At first glance, I was not certain what to make of this game. The Four Knights Opening transposed into a Steinitz Defense in the Spanish and it was hard for me to see much opportunity for either player. The middlegame seemed to show a lot of fruitless maneuvering. But, as I spent more time playing through the game and reading annotations, tactical threats and positional nuances became evident.
I started with annotations by both players, and then looked at those in British Chess Magazine by George A. Thomas and the unsigned annotations in American Chess Bulletin. I have the Dover reprint of Capablanca's book on the match, but rely on two ChessBase training DVDs (Master Class vols, 4 and 5) for Lasker's notes. These are in German, which I do not read well.
At one time, I had a decent shelf of German language books, including an excellent dictionary and a couple of grammars. I had two years of high school German, and another year in graduate school. These books were in a box in a closet where a cat's water dish overflowed, ruining the books. Hence, I must rely on Google Translate for unfamiliar words, of which there are plenty.
Game three was played over three days at the Marianao Casino in Havana, mostly on Saturday and Sunday, March 19-20, and then concluded Tuesday, March 22. Monday was a rest day that Lasker ordinarily used to fulfill some journalistic commitments in the Netherlands.
Capablanca,Jose Raul -- Lasker,Emanuel [C66]
World Championship 12th Havana (3), 19.03.1921
[Capablanca/Lasker/Stripes]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3
In both the Spanish and the Italian, I'd rather put a pawn on c3. As a consequence, I don't think I've played the White side of the Four Knights in this century, except perhaps in a training game with a student. Youth players seem to favor the opening, especially the Italian Four Knights, which FM Jim Maki calls the Spokane Scholastic Opening.
3...Nf6 4.Bb5 d6
4...Nd4 According to I.A. Horowitz, Chess Openings: Theory and Practice (1964), the Rubinstein variation "drove the Four Knights into disrepute" (20). Nonetheless, "there are some finesses to know and some problems not to be underestimated" (13).
Spielmann had credited the Rubinstein variation as, "the main reason why the Four Knights is now played so rarely" (as quoted in Donaldson and Minev, Akiba Rubinstein: Uncrowned King [1994], 195). Donaldson and Minev go on to credit Nigel Short and John Nunn with reviving the opening with new ideas for White.
5.d4 Bd7 6.O-O Be7 7.Re1
Black to move
7...exd4
American Chess Bulletin points out that 7...0-0 allows White to spring the "Tarrasch Trap", an instructive sequence of exchanges that appeared in Tarrasch -- Marco, Dresden 1892. The game is annotated in Tarrasch, 300 Games of Chess; Tartakower and DuMont, 500 Master Games of Chess; and Reti, Masters of the Chessboard. All of these books are on my shelf, and the annotations are reproduced in ChessBase Mega 2020. Perhaps, I'll create a separate post on the game.
That game continued 8.Bxc6 Bxc6 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Qxd8 Raxd8 11.Nxe5 Bxe4 12.Nxe4 Nxe4 13.Nd3 f5 14.f3 Bc5+ 15.Nxc5 Nxc5 16.Bg5 Rd5 17.Be7 and Marco resigned. The entire sequence has appeared several times in master play since with a scoring percentage for White near 90%.
8.Nxd4
Lasker had this position twice in his World Championship match with Tarrasch in 1908. He also had it against Janowski in a match a year later that was not an official World Championship match.
8...O-O
8...Nxd4 9.Qxd4 Bxb5 10.Nxb5 0-0 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 Re8 13.Rad1 0-1 (41) Tarrasch,S -- Lasker,E, Duesseldorf & Munich 1908.
9.Bxc6
9.Nxc6 Bxc6 10.Bxc6 bxc6 11.Ne2 Qd7 12.Ng3 Rfe8 13.b3 Rad8 14.Bb2 Ng4 0-1 (41) Tarrasch,S -- Lasker,E, Duesseldorf & Munich 1908.
9...bxc6
White to move
10.Bg5
More popular today are 10.Qf3 and 10.Bf4.
10...h6 11.Bh4 Re8 12.Qd3 Nh7 13.Bxe7
An old move, generally played by all the masters. I believe, however, that 13.Bg3 is the best continuation (Capablanca).
13.Bg3 was played against Capablanca two years prior to this match. 13...Nf8 14.Rad1 Bf6 15.Rd2 Qb8 16.f4 Bxd4+ 17.Qxd4 Qxb2 18.Rb1 Qa3 19.Rb3 Qa5 0-1 (32) Cole,H -- Capablanca,J Hastings 1919.
13...Rxe7
White to move
14.Re3
14.Qc4 will come up in game six.
14...Qb8
This move gives the game its character. Qxb2 is not threatened directly because Ra1-b1, Qb2-a3, Nc3-d5 would then lead to material superiority, but the move provokes b2-b3 and loosens White's position (Lasker).
15.b3
Unnecessary at this point, since Black cannot take the pawn (Capablanca).
15.Rae1 Qxb2? 16.Rb1 Qa3 17.Nd5 White wins material.
15...Qb6 16.Rae1 Rae8 17.Nf3
White wants to proceed with e4-e5 in order to weaken the point c5 (Lasker).
