many simultaneous exhibitions throughout the Netherlands.
In 1899, Lasker won a tournament in London with 20 wins, 1 loss, and 7 draws. He won with 4.5 points more than the 2nd place finisher.
In June 1900, Lasker won at Paris with 14 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss.
In 1901 Lasker was a mathematics lecturer at Victoria University in Manchester, England.
In 1901 Lasker presented his doctoral thesis Uber Reihen auf der Convergengrenze to Erlangen University, which was published in Philosophical Transactions.
In December 1901, Lasker defeated Dawid Janowski in a match held in Manchester. Lasker won 1 game and drew 1 game, with no losses.
In January 1902, he gained his doctorate degree in mathematics and philosophy from Erlangen University. His dissertation was titled, Uber Reihen auf der Convergenzgrenze (“On Series at Convergence Boundaries”). His mathematical researches were based upon his studies at the universities of Berlin, Gottingen, and Heidelberg. His advisor was the famous mathematician David Hilbert.
After he defended his dissertation, he went to a Wiesbaden resort for some rest. He played chess with the director of its opera theater.
From April to June 1902, Lasker gave simultaneous exhibitions throughout the United States.
In 1902, Lasker met Martha Cohn at the home of Ludwig Metzger, editor of the Berliner Lokalanzeiger newspaper. Martha was an employee of the newspaper, and had not interest in mathematics, philosophy, or chess. She said that chess must be terribly boring and was not to her tastes. Martha’s husband, Emil, died in 1910 and Emanuel married Martha in 1911.
After obtaining his PhD, he moved to New York, where he stayed until 1907.
From 1901 to 1914, Lasker played in only three chess tournaments. He demanded high appearance fees that tournament organizers could not afford. Lasker was also using his time to study mathematics and philosophy.
In 1903, Lasker lost a Rice Gambit match against Mikhail Chigorin, held in Brighton. Lasker won 1, drew 3, and lost 2.
In 1904, Lasker played at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania where he took 2nd place (tied with David Janowski), behind Frank Marshall. Lasker won 9, drew 4, and lost 2. World champion Lasker came from Berlin to play in the event. He had not played in a chess tournament in four years. His last tournament was in Paris in 1900, which he won with 14 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss. After Cambridge Springs, Lasker would not play in a chess tournament for another 5 years (St Petersburg 1909), which he tied for 1st place with Akiba Rubinstein.
In November 1904, Lasker started Lasker’s Chess Magazine. It ran until 1907 in 8 volumes.
In 1905 Lasker introduced the notion of a primary ideal (ring theory), and proved the primary decomposition theorem for an ideal of a polynomial ring in terms of primary ideals. This proof was published in volume 60 of Mathematische Annalen in 1905. This is now known as the Lasker-Noether theorem. Emmy Noether was a distinguished lady mathematician from Gottingen who refined Lasker’s work on polynomial rings in 1919. She built an abstract theory which developed ring theory into a major mathematical topic. A communitive ring R is now called a Lasker ring if every ideal of R can be represented as an intersection of a finite number of primary ideals. A theorem in the theory of vector spaces is known as the Lasker theorem. His work provided the foundation of modern algebraic geometry.
In 1906 Lasker became secretary of the Rice Gambit Association. In July, 1906, Lasker won the 19th New York State Chess Championship at Trenton Falls with 4 wins, 2 draws, and no losses.
In Jan-April 1907, Lasker beat Frank Marshall in the 7th world championship match and won with 8 wins, 7 draws and no losses. The match was played in New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Memphis, Chicago, and Baltimore. After the match, Lasker returned to Germany. He would not play another game of chess until the next world championship match.
In 1907 Lasker wrote Kampf in German and re-wrote Struggle in English, which was published in New York by Lasker’s Publishing Company. This is a book on philosophy and the laws governing struggles in general.
In May 1908, Lasker performed several simuls throughout the Netherlands.
In September, 1908, Lasker defeated Siegbert Tarrasch with 8 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses (first one to win 8 games, draws not counting, was the winner). The match was held in Dusseldorf and Munich. Lasker was convinced that Tarrasch had hypnotic powers and wanted to play the match from a different room. Lasker received 4,000 marks for his winnings and 7,500 marks for the appearance fee.
In December 1908, Lasker defeated the strongest Dutch master, Abraham Speijer, in a match held in Amsterdam. Lasker won 2, drew 1, and lost none.
In March 1909, Lasker, representing the United States, tied for 1st place with Akiba Rubinstein at St. Petersburg (Chigorin Memorial). He won 13, drew 3, and lost 2. He then published a book on the tournament.
In May 1909, Lasker played David Janowski in an exhibition match held in Paris. The match was drawn with 2 wins and 2 losses each.
