On Wednesday and Thursday, 20-21 April 1921, Emanuel Lasker and José Raúl Capablanca contested the fourteenth game of their historic world championship match.
Chess Skills has been following this match as a centennial celebration, and will continue doing so through the end of the month. Game 14 was to be Lasker's last world championship game after twenty-six years at the top. It was not known to be his last when it was played, nor for several days after. The match was scheduled for 24 games; more than a week transpired before it was determined that this game would indeed be the last.
As referenced in "
Refuge from Havana's Sun" and "
Lasker -- Capablanca, Game 8", after the match Lasker raised issues concerning distribution of the game scores by Hartwig Cassel, a journalist working for
American Chess Bulletin and the
New York Evening Post. The score for game one was published in the
New York Evening Post on 18 March 1921, and that paper continued to provide news on the match with game scores as it progressed.
Near the end of
Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca (1922), Lasker addressed the differences between a responsible chess press, as he saw it, consisting mostly of master commentators, and the work of journalists with limited understanding.
The press in general has behaved worthily and meritoriously. The reporting and criticism have high responsibility. Messrs. Helms, Burn, Schelfhout, Mieses, Dr. Tarrasch--leaders of the chess press in the United States, England, Holland and Germany--made a factual, reasoned judgment. Good chess criticism includes, in addition to objectivity, a love of the game of chess and an understanding of master chess: that is why these chess writers stand out from the others. Mr. Hartwig Cassel is indifferent to the game of chess. (37)
In this post,
number 23 in a series, I have placed commentary provided by Cassel to the
New York Evening Post alongside that of Lasker, Capablanca, and Amos Burn.* Compare the contrasting perspectives at critical moments in the game. The juxtaposition will show that Cassel's understanding of the game lacks some depth. On the other hand, Cassel's worth as a journalist is not limited to these comments. He an introduction and other information to Capablanca's book on the match. Early in Capablanca's career, Cassel helped arrange some of his simultaneous exhibitions and related matters.
Lasker,Emanuel -- Capablanca,José Raúl [C66]World Championship 12th Havana (14), 20.04.1921
[Capablanca, Lasker, Others]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Bxc6Black to move
Having the white pieces again and being obliged to essay an opening which held out better chances than the drawish variations of the Queen's Gambit declined, Dr. Lasker, in the fourteenth game of the championship match at Havana, last night, resorted once more to his favorite Ruy Lopez, which had been previously adopted in the third, sixth, and twelfth games. All three of these had been drawn, to be sure, but, with a greater variety of safe lines of attack, Dr. Lasker evidently hopes to get his watchful opponent off the beaten track.
Hartwig Cassel, NYP, 21 April 1921
Amos Burn's commentary in
The Field was reprinted in
American Chess Bulletin. He comments that he recommended 7.Bxc6 in his "notes to the sixth game" (106).
7...Bxc6 8.Qd3 exd4 9.Nxd4 Bd7 10.Bg5 0-0 11.Rae1 h6 12.Bh4 Black to move
12...Nh7Lasker and Burn both call this move a "favorite" of Capablanca.
12...Ng4 13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.f4 Nf6 was drawn in 55 moves Schoenmann,W -- Bluemich,M, Berlin GER 1920.
13.Bxe7 Qxe7 14.Nd5 Qd8 15.c4"White has now a powerful position and Black has to play with extreme care in order to avoid drifting into a hopeless position" (Capablanca, 28).
15...Re8 16.f4 Black to move
16...c6"This weakens the d-pawn, but something had to be done to obtain maneuvering space for the Black pieces. Besides, with the advance of the f-pawn, White's e-pawn becomes also weak, which is somewhat of a compensation" (Capablanca, 28).
"Black is constrained and must weaken the queens' pawn in order to free himself" (Lasker, 29).
17.Nc3! Qb6 18.b3 Rad8It is noteworthy that both Capablanca and Lasker balance self-criticism with insight into their opponent's critical errors.
18...Re7 "was the proper move" (Capablanca, 28).
White to move
19.Kh1This move "already reveals the slackening of my abilities. I could have gone over to the attack with h2-h3 and g2-g4. From here on to the gross mistake in the 29th move, I played without ideas" (Lasker, 30).
