| Jan-07-05 | | iron maiden: This final-round game was a vital one for both players. Going into the final round Lasker was eager to avenge his defeat a year earlier at Hastings. On the other hand, Tarrasch was trailing Lasker by only a half-point, and a victory would have given him clear first place. Incidentally, this is the last time these two met over the board until their championship match twelve years later. |
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| Jan-07-05 | | Calli: <IM> My DB puts this game in the next to last round. It did clinch the tournament for Lasker. He went on to lose in the last round to Charousek. After 20.fxe5! , then of course if 20...gxh5?? 21.Rxf6+ Ke7 22.Rg7 is mate |
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| Jan-07-05 | | iron maiden: <Calli> I stand corrected. My annotations read, "18th and final round," but apparently they overlooked the fact that, with an odd number of competitors, everyone would have to have a bye. |
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| Jan-07-05 | | fred lennox: This game shows that knight on the rim is dim, at least dimmer than one on the 4th, 5th and 6th rank. |
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| May-25-05 | | like a GM: I can't believe Fischer thought Lasker was a coffee house player and regarding Tarrasch he said: "Razor-sharp, he always followed his own rules. In spite of devotion to his own supposedly scientific method, his play was often witty and bright." Is it because Lasker was a Jew? |
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| May-25-05 | | paladin at large: <like a GM> That's astounding - I was not aware Fischer was down on Lasker. An attractive game, which could have been played by Capablanca, it shows as much as anything Lasker's faith in centralization. <fred lennox> is right. |
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May-25-05
 | | keypusher: Tarrasch was Jewish too. "Razor-sharp, he always followed his own rules. In spite of devotion to his own supposedly scientific method, his play was often witty and bright." That is a perfectly accurate description of Tarrasch's play (except for the part about always following his own rules). As for his description of Lasker, never underestimate Fischer's desire to create a sensation. |
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Oct-13-07
| | keypusher: <On the other hand, Tarrasch was trailing Lasker by only a half-point, and a victory would have given him clear first place.> After 17 rounds, Lasker had 12 1/2 points. Tarrasch and Pillsbury both had 11, and Maroczy had 10 1/2. So, even if Lasker had lost, he still would have been in first place. As it was, in the eighteenth round Pillsbury lost and Maroczy won, so Lasker was two points ahead of the field going into the final round. |
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| Apr-11-09 | | M.D. Wilson: Fischer's comments regarding Lasker shouldn't be taken seriously. He thought Lasker often played second best moves to obtain some sort of psychological advantage. I think it's true that Lasker sometimes allowed his opponents opportunities, but he had almost complete faith in his ability to grind out wins, or swindle wins from lost positions, mainly due to his endgame mastery and iron nerves. It sure worked for him, though. |
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| Apr-17-09 | | Chachaman: Tarrasch and Lasker were Jewish? All the good chess players are Jewish! Lasker
Tarrasch
Rubinstein
Reshevsky
Fine
Najdorf
The list goes on... |
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| Apr-17-09 | | Marmot PFL: This is a very bad game by Tarrasch. He is outplayed positionally, then overlooks the loss of a pawn by a 2 move mate threat.
As for Fischer, he revived Lasker's weapon, the exchange Spanish, and used a quote from Lasker to introduce his 60 Memorable Games. Fischer also changed his mind about the King's Gambit, playing it several times after saying it was busted. |
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| Aug-28-09 | | whiteshark: Tarrasch's comment on 12...Qxe3 <Not good because it strengthens
White's center. But after 12...Qe7 Black could not have
castled Q side on account of Qa7, whereas castling K-side
would have been dangerous on account of the open g-file. Black
is paying the penalty of his mistake on the 9th move.> is a misjudgement. |
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| Dec-12-11 | | Llawdogg: I like that Tarrasch analyzed his loss and found his critical mistake (9 ... Bxf3) and suggested an improvement (f6). |
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| Aug-26-17 | | lame duck: <Chachaman: All the good chess players are Jewish!>
It is not exactly so.
Chigorin was Russian.
Capablanca was Cuban.
Alekhine was Russian.
Weren't they good chess players?
The list goes on... |
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| Aug-13-21 | | gary11201: All the good chess players are/were Jewish? What about Philidor, Morphy, Botvinnik, Smyslov, and Petrosian? And what does it mean anyway to be Jewish? Do you have to keep kosher? Believe the Ten Commandments were given at Mt. Sinai? Observe the Sabbath? Have Jewish ancestors? (Hitler liked that one, although it begs the question). What's the test? |
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Aug-14-21
 | | Williebob: Botvinnik was Jewish. So is Kasparov. Probably the best Jewish player of the last 20 years is Gelfand, unless I am forgetting someone else important.
Oh, and Fischer was possibly Jewish too via his biological father, but that is a mystery.
What does it mean to be Jewish? Well, all the Jews I know are descendants of Jews, typically of the Ashkenazi line. I believe this can be verified by commercial DNA tests like 23&Me, of course along with all the major racial families. You might have a little bit o’ Jew in you, too! :)
The 20th century certainly saw many famous and amazing Jewish people. |
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Aug-14-21
| | Williebob: Minor correction: Kasparov was certainly the best player 20 years ago, but Gelfand would then be the best Jewish player after his retirement 17 years ago (unless, again, I am forgetting some other leading player.)
Of course it?s a little hyperbolic to say ?all the best were Jews,? but you gotta admit that Jewish players were quite noticeably dominant for most of the 20th century. |
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Jul-04-24
 | | Honza Cervenka: <But after 12...Qe7 Black could not have castled Q side on account of Qa7> I don't think that Qa7 is such a big deal, let's say after 12...Qe7 13.Rhg1 0-0-0 14.Qa7, as black can play 14...Qb4 (eliminating threat Qa8+ and Qxb7) and 15...Qb6. 18...c5? was a grave mistake leading to disaster. After 18...g6 or 18...Nd7 with idea 19.Nh5 g6 black would have been only slightly worse. Of course, 18...c5 allows 19.Nh5! g6 20.fxe5! winning a Pawn, as 20...gxh5 is not an option here for 21.Rxf6+ Ke7 22.Rg7#. |
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Jul-04-24
| | Honza Cervenka: <Williebob> There was an old joke circulating among chess players when I was a kid that there are just three kinds of chess grandmasters: soviet grandmasters, jewish grandmasters and soviet grandmasters of jewish origin. And why were so many Jews among chess masters over the history of the game can be explained by words of Czech jewish writer Karel Poláček, who used to say (and he lived by his own words for sure) that a proper Jew belongs in a coffeehouse, where the game of chess was always at home.;-) |
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Apr-02-25
| | Williebob: <Honza>, I only just saw your kibitz from last year, but those are funny and delightful comments -- thank you for sharing. Cheers! |
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Apr-02-25
 | | perfidious: Small wonder I had such a tough time with them! (laughs) Per Wikipedia, here is a list of notable Jewish players, though it is by no means exhaustive: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_... |
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Apr-02-25
| | Williebob: Lawdy, that list!
<Honza: .. Poláček, who used to say .. that a proper Jew belongs in a coffeehouse, where the game of chess was always at home.>The goyim have taken over since the Jews established a homeland. Oh! But there is this from the Wiki article: <Beer-sheba in Israel is the city with the most chess grandmasters per capita in the world.> |
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| Apr-02-25 | | stone free or die: <The 20th century certainly saw many famous and amazing Jewish people.> Like Sammy Davis Jr.
https://daily.jstor.org/sammy-davis... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?... |
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