Product Details

• Published on: 1970
• Binding: Unknown Binding
• 152 pages

Customer Reviews

Worth investigating even after 100+ years.
12 chess lectures given by Em. Lasker in 1895. Subjects of the lectures are: opening principles, discussion of Ruy Lopez, examination of a line from Ruy Lopez, discussion of Evans Gambit, Kings Gambit, French Defence, 7&8=Attack, Defence, 10/11/12=Endgame. Descriptive notation. Excellent value Dover book. Worth having despite old analyses because of method & attitude.

Starts With A Bang
'Common Sense In Chess' by Emanuel Lasker starts with a bang (this is always commendable as most novices will almost never bother reading a chess book right to the end). Lasker makes a high claim to the audience for his lecture, saying that he is going to prove, once and for all, that in the third move of the Ruy Lopez, it's a disaster for black to move his queen's rook's pawn forwards so as to threaten white's bishop. Lasker must have known that by insisting with profound conviction that he knew how to refute such a popular move, he would guarantee his audience's individed attention. It certainly worked on me. Lasker's response to the move is a dazzling performance which causes black to tie himself in knots, ultimately leaving his king without defence. When I tried Lasker's trick out against the computer, it largely seemed to be no good, as if black gets his king's bishop out, or moves his queen's pawn forward, you just can't put it into practice (something that would hardly be a revelation to a seasoned chess player). My first thought was that Lasker must have been a showman who liked to impress an audience with moves which look dazzling, but have no practical use. Also, as he must have known this, he was being disingenuous by not explaining it to the people in the lecture hall. It didn't take me long, however, to realize that this was probably not the point of the lesson. At one point, Lasker talks about how, before you start attacking your opponent, you should first make him put his pieces in all the wrong places; and this is what the lesson is trying to demonstrate. I knew this rang a bell; and then I remembered Morphy saying almost exactly the same thing in one of his newspaper columns. The title of this book, 'Common Sense In Chess', seems to relate to the soundness of the basic opening principles; for example, develop knights before bishops. Nevertheless, Lasker breaks these rules straightaway in his examination of the Ruy Lopez, with no explanation other than a throwaway remark alluding to the fact that the position is developing a peculiar character all of its own (then again, I suppose Morphy also broke one of the conventional rules in the Opera Box Game, by developing his queen almost straightaway). After the Ruy Lopez, Lasker goes on to examine other openings, such as the Evans Gambit and the French Defence. Your computer won't respond as black does in Lasker's games; but that doesn't mean he doesn't have things to teach us. Although Lasker's prose style is a little stilted at times, the book's layout makes it easy on the eye, with large, clear print and diagrams - not piddly little things that require a magnifying glass, like some chess publishers use. What's more, although black and white's moves are written in descriptive notation, they are very easy to follow, being listed in vertical columns, rather than the modern horizontal fashion, which makes reading them so much more difficult. Worth reading just for the beginning on the Ruy Lopez!

Phillip