Book Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Introduces chess and goes well beyond
"Lasker's Manual of Chess" doesn't mess arround. It is absolutely perfect for someone who needs a brief reminder of the basic rules and then is ready to get quickly into the strategic parts of chess. It is a well written book for an adult reader or older teenage reader; younger kids or someone who is a super beginner should start with "Chess For Jrs" or possibly "Learn chess: A complete Course".
This may be an older book but it is very well written and a largely forgotten about classic.

I like this book
I like this book. It starts off with the basic rules and quickly gets into openings and strategy. I wish they would put it out in "algebraic chess notation" which is the only drawback. Since I get an A in all my classes as a 7th grade student I can understand this book well even with the old form of chess notation.

A Fantastic Classic!
This is one of the best Introductory Chess Books ever written for an adult. The only drawback is that it needs to be written in Algebraic Notation.
The former world champion also covers some more advanced concepts throughout the text.

A Classis Which Needs Updating and Notation Change
This wonderful classic is very well written for an adult (would be difficult reading for most kids) who is either a beginner or a player who has aquired basic skills. It provides a good mixture of basics with even some more advanced concepts. Lasker was a great chess teacher.
Then why 3 stars instead of 5? This is because the book requires some serious updating. For the more advanced player the openings are very outdated. The book needs to be written in the more modern and efficient Algebraic form of notation. And, as already mentioned, it is difficult reading for possible use by a young reader.

The Best Chess Book Ever?
This may be the best chess book ever.I glance over my shoulder at a pile of 50+ chess books that I've purchased over my two year affair with the game of chess.Of these, only a few stand out as being truly worth the time and money.One offers such an exceptional value that I suggest it to everybody: Lasker's Manual of Chess.The prose is stilted and out of date, the section on the openings is wanting, and it starts out with directions for how to play...BUT the sections on combination, positional play, and the model games have few equals.I love endgame studies and this book is full of them.This book never fails to get me out of a rut.BTW, take the positional advantage diagrams and play them out against your chess computer for a fun lesson.

If you love chess, do yourself a favor and pick up this, Tarrasch's Game of Chess, Nunn's Understanding Chess Move by Move, Howell's Essential Chess Endings, and Kotov's Art of the Middlegame.They may be all the chess books you ever need. ... Read more

Book Description
Emanuel Lasker held the world chess championship longer than any other player in history (1894 to 1921). He competed against such greats as Capablanca, Rubinstein, and Alekhine at the height of their game, and was consistently successful—yet almost no one studies his games today. International Grandmaster Andrew Soltis now rectifies that oversight with a book that takes the full measure of Lasker’s genius. With more than 100 annotated games, this extended look into the thinking of a neglected chess wizard is full of surprises—offering both a much-needed reappraisal of Lasker and a cornucopia of fresh insights for today’s player.
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Customer Reviews (4)

A monument to Lasker
Tal, Alekhine and Korchnoi love(d) him. Fischer, Larsen and Kasparov show considerably less regard. Soltis tries to convince us that the "good doctor" matters. To justify his thesis Soltis firmly believes that the best way is not to tell us, but show us. The 100 games are covered in 320 pages--80 more pages than he devoted to "Bobby Fischer Rediscovered." In his usual style Soltis sets the historical stage for each encounter and highlights those themes and critical points which reveal Lasker qua Lasker: His games are replete with calculated risk-taking, material sacrifices for positional gains, middlegame-to-endgame transitional skill, making the best practical moves, targets, subterfuge, insight into opponent's style, and complicating when the situation merits it.

During this exciting expose of a dynamic and resourceful genius, Soltis dispels some popular myths about Lasker the mesmerist, psychologist, sorcerer--early 20th century pseudo-intellectual nonsense which has clouded Lasker's real legacy. Lasker simply appeared to be ahead of his time and modern players will feel right at home studying his games.

This in my estimation is Soltis' best work, a monument to Lasker.

Of course, Lasker matters!!! Andrew Soltis, you have done a good job!!!
I totally agree with another reader's review title. To me, Lasker is one of the three strongest chess champions in the history. The other two are Fischer and Kasparov. I do not use the word greatest as I think in each generation each Chess Champion were the greatest in their days, otherwise they would not be Champions. But why I specifically mention these three? I think it lay on the fact that all champions are genius, but one point is the degree of stress they can withstand makes the 3 mentioned above to stand apart from the other champions. I always imagine that if the past champions re-incarnate, study current theories, like Capablanca, Alekhine, Botvinnik etc, they would still lose to Fischer and Kasparov. The fact is not their chess knowledge and play are worse than Fischeror Kasparov, but they cannot withstand the enormous pressure from these two. As Korchnoi once commented about his chance against Fischer, he said that he was not afraid of Fischer, but only in one or two games, concerning a match, he said he has no chance to survive. This apply to Kasparov' opponents as well. Only I think Lasker can stand against Fischer or Kasparov. One point or the points most of us neglect is that Lasker, besides being a chess champion, he was also amathematician and philosopher as well. He knew pschology no less than Fischer or Kasparov, in withstanding severe pressure, I conjecture he might be even better than the two.Though I am a fervent fan of Fischer and Kasparov, I still have to disdain their commments on Lasker. Fischer said Lasker was just a coffeehouse player and Kasparov said that thequality of match of Lasker's was poor. No!!! One cannot use today's standard to comment on the past. Otherwise I can laugh at Newton's concept of absolute space and time!!! In fact when I played through Lasker's games, I find them as interesting as Fischer's and Kasparov's games. Take just two examples, one can found a game as wild as the one between Lasker and Pillsbury in the third round of St. Petesburg 1895/1896 and as stategic as the one fromLasker's famous win over the almost invincible Capablanca in St. Petersburg in 1914 using a drawish opening and in fact he absolutely needed a win paradoxically!!.Andew Soltis, you have done a very good job!!

