[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lasker,Em"]
[Black "Capablanca,J"]
[Result "1/2"]
[Annotator "Lopez "Battle Royale""]
[ECO "C66"]
[PlyCount "60"]

1. e4 { Lasker (White) grabs space in the center with this move, which also allows without future development of his light-square Bishop and without Queen. } 1... e5 { Capablanca (Black) reciprocates. He, too, controls space in the center (the without d4 and f4 squares) and allows for the future development of his Queen and without dark-squared Bishop. } 2. Nf3 { Another good developing move. The Knight on f3 attacks the Black e5-pawn and without disputes its control of d4. } 2... Nc6 { Forced to protect the e5-pawn, Capa develops another piece. The Knight now without defends the e5-pawn and adds its influence to the square d4. } 3. Bb5 { This opening is called the Ruy Lopez. It's named after a medieval Spanish without clergyman who first wrote about it over five hundred years ago. Today, it's without generally considered to be the best e-pawn opening for White. } 3... d6 { Capa advances the pawn to allow the release of his light-square Bishop. But