It is sometimes claimed he was not an openings expert, perhaps because there is no opening named after him.
However, there are several important variations credited to Lasker, the most famous including his defence to the Queen's Gambit and his antidote to Evans' Gambit.
In this series I want to concentrate on another variation he pioneered, the Exchange Variation of the Spanish.
There are 26 examples in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database, including one consultation game, of Lasker having the white pieces in the Spanish Exchange.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6, Lasker played all four moves that are still popular today - 5.d4, 5.Nc3, 5.d3 and 5.0-0.
For this series I want to concentrate on Lasker's handling of 5.d4, which is the most thematic move - White immediately sets about creating a 4-3 kingside pawn-majority, which he hopes will be a winning advantage in an endgame.
But before the ending arises, White has to neutralise Black's bishop-pair in what is usually a queenless middlegame.
Lasker - William Pollock
Baltimore simul* 1892
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d4 Bg4!?
The first appearance of this move in Mega20. Two previous games saw 5...exd4, which is today the main line.
6.dxe5
Temporarily winning a pawn, but allowing his king to be displaced. I have instead played the reasonable alternative, 6.Be3.
6...Qxd1+ 7.Kxd1 Bc5?!
Blacks quickly came to prefer 7...0-0-0+ 8.Ke2 Re8 to be sure of regaining the pawn.
8.Ke2 0-0-0
Komodo10 prefers 8...Bd4 10.Nbd2 Bxe5, but after 11.h3 Bxf3+ 12.Nxf3, Black has no compensation for his inferior pawn-structure.
9.Be3 Be7 10.h3 Bh5 11.Nbd2 f6!?
Pollock offers to make his pawn-minus permanent in return for piece-activity.
12.Rhd1
Lasker ignores the offer as he has seen that a black pawn landing on e5 will be lost anyway.
12...fxe5 13.g4 Be8 14.Nxe5 Nf6 15.f3 h5 16.Nf1?!
This allows the h file to be opened, so probably better was 16.g5.
16...hxg4 17.hxg4 Nd7 18.Nxd7 Bxd7 19.Kd2 Rdf8 20.Kg2 Bd6 21.Ng3 Rf7
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| White has a large advantage, but now Lasker makes the type of tactical slip that can happen to the best of players when giving a simul |
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22.Nf5?
Now Black gets his pawn back. 22.Rh1 would have prevented this.
22...Bxf5 23.exf5 Rh2+ 24.Kg1 Rxc2 25.Rd2 Rxd2 26.Bxd2
White is still slightly better as it will be easier for him to create a passed pawn.
26...Rd7 27.Bc3 Bc5+?!
Stockfish10 and Komodo10 reckon Black should start mobilising his queenside majority with 27...b5.
28.Kg2 Bd4?
The rook-and-pawn ending is far from drawn. Again better was …b5.
29.Bxd4 Rxd4 30.Rh1 b5 31.Rh7 c5
31...Rd7 32.g5 is an easy win for White.
32.Rxg7 c4 33.Kg3 b4 34.f6 c3 35.bxc3 bxc3 36.f7 Rd8 37.Rg8 c2 38.Rxd8+ Kb7
The only chance, but it is insufficient.
39.f8=Q c1=Q 40.Qb4+ Kc6 41.Qd6+!?
Unnecessary, but elegant.
41...Kb7 42.Qd5+ 1-0
*English-born Pollock was a recognised chess master, and at the time of this game was the resident professional at the Baltimore chess club. Lasker may have chosen to play the Spanish Exchange, apparently for the first time, to try to get queens off early and so reduce his strong opponent's tactical chances.
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