Worth buying
There have been several books already written yet Soltis manages to infuse something new and informative.
I find his comments vastly more interesting than Kasparov's in the chapter on Lasker in his series of previous World Champions.

yes, lasker does matter
this is an up-to-date look at laskers greatest games. i was hoping for more of a biographical section but you could tell soltis was just wanting to focus on the games. the analysis is just right, no endless variations but enough to make you make. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A Biography of a great man, mathematician , philosopher and chess master !!

This book is great in all senses: the information about the man and the epoch, the chess tournaments, the life of without doubt the greatest chess master ever, and probably he will remain insuperable, because he was not "only" a chess world champion, but also a "real" philosopher and mathematician in all the sense of those terms. So is sad when you hear that he has been called "a chess-coffee master" or something like that... ¿How dare them? His triumphs in life as a whole are innumerables, and in chess, without equal... "In august 1936 (Nottingham 1936), he once again amazed the chess world by a performance no one could possibly expect of him... achieved what seemed a miracle at the beginning of the tournament: he had caught up with the leaders every one of whom ranked among the world's top-players and was by decades his juniors (Botvinnik, Capablanca, Euwe, Fine, Reshevsky and Alekhine)... To have maintained his place among those leaders at the age of 68 was, perhaps, one of the greatest achievements in Lasker's long career..." (pgs. 297,299). This book, moreover, is beautifully written.

This is a nice collection of Lasker's games.
This book is a combination of a biography and game collection. There are 102 games in the book. The games are given in descriptive notation. The annotations were collected. Many of them are from the original book of the tournament that they were played in, however there are alot of games annotated by Reinfeld and Reti. Most of the annotations are light, and there is only one diagram per game. For about 60% of the tournaments that Lasker played in, full results are given. The theory in the book that Lasker played pyschological chess was Reti's theory.
The biography side of the book is pretty interesting. For the sake of those who aren't Yiddish speakers, the term 'chammer', which appears in the beginning of the book, really should be 'chammore', and means donkey. For some reason, this is the Yiddish phrase used to insult someone of less than average intelligence.

An Excellent Biography and Lots of Great Games
Emanuel Lasker was one of the four or five greatest chess players of all time, an outstanding player of many other games, and an outstanding mathematician and philosopher.The biography is a good read, but the gamesalone are worth the price of the book.They are in descriptive notation. I know a lot of players don't like descriptive notation, but there is amountain of low-priced classic chess literature in descriptive notation, ofwhich this book is just one of the many outstanding examples.Take myadvice: Learn descriptive and read the classics.You won't regret theexperience.

A great book about the greatest player
Another Dover reprint! You know I rate Dover books highly. This one is top notch too, reaching their usual high standards for binding etc. The original print is retained which is good as the diagrams from the hardcoveredition were excellent. [For computer users they are the Hastings font ] The translation to English was done by Heinrich Fraenkel ('Assiac') and isexcellent. The games are typical of Lasker - all fighting games ( there arelosses) and all show his grim determination to win. But the best part isthe biography. Lasker was a highly intelligent man, who only played chessout of necessity. We are treated to a description of his youth, hisrelationship with his brother, Berthold, who became a famous Doctor. Butthe real story is his romancing of Martha his wife. Great human interest,great chess, and we also get the crosstables for the events that Laskerplayed in. A must buy for all players no matter their strength. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A great book on the greatest fighter of chess world.
Fist of all I must say that the notation in this book is descriptive. But I think any one who has I. Q. can usually get used to it. If you have brought Soltis book on " Why Lasker matters ". Then I strongly recommend you to buy this book as well. Though I think some annotation of games may be false, since this book was first problished in Germana in 1952 and later translated into English. I think one very important point that Soltis' lacking is the human side of Lasker. Both chooses hundred of games, but this book spends considerable pages on the biography of Lasker. Lasker really is a " figher", as I have written in the review on" Soltis " book, if all the past champions can re-incarnate, then learn the current opening theory etc, and play matchs with Fischer or Kasparov, only Lasker can draw or even beat F or K. As stated in the mentioned review, the reason is not other champions who ches ability miles away compared with Fischer or Kasparov, the fact is simply these " Champions cannot cope the the tremendous pressure generated by F or K. " BUT Lasker can." I also wants to mention one more thing is that, besides a Chess World Champion, Lasker was also a great mathematcian of the firt category with contributing to the ring theory of Algebra. But Lasker is only forever remembered as a great Champion only especiall today.

Synopsis
First published in 1959. With a foreword by Albert Einstein. Emanuel Lasker held the World Chess Championship for a record period from 1894-1921. During this time he dominated his contemporaries in elite events such as St Petersburg 1896, London 1899, Paris 1900 and St Petersburg again in 1914. He won numerous matches against such greats as Steinitz, Marshall, Janowski and Tarrasch, as well as defending his title in a drawn match against Schlechter. This account of Lasker's life and games reads like a novel - how as a young man he fought his way to the world title while still in his twenties, how he survived the First World War and the later Nazi persecution of Jews in Germany, and how Lasker emerged at over 60 years of age to once again carve out a career for himself amongst the hungry young lions of world chess.

Lasker is one of the all time chess greats and this gripping book does full justice to his achievements. The author Dr Jacques Hannak was a German expert and chess author of the first half of the 20th century. He was also responsible for a biography of Steinitz. The translation into English is by Heinrich Fraenkel, the endgame study enthusiast, who wrote a regular column for the New Statesman magazine under the pseudonym Assiac. Hardinge Simpole have also reprinted Assiac's other main contribution to the literature of the 64 squares - Delights of chess.
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