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Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German World Chess Champion, mathematician, and philosopher born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland).
In 1894 he became the second World Chess Champion by defeating Steinitz with ten wins, four draws and five losses. He maintained this title for twenty-seven years, the longest tenure of any officially recognized World Champion of chess. He defended his title successfully against Steinitz (1896), Frank Marshall (1907), Siegbert Tarrasch (1908), Carl Schlecter (1910) and David Janowski (1910).
Lasker is noted for his "psychological" method of play in which he considered the subjective qualities of his opponent in addition to the objective requirements of his position on the board. Richard Réti even speculated that Lasker would sometimes knowingly choose inferior moves if he knew they would make his opponent uncomfortable, although Lasker himself denied this. But, for example, in one famous game against Capablanca (St. Petersburg 1914) which he needed to win at all costs, Lasker chose an opening that is considered to be relatively harmless — but only if the opponent is prepared to mix things up in his own turn. Capablanca, inclined by the tournament situation to play it safe, failed to take active measures and so justified Lasker's strategy. Lasker won the game. The game was a microcosm of Lasker's style; he invested little study in the opening, was tremendously resourceful in the middlegame and he played the endgame at the highest level. Indeed, even when Lasker was in his late 60s, Capablanca considered him the most dangerous player around in any single game.
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