A nice point about the two ChessBase training DVDs is effective use of the software's capabilities for highlighting squares.
Black to move
17...Qa5 18.Qd2
Now Nc3-d5 is threatened (Lasker).
Black to move
18...Ng5
A very good move, which gives Black the better position (Capablanca).
The mutual respect that Capablanca and Lasker had for one another often reveals itself in their annotations.
19.Nxg5
19.Nd5 no longer works 19...Nxf3+ 20.gxf3 Qxd2; 19.Qd3 Nxf3+ 20.Rxf3.
19.Nd4 might have been worth considering.
19...hxg5 20.h3
I would have preferred to try to use the h-file.
This move is necessary because otherwise Black would paralyze the white pawns with g5-g4 (Lasker).
20...Re5 21.Rd1
Black to move
21...Bc8
Admittedly the energetic 21...f5 is bad, not because of 22.exf5 (But White would not do the Black the favor of exchanging. And after 22.f3 the g5 pawn would be weak. For example 22...d5 [or 22...f4 23.Rd3 and now White occasionally threatens h4, and Black is more on the defensive] 23.Rd3) 22...Rxe3 23.fxe3 Bxf5 where the weakness of c2 and e3, even after 24.e4 Bg6 Black gives good prospects (Lasker).
Now 21...g4 was the stronger continuation. For example 22.hxg4 Bxg4 23.f3 Bc8 24.Qd4 Qb6 25.Red3 f5 (Lasker).
21...f5 22.f3 (22.exf5 Rxe3 23.fxe3 Bxf5) 22...g4 (22...d5 23.Rd3; 22...f4 23.Rd3) (Lasker).
21...g4 22.hxg4 Bxg4 23.f3 Bc8 24.Qd4 Qb6 25.Red3 f5 (Lasker).
22.Rd3 Qb6 23.Kh2 R8e6 24.Rg3
White wants to open lines for the rooks with f2-f4, Black prevents the maneuver by counterattacking f2 (Lasker).
24...Rf6
Artifice and no end! (Lasker).
Why not 24...f6 If White then answers 25.f4, he is at a disadvantage after 25...gxf4 26.Qxf4 Rh5. (Lasker).
White to move
25.Kg1
25.f3 would have been answered by 25...Qc5 (Lasker).
25...Kf8 26.Na4 Qa5 27.Qxa5 Rxa5
After exchanging queens, Black has no chance of winning, provided that White goes his straight way without fear or illusion. There is no question that Capablanca is the right man to do this (Lasker).
28.Rc3
Played under the impression that Black would have to play 28...Bd7. Since Black can play the text move, it would have been better for White to have played 28.c4 (Capablanca).
28...Bb7 29.f3 Re6 30.Rcd3 Ba6 31.Rd4 f6
White to move
32.Rc1
Perhaps this was the adjourned position. My sources do not indicate the point where the game was adjourned at 1:00 am Sunday morning to be resumed at 9:00 pm.
32.c4 would be an error, as Thomas noted in British Chess Magazine. 32...c5, rook moves, and Bxc4.
32...c5 33.Rd2 Bb5 34.Nc3 Bc6 35.a4
White now threatens to lock up Black's rook with Rc1-a1. If then Ra5-a6 then a4-a5 (Lasker).
35...Ra6 36.Kf2 Rb6 37.Nd1 Kf7
White to move
38.Ne3 Rb8 39.Rh1 Ree8 40.Rdd1 Rh8 41.g4 Bd7 42.Nd5 Rb7 43.Kg3 Rh4 44.Rd3 Be6 45.c4
Black to move
White purposely makes weak pawns on b3 and h3 in order to prevent the advance of c5 and g5 just in case. With that he blocks the position and reaches a draw (Lasker).
The rest of the game seems almost futile. However, perhaps such maneuvering against lesser players could provoke frustration and error.
45...Rh8 46.Rc1 Ke8
White to move
47.Ne3
47.f4 would be a blunder 47...c6 48.Re3 (48.Ne3 gxf4+ 49.Kxf4 Rxh3 50.g5 (50.Rxd6 g5#) 50...fxg5+ 51.Kxg5) 48...Kd7 (48...cxd5 49.exd5) 49.fxg5 (49.Nc3 gxf4+ 50.Kxf4 Rxb3) 49...fxg5 50.Nc3 Rxb3.
47...Kd7
White has slightly more space, but the backward pawns are targets. Black's bishop guards against intrusions by the knight.
48.Ng2 Rbb8 49.Re1 Kc6 50.Ne3 Rbe8 51.Rb1 Rh7 52.Rd2 Rb8 53.Rd3 Rbh8
White to move
54.Rh1 Kb6 55.Rh2 Kc6 56.Rh1 Rb8 57.Rh2 Rf8 58.Rh1 Kd7 59.Rh2 Bf7 60.Nf5 Rfh8 61.Ne3 Ke6 62.Nd5 Rc8
White to move
Here, the game was adjourned a second time.
63.Ne3 ½-½
Lasker had the initiative for much of the game, but could not provoke a decisive error by Capablanca.
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