19...Nf6 20.h3 Bc8 21.Rd1"This is waste of time. In order to obtain an advantage, White will have to make an attack on the kingside, since Black's d-pawn, though weak, cannot be won through a direct attack against it" (Capablanca 28).
21...Re7 22.Rfe1 Rde8 23.Re2Black to move
"It will be noticed that Lasker loses much time with his rooks in this game, playing them with strange indecision. Much better than the text-move would have been g4, restraining the movements of Black's bishop and knight and preventing his queen going over to the king's side via a5" (Burn, 106).
Cassel suggests that Lasker's rook shifting was a psychological ploy: "Capablanca was not to be disconcerted" (6).
As noted above, Lasker stated that from move 19 up to the blunder on move 29, "my game was without any ideas."
23...Qa5 24.Rf1Burn thought g4 could still be played at this point.
24...Qh5 25.Kg1 a6 26.Rff2"A simple a2-a4 would be better to prevent the possibility of b7-b5" (Lasker, 29).
26...Qg6 27.Rf3Black to move
"White has now made seven moves with his rooks, but could have had them in the same position in three moves. A serious loss of time" (Burn, 106).
27.Nf5 Bxf5 28.exf5 Qh5 29.Rxe7 Rxe7 and Black has a good game" (Capablanca 28).
27...Qh527...Nxe4 "would have cost a piece" 28.f5 (Cassel, 6).
28.f5"Of doubtful value. While it shuts off the Bishop, it weakens furthermore the e-pawn and also creates a hole on e5 for Black pieces. The position, at first glance, looks very much in favor of White, but careful analysis will show that this is much more apparent than true" (Capablanca, 28-29).
"Hastiness, ruining the entire plan of attack. By playing b3-b4 or a2-a4, White would have a perfect position" (Lasker, 30).
28...Qh4 White to move
29.Kh2?"A blunder, made under time pressure combined with difficulties attached to the position" (Capablanca, 29).
"Also, a serious mistake. It would better to play Rf3-e3. Possible was and a2-a4" (Lasker, 30).
29...Ng4+"[B]oldly invited" by Lasker (Cassel, 6).
"Winning an exchange and the game" (Lasker, 30).
Dr. Lasker sacrificed his rook for Capablanca's knight, although superficially, it might appear that the Cuban had caught him napping. A glance at the position, however, will show that the black Queen, while not in immediate danger, has all too little scope and that great care must be exercised in order to bring about a wholly satisfactory state of affairs for the Cuban.
Herman Helms, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1.3
30.Kh1 Ne5 31.Qd2 Nxf3 32.Nxf3 Black to move
Capablanca sealed his 32nd move. The conclusion of the game will be presented tomorrow in "
Lasker -- Capablanca, Game 14 (concluded)".
The article in the
New York Post expressed optimism regarding Lasker's chances: "Dr. Lasker, although the exchange behind, had blocked off Capablanca's Bishop and altogether was left with excellent prospects, as the black Queen was none too comfortably placed."
*Edit (correction): I have credited assessments published in the newspapers to Hartwig Cassel, but that appears inaccurate. Lasker complained about Cassel's journalism, and others have noted that Cassel was on the scene in Havana. Cassel certainly provided the moves, but who wrote the commentary? Further research has shown that the unsigned articles in the
New York Evening Post, which I relied upon for my narrative, are nearly identical to articles in the
Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Herman Helms, publisher of
American Chess Bulletin, and an accomplished player who had defeated both Frank Marshall and Harry Pillsbury, is the author. Collaboration between Cassel and Helms go back to the first issue of
American Chess Bulletin in 1904.
SourcesBurn, Amos. "Fourteenth Game--Ruy Lopez." American Chess Bulletin, vol. 18, no. 5 (May-June 1921), 105-106.
Capablanca, José Raúl. World's Championship Matches, 1921 and 1927. New York: Dover, 1977.
"Dr. Lasker Resorts to Favorite Opening," New York Evening Post (21 April 1921), 6.
Helms, Herman. "Capablanca Exchange Ahead in Fourteenth Chess Game." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (21 April 1921), 1.3.
Lasker, Emanuel. Mein Wettkampf mit Capablanca. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter, and Co., 1922.