In Oct-Nov 1909, Lasker played David Janowski in another exhibition match held in Paris. The match was sponsored by the Dutch painter Leo Nardus, who paid Lasker 7,000 francs to play. Lasker won the match with 7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss. Nardus continued to support Janowski, until one day, Nardus suggested an alternate move or analysis in one of Janowski’s post-mortem games. Janowski called Nardus an idiot in front of the crowd. Nardus never gave Janowski any financial support after that.
In Jan-Feb 1910, Lasker played Carl Schlechter in a match of 10 games (9th world championship match). It was supposed to be a match of 30 games, but lack of funds kept it shorter. Lasker won 1 game, drew 8 games, and lost one game to tie the match. Schlechter needed only a draw in the last round to win the match. During that last game, he was winning, but eventually lost the game in 71 moves and the match. The match was held in Vienna and Berlin. Lasker received 1,000 marks for each game played. After the match, the public decided to call this match a world chess championship match. There is little evidence that Lasker considered this a world championship match where he would lose his title if he lost this short match. No contract has ever been found to prove this was a world championship match. The American Chess Bulletin of 1910 stated that the two players agreed to play a series of games, but the result would not affect the world championship title.
In June 1910, Lasker gave two lectures in Buenos Aires, one devoted to Paul Morphy, and the other to William Stienitz. The lectures were later published in one of the local newspapers.
In November 1910, Lasker defeated Janowski with 8 wins, 3 draws, and no losses in the 10th world championship match in Berlin. He had defended his world championship title 6 times in 4 years. Lasker would not play serious chess for another 3 ½ years.
On March 1, 1911, at the age of 42, Emanuel Lasker married Martha Bamberger Cohn in Berline and became a husband, father, and grandfather at the same time. His wife was a year older than Lasker, widowed (Emil Cohn owned the Trautweins’s piano factory and died on Dec 18, 1909), rich, and already a grandmother. Martha had a daughter, Lotta, from her previous marriage. Lotta later moved to Chicago. The Laskers lived in Thyrow, an hour’s journey from Berlin where he acquired a house, a garden, and a big dog. It was here, in 1913, that he wrote Das Begreifen die Wielt (Understanding the World).
In 1911, Lasker invented a games called Lasca (Laska) and took a patent out on the game. It is played with checker pieces played on a 7×7 board. The game was derived from American Checkers and a Russian game called Bashni (Tower).
In 1914 Lasker took 1st place at St. Petersburg. In the preliminary rounds, Lasker won 4, drew 5, and lost 1. In the final, Lasker won 6, drew 2, and lost none. Nicholas II, Czar of Russia, conferred the title of Grandmaster of Chess to Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca, Tarrasch, and Marshall. These were the original five grandmasters. Lasker was paid 4,000 roubles as an appearance fee. This was the first time a chess player received an appearance fee.
Just before World War I, Lasker was supposed to play Rubinstein for the World Championship. Capablanca planned to play the winner. World War I interrupted these matches.
During World War I, Lasker (along with Rubinstein) invested all of his money in German war bonds. At the end of the war, he had lost all his money and savings. During that period, he wrote a book declaring that Germany had to win the war if civilization were to be saved, and he applauded the politics of Wilhelm II.
After the War, Lasker tried to breed pigeons for the Berlin Pigeon Fair, He had studied many books about the breeding of pigeons and thought he could win medals at the Berlin Poulty show. However, all the pigeons Lasker bought were male.
In Nov 1916, Lasker defeated Siegbert Tarrasch in a match held in Berlin. He won 5, drew 1, and lost none.
In Oct 1918, Lasker won at Berlin with 3 wins, 3 draws, and no losses.
In 1919, he wrote Die Philosophie des Unvollendbaren (The Philosophy of the Unattainable). Albert Einstein expressed interest in Lasker’s work, calling the book, “a lively interest in all the problems that bedevil mankind,” and “a most original work.”
In January 1920, Lasker met with Capablanca at The Hague in the Netherlands. An agreement was drawn up to play half the world championship in the Netherlands and the other half in the United States. The deal later fell through because of insufficient finances.
In 1920 Lasker wrote to Capablanca in Spanish and resigned his title to Capablanca without playing a game. However, he needed the money and agreed to play Capablanca in 1921 for the world championship for $11,000.
In March-April 1921, Lasker was defeated by Capablanca in the 11th world chess championship, held in Havana. Lasker did not win a game, had 10 draws, and 4 losses. Lasker then claimed ill health and quit playing after 14 games of the 24 games scheduled, and he resigned the title.Capablanca’s prize fund was $12,000. He had played in 8 world championship matches for 27 years, 337 days (from May 26, 1894 to April 21, 1921), the longest reign of any world chess champion. Lasker then retired from chess until 1923.
