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The Chess
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Editor: Dr Tim |
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The Chess
History |
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Editor: Dr Tim |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
5 October 2021
This page presents the four most serious problems concerning match games between Steinitz and Lasker.
(For details in each case, please see our full article in PDF or the supplied PGN file.)
The problems begin with the very first game they played, Game 1 of the 1894 World Championship match. This position arose after Lasker's move 35 Nb3.
Primary sources in the then current English descriptive notation show that Black played "35...R-K6" which is 35...Re3 in the algebraic notation universally in use today. But several databases have 35...Re6 instead and at least one recent book that has taken the score from a database has the same error.
At least it is certain in this case which version is correct, and the same is true of most of the other cases in our full article. The following three cases, however, seem to be much harder to settle.
The next example comes from the fourth game of the 1894 match, Steinitz playing White. His King is in check and sources differ about which square he moved it to.
49 Kb3 was almost certainly played, as most of the primary sources state; Black's rook is attacked. Yet the Deutsche Schachzeitung gave 49 Kb4 (probably a misprint) while many modern sources, including GM Hübner's book on the match, give 49 Ka4-b5. After 49...Ra8 50 Kc4 the same position is reached in all versions.
In the 11th game of the same match, there is a discrepancy between sources about which pawn Steinitz (Black) advanced at move 31 in this position.
A small majority of primary sources say ...b6 was played here but others say ...g6 which GM Hübner considers more plausible (because 31...b6 can be met by 32 Be4 which was not played) but it is hard to settle this question definitively.
The most difficult case concerns the third game of their second World Championship match in 1896. What did Steinitz (White) play here at move 25?
Some sources say Q-KB2 (Qf2) and others Q-QB2 (Qc2). The second of these looks more plausible to us. After White's 32nd move Qd2 both versions reach the same position, but some sources also disagree about how the game ended. See the PDF and PGN files for full details.
Tim Harding's full 9-page article is available in PDF and his annotated PGN file of all 48 games between the champions (including two consultation games) is also free to download, but his article is copyright and we request a credit if you make use of his notes.
Return to the series introduction page.
NOTE: Most of the games played between Steinitz and Lasker fall outside the scope of Tim Harding's book Steinitz in London. Only their game at Hastings 1895 (which does have an issue concerning the finish) and their two games from London 1899 (which are unproblematic) are in the book.