It sounds fine.

If you are going to push through with this project, it would be just great! I would suggest the first two matches to be the 1910 Lasker-Schlechter (80% draws) and 1921 Capablanca-Lasker (71%). I believe these two matches are crucial in our understanding of the modern World Championship Math because these are the matches that started it all - the first examples of the high quality nearly errorless closely fought World Championship matches that we see with regularity since the beginning of the Karpov era.

Here are some suggested caveats which you already stated above, stated in different words:

1. Desperate moves in a lost position that are regarded as 'blunders' by computers may not be real effective blunders.

2. Often when faced with multiple winning lines, an advantaged human chess player chooses the humanly simplest to follow, but which is regarded as a blunder by a computer. For example, there is a sure mate in 5 in a position, but follows a very complicated path from the viewpoint of the human chess eye. A human player would often choose a simpler but longer path; something like winning a piece instead, or transposing into a clearly won endgame. This is especially true when under time pressure. Such a decision to choose a longer winning line may be a blunder in the viewpoint of a computer, but in effect is perfectly fine, as it surely brings the full point anyway even though it takes longer.

I will do it (and it will take time), but rather than these two early matches I'd rather compare and contrast Schlechter-Lasker with one of the "massacres", preferably one of the recent ones such as the second Botvinnik-Tal natch or the second Korchnoi-Karpov match.

What do you reckon?

I've finished the preliminary mapping of the Zukertort-Steinitz game, and I'll deal with it on my forum, rather than here. I think your project should stay on page 1 for a while at least.

It gets even more mysterious considering that it is his NN opponent and not Lucena himself that had an Elo of 2720 back in the 15th century:

<frogbert> Back in the days when USCF ratings had to be looked up in a printed booklet, I once saw a player in a Class event win the Under-1200 section with a rating of 1092. It turned out that his rating was actually 1350; the 1092 was the month and year of his memberhsip expiration, which was also printed in the booklet.

The kicker was that the guy was an older blind gentleman, and honestly had no idea what had happened. He just played wherever he was led, often without knowing his opponent's name or rating.

The position is #133 in Lucena's book:

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I can't read much of the caption, but I think it refers to White mating Black in four moves. There appears to be no such mate, but in looking around I discovered that many of Lucena's problems utilized the "old" rules which were commonly used until about 1475.

One of the old rules restricted to move of the bishop to two squares diagonally. with the option to leap an intervening piece. Like the knight, it did not attack the piece it leaped over.

There are two variations to the solution: <1.Nh7+ Kg8 2.Rf8+ Bxf8 3.Nf6+ Kh8 4.Rh7#>, and <1.Nh7+ Ke8 2.Rf8+ Bxf8 3.Nf6+ Kd8 4.Rd7#>, since the Bc8 is not attacking the rook.

<El blanco tiene la mano y dize que dara xaque y mate al negro en iiii lãnces ni mas ni menos el primero de cavallo en a y dize xaque despues de roque em b y de cavallo em c y de roque em d.>

I'm posting a translation I've made for those who couldn't understand the text in the diagram above.

It is a bit archaic, but readily intelligible to anyone that knows modern-day Spanish, the main issue is to understand this Gothic font if you're not used to it, I think.

Of the old, in 4

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White is to play and has said he will deliver mate to Black in 4 moves, neither plus nor minus. First with the ♘ in A (h7) and White says check, then with the ♖ in B (f8), then with the ♘ in C (f6) and with the ♖ in D (d7/h7).

Dear <SirChrislov>, herewith I communicate one more position that has been published in LUCENA's book - though I have to admit that I have found that position in the great book "The Art Of The Checkmate" by Georges Renaud and Victor Kahn ... and I have been too lazy to try to find that very position in the online edition of LUCENA's book.

I am talking of the basic position of THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - VERSION NO. 1

Herewith the starting-out position that has been composed by LUCENA in 1497..

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The final moves will be as follows:

1.Qe6+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Nh6++ Kh8 4.Qg8+!! Rxg8 5.Nf7# 1-0

Now we see: That very GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1 has to be called "Lucena's Legacy", in case we are talking of the notorious "legacy" with regard to THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1 ... whereas Old Philidor has done a lot for teaching chess tactics and chess strategies, for sure, but there is no justification to link Philidor's name to THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1 since it has been LUCENA who has first composed that nice teamwork by Queen and Knight in order to hunt down the King on the opposite side of the board.

Since 1497, LUCENA's Matrix of THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1 has been put on the board over and over again. In the following two parallel cases - out of a million (or so ...) of parallel cases.

First of all - the original after the decisive 1.Qe6+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ ...

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Now a famous parallel case that has been put on the board 362 years after LUCENA having composed THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1: That is Morphy vs Schrufer, 1859 after 21.Nd7+ ...

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... with the only difference that the sides have been reversed and Black King gets cornered on the right Black wing this time.

Last not least a more recent case of replay, no more and no less than 474 years after LUCENA having composed THE GREAT SMOTHERED CHECKMATE - BASIC VERSION NO. 1: That is B Koester vs R Gralla, 1971 after 22. ... Nf2+ ...

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... with the only difference that the colours have been reversed (in comparison to LUCENA's original composition).

1.Qe6+ Kh8 2.Nf7+ Kg8 3.Nh6++ Kh8 4.Qg8+!! Rxg8 5.Nf7# 1-0>

The final moves could also be as follows:

Humor Concerning the World Chess Championship Finals

The Title Holder Says

The crown is precious, not at all cheap
Which I must somehow, keep keep keep
But I've many hurdles to leap
To drown my foe, deep deep deep

The Challenger Says

https://www.chess.com/blog/KingsBis...

or