In 1922, London hosted the “Victors’ Tournament.” It invited all the strongest players in the world except Lasker, due to his politics during World War I. The tournament included Capablanca, Alekhine, Vidmar, Rubinstein, Bogoljubow, Reti, Tartakower, Maroczy, Yates, Atkins, Euwe, Znosko-Borovsky, and a few others, but not Lasker.
In 1922, Lasker wrote My Match with Capablanca. In it, he believed that chess would exhaust itself in short order and that draws would kill chess. A few years later, he changed his mind, regarding the future of chess more optimistically. He did not think chess was close to being played out to a draw.
In July 1923, ex-world champion Lasker won at Moravska Ostrava with 8 wins, 5 draws, and no losses.
From 1895 to 1924 he won or tied for first place in eight of the 10 major chess championships he played in. The other two, he took 2nd place and 3rd place.
In April 1924, Lasker, age 55, won the New York International, ahead of world champion Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine. He won 13, drew 6, and lost 1. Lasker now took up bridge and Go.
In Nov-Dec 1925, Lasker took 2nd, behind Bogoljuvow, at Moscow. He won 10, drew 8, and lost 2. Lasker was the first foreign master to make a guest appearance in Soviet Russia after the October Revolution. Lasker would not play serious chess for another 9 years.
In 1926 he wrote Lehrbuch des Schachspiels. He re-wrote it in English in 1927 as Lasker’s Manual of Chess. He dedicated the book to his wife, Martha. It read, “To me dear wife, who has shared with me everything in life, together with her, with a sense of humor.”
In 1927, Lasker was not invited the strongest tournament of the year, New York 1927.
On October 19,1928, Emanuel Lasker’s brother, Berthold died.
In the early 1930s Lasker became an international bridge player, representing Germany in international events. He became a Life Master in bridge and was the team leader of the German team at the Bridge Olympics.
In 1931, Lasker wrote a book called Popular Board Games.
Lasker was a good friend of Dr. Albert Einstein (1879-1955), but did not believe that the speed of light was constant.
In 1933 he was driven out of Germany beause he was a Jew. He was the grandson of a rabbi. All of his property in Berlin was confiscated as well as a farm he owned. In 1933 he moved to England.
In 1934, after 9 years of retirement, Lasker took 5th at Zurich. He won 9, drew 2, and lost 4. Lasker had now taken up golf.
In 1935 Lasker moved to the USSR. He had been invited to the Second Moscow International Tournament by Krylenko and took 3rd place at the age of 67. He won 6, drew 13, and lost none. He was then invited to become an honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, which he accepted, and took permanent residence in Moscow. He became involved in mathematical studies and was offered a professorship at a university. He played chess with Ivan Vinogradov, the director of the Institute of Mathematics, and with David Oistrakh, the famous violinist.
At the end of 1935 he went to Holland to cover the world championship match between Alekhine and Euwe for Russian newspapers.
In 1936, Lasker gave a short talk in Russian at the Young Pioneers’ Club about the studies of chess composer A.A. Troitsky. Lasker inspired several boys to become strong chess players at that meeting, including Yuri Averbakh and Vladimir Simagin.
In August 1936, Lasker played in the Nottingham International, which he took 7th place. He won 6, drew 5, and lost 3. Lasker played under the Soviet sickle-and-hammer flag, representing the USSR.
In late 1937 Lasker moved to Manhattan, New York. His patron in the USSR, Krylenko, was condemned as a traitor and later executed in a purge. Lasker feared for his life and left the USSR, despite doctors telling him that his wife was too sick to travel. He was able to immigrate to the United States by telling the authorities that his step daughter, who was living in Chicago, wanted to be re-united with her mother. On Nov 19, 1937, the Laskers celebrated Martha’s 70th birthday in Chicago with her daughter and grandchildren.
In 1938, Lasker was upset at not being invited to participate in the AVRO tournament in the Netherlands.
In 1939 Lasker was suffering from ill health.
In 1940, Lasker wrote his last book, The Community of the Future.
In May 1940, Lasker agreed to play an exhibition match with Frank Marshall. After two games, both players had won one game each. But Lasker had to cancel the rest of the match due to illness.
Lasker died of a kidney infection in New York on January 11, 1941. He was 72. He had been a charity patient at Mount Sinai hospital. About the same time, his sister died in a Nazi gas chamber. A condolence letter was sent to Martha Lasker by Albert Einstein, when Emanuel Lasker died.
From 1892 to 1924, he won 12 of 14 tournaments, placing 2nd and 3rd in the other two. From 1889 to 1916, he won 20 of 21 matches (the other one drawn).
Lasker’s winning percentage is the highest of any world chess champion: 66%. He won 52 games, drew 44, and lost 16 in world championship play. His calculated ELO rating is 2720.
Lasker played in more chess tournaments in Russia than in any other country. Lasker visited Russia 10 times between 1895 and 1937, playing in all the strongest chess tournaments.
