1 - “The Strangest States of Mind”

Summary

Introduction

I was in one of those moods where danger is attractive. Hence I plunged from the start into a combination the outcome of which was exceedingly doubtful. For the gain of a pawn I risked to retard the development and to accelerate that of the opponent. Mr. Speijer wisely sacrificed also the exchange, and opened a concentrated fire upon my King; but once he missed the best continuation, and therefore lost quickly. Games of this character, where every move counts for much, are best suited to entertain spectators, and they are of great value for the ripening of the “position judgment”. He who relies solely upon tactics that he can wholly comprehend is liable, in the course of time, to weaken his imagination. And he is at a disadvantage against an opponent who tries to win through bold venture, yet does not step beyond the finely drawn boundary of what is sound.

Emanuel Lasker (1908), quoted in Hilbert (2001), p. 5

Thus wrote world chess champion Emanuel Lasker in his Evening Post chess column in late December 1908, following his victorious third and final game in an Amsterdam match against the Dutch champion, Abraham Speijer. Having come to the city from Vienna, where he had been playing exhibition games the previous week, Lasker played Speijer in a pavillion in an Amsterdam park, watched by an audience of 150. The German beat the Dutchman in the first of three games but, to the delight of the Dutch audience, was held to a draw in the second. In the third game, shunning textbook play and avoiding safe continuations, Lasker won in twenty-seven moves.