Lasker, Emanuel [key], 1868–1941, German chess player. He won the world championship in 1894 when he defeated Wilhelm Steinitz and held it until he was defeated by José Raúl Capablanca in 1921. Lasker studied the games of his opponents for their weaknesses and predilections in technique and played primarily against the temperament of his opponents. He was a master in closed positions.
See his Common Sense in Chess (1896; rev. ed. by D. A. Mitchell, 1965), Lasker's Manual of Chess (1934), and The Games of Emanuel Lasker, Chess Champion (ed. by J. Gilchrist, 2 vol., 1955–58).
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