Lasker’s wife died on October 18, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Albert Einstein contributed a forward about Lasker in the book Emanuel Lasker: The Life of a Chess Master by Jacques Hannak, published in 1952.
In 1968 East Germany issued a stamp with Lasker’s portrait in honor of the 100th anniversary of Lasker’s birth.
Tournament Record:
Year City Place Won Lost Drawn
1889 Breslau 1st 7 0 2
1889 Breslau 1st-2nd 4 2 0
1889 Amsterdam 2nd 5 1 2
1890 Berlin 1st-2nd 5 1 1
1890 Graz 3rd 3 0 3
1892 London 1st 8 1 2
1892 London 1st 5 0 3
1893 New York 1st 13 0 0
1895 Hastings 3rd 14 4 3
1895-6 St. Petersburg 1st 8 3 7
1896 Nuremberg 1st 12 3 3
1899 London 1st 20 1 7
1900 Paris 1st 14 1 3
1904 Cambridge Springs 2nd-3rd 9 2 4
1906 Trenton Falls 1st 4 0 2
1909 St. Petersburg 1st-2nd 13 2 3
1914 St. Petersburg 1st 10 1 7
1918 Berlin 1st 3 0 3
1923 Mahrisch-Ostrau 1st 8 0 5
1924 New York 1st 13 1 6
1925 Moscow 2nd 10 2 8
1934 Zurich 5th 9 4 2
1935 Moscow 3rd 6 0 13
1936 Moscow 6th 3 5 10
1936 Nottingham 7th-8th 6 3 5
25 tournaments, 353 games, 212 wins, 37 losses, 104 draws
Match Record:
Year Opponent W L D
1889 Bardeleben 2 1 1
1890 Mieses 5 0 3
1890 Bird 7 2 3
1890 Miniati 3 0 2
1890 Englisch 2 0 3
1892 Blackburne 6 0 4
1892 Bird 5 0 0
1892-3 Showalter 6 2 1
1893 Golmayo 2 0 1
1893 Vasquez 3 0 0
1893 Ettinger 5 0 0
1894 Steinitz 10 5 4
1896-7 Steinitz 10 2 5
1907 Marshall 8 0 7
1908 Tarrasch 8 3 5
1909 Speijer 2 0 1
1909 Janowski 2 2 0
1909 Janowski 8 0 3
1910 Schlechter 1 1 8
1916 Tarrasch 5 0 1
1921 Capablanca 0 4 10
22 matches, 194 games, 107 wins, 23 losses, 64 draws
Bibliography:
Bird, Steinitz and Lasker match, 1894
Capablanca, Lasker-Capablanca
Charushin, Lasker’s Combinations
Cunningham, The Games in the Steinitz-Lasker Championship, 1894
Fine & Reinfeld, Lasker’s Greatest Chess Games, 1889-1914, 1963
Forster & Hansen & Negele, Emanuel Lasker, 2009
Fox, Chess Match 1921, Lasker-Capablanca
Gunsberg & Hoffer, Steinitz-Lasker Championship Match, 1894
Hagemann, Emanuel Lasker – Schach, Philosophie, Wissenschaft, 2001
Hannak, Emanuel Lasker: Biography of the World Champion, 1952
Hoffer, The Championship Match: Lasker v. Tarrasch, 1908
Hoffer, Lasker v. Schlechter, 1910
Khalifman, Emanuel Lasker: Games 1889-1903
Khalifman, Emanuel Lasker: Games 1904-1940, 1998
Lasker & Tarrasch, Der schachwettkampf lasker-tarrasch um die weltmeister, 1908
Lasker, Common Sense in Chess, 1917
Lasker, How to Play Chess, 1995
Lasker, Kampf (Struggle), 1907
Lasker, Lasker’s Chess Magazine, 1904-1907
Lasker, Lasker’s Chess Primer, 1934
Lasker, Lasker’s Manual of Chess, 1927 & 1932
Lasker, Lasker’s Manual of Chess, New 21st Century Edition, 2010
Lasker, Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca, 1922
Lasker, Meine sches partien mit Dr. Tarrasch, 1917
Lasker, My Match with Capablanca, 1922
Lasker, The International Chess Congress, St. Petersburg 1909, 1910
Lasker, Textbook of Chess Games 1980
Linder, Emanuel Lasker: 2nd World Chess Champion, 2010
Soloviov, Emanuel Lasker Games, 1889-1903
Soloviov, Emanuel Lasker Games, 1889-1940
Soltis, Why Lasker Matters, 2005
Tarrasch, Der Schachwettkamph: Lasker-Tarrasch, 1908
Vainstein, Lasker, 1984
Varnusz, Emanuel Lasker, vol 1, 1889-1907, 1998
Whyld, Emanuel Lasker (3 volumes), 1976
– Bill Wall