Emanuel Lasker vs Ernest William Witchard (1908) The Suspicions of Mr Witchard

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Emanuel Lasker vs Ernest William Witchard
"The Suspicions of Mr Witchard" (game of the day Sep-05-2022)
Simul, 20b (1908) (exhibition), Gloucester ENG, Feb-25
King's Gambit: Accepted. King's Knight Gambit (C34) · 0-1

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

0-1

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

FEN COPIED

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Mar-09-09		alexrawlings: How about 11 Bh6? This is the only game in the database where black survives 4.. g6 5 Nxg5. I looked it up because someone just played it against me in a correspondance game.

Oct-08-11		Honza Cervenka: 4...f6 is a howler, which should lose the game. 11.Bh6 is okay and 12.Bh6 looks even better. But white had utterly won game in the text as well until 15.Rf3? Instead of that 15.Bd2 or 15.Rd1 should win easily. Lasker apparently hoped in 16...Qxa1? 17.Rg3 and overlooked that after 16...Qxg2+! 17.Ke3? (17.Ke1 was still relatively good for white) 17...Rxh7! turns the table as 18.Qxh7 Bc5+ leads to quick mate. It can happen even to such a genius like him in a simul game.

Dec-07-14		TheFocus: From a simul in Gloucester, England on February 25, 1908. Lasker scored +16=2-2.

Jun-16-16		MissScarlett: I don't care if you are world champion. You don't play on three pieces down.

Jun-16-16		zanzibar: I wonder how Mr. Witchard felt about the matter?

Jun-17-16		offramp: <zanzibar: I wonder how Mr. Witchard felt about the matter?> At first he would have simply refused to believe that it was happening. He would have stared at his venerable opponent open-mouthed in shock. Gradually he would have realised that the game was indeed continuing, and Mr Witchard would have felt genuinely sad that this was the way the world was in 1908. That feeling of sadness would have changed (by move 29) to powerful feelings of anger and revulsion. He would have banged the table and used anglo-saxon invective at Dr Lasker, with references to Lasker's weight and height and religion. There would then have followed a general period of peace as Mr Witchard came to terms with the inescapable fact that the game was continuing. He would have felt a strong epiphanic feeling of release and serenity, possibly transforming into a paradisiacal, zen-like stasis. That's how Mr Witchard would have felt about the matter.

Jun-17-16		offramp: The Suspicions of Mr Witchard.

Sep-05-22		OhioChessFan: Must be a British reference...googling...yes it is. Amusing pun.

Sep-05-22		FSR: Lasker, like Nimzowitsch against Saemisch, must have been thinking "Why must I lose to this idiot?"

Sep-05-22		FSR: I didn't understand the pun. It is evidently an allusion to a book, later made into a film and television series. See https://www.readinggroupguides.com/...

Sep-05-22		HeMateMe: British telly?

Sep-05-22		FSR: <HMM> Yes.

Sep-05-22		HeMateMe: When can we have dead parrots and the argument store in the GOTD?

Sep-05-22		Teyss: <offramp>'s above description of Mr Witchard's suspicions about the game has to be better than the TV series (which I haven't seen).

Sep-05-22		Brenin: So irritating, these patzers who don't know when to resign. The game was over by move 20. (The TV series is worth watching, if you get a chance.)

Sep-05-22		AlicesKnight: February 25th is apparently People Power Day in the Philippines. Perhaps an example of 'people power' here .....

Sep-08-22		TheBish: 15. Rf3 was not the blunder in this game. The blunder occurred on the next move, when Lasker failed to see his error, which could have been corrected by 16. Rf1! Qd4 (nothing better than repeating for Black) and now simply 17. Bd2.

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