Emanuel Lasker’s Simultaneous Checkmates

·

Chessable Blog
Table of Contents

Emanuel Lasker was the World Chess Champion from 1894 until 1921. His 27-year tenure remains a record and it is unlikely to be beaten.

Simultaneous chess displays see a strong player taking on numerous other people at the same time. To see a simultaneous display in full flow is an ingressive sight. The strong player will find their strength diluted by having to play instantly at each board before moving on to the next one.

Such displays traditionally gave chess stars a little extra income. A reigning champion of the world can obviously ask for a substantial fee.

More often than not, newspapers would print the defeats of the great masters, usually by a local hero. However, there is plenty of entertainment and instruction to be found in the games won by the stronger players.

Now that Checkmate Monday has arrived again, we are taking the opportunity to present a plethora of fine checkmates by Emanuel Lasker, all of which occurred during his simultaneous displays.

Simultaneous Checkmates

Bachmann – Emanuel Lasker

Switzerland, 1898
Black to play

 

An easy one to start with. Lasker won with 31…Qf3+ 32. Rg2 Qxg2 checkmate.

 

Bachmann - Emanuel

 

Next, there is a typical king hunt.

 

Simultaneous CheckmatesEmanuel Lasker – McBride
USA, 1902
White to Play

 

9.e5+ fxe5 10. Ne4 checkmate.

 

Lasker - McBride

 

Lasker sacrificed his queen in this one. This is a risky thing to do in a simultaneous display, as the sheer number of games on the star’s mind can easily lead to important details being missed. Yet Lasker did not miss much in any of his games and produced another fine finish.

 

Lasker - NN
Emanuel Lasker – NN
England, 1908
White to Play

6.Nf5+ Kh7 7.Nxd6+ Kh6 8. Nxf7+ Kh5 9. Bg6+ Kh4 10. Rg4 checkmate.

Rg4 Mate

 

Here, Lasker would like to capture the pawn on h7 with his queen. The problem is that the black queen is defending the square.

 

Rook Sacrifice

Emanuel Lasker-NN
The Netherlands, 1908
White to Play

 

Lasker solves the problem by sacrificing his rook. 1. Re7 Qxe7 2. Rf8+ Qxf8 3. Qxh7 checkmate.

 

Qxh7

 

Let us finish with a fine queen sacrifice.

 

Queen Sacrifice

Emanuel Lasker – NN
Berlin, 1897
White to Play

 

5. Qxf7+ Kxf7 6. Ne7+ and now Black resigned; 1-0. Black can delay the checkmate for one move with 6…Bf3, but 7.Rxf3 finishes the job. Beautiful play by the great Emanuel Lasker.

 

Checkmate Attack

Chessable Course

If you enjoyed the games from the checkmating queens, you may like to know that there are many more beautiful checkmating patterns in our course, The Checkmate Patterns Manual, by International Master John Bartholomew and CraftyRaf. This course won third place in our Chessable Awards for 2020.

The Checkmate Patterns Manual

There is a shortened, free version of the course here.

Spring Sale

When you visit our main site, don’t forget to examine the bargains in our Spring Sale!

Was this helpful? Share it with a friend :)

4.9 with 3.65K user reviews

Check them on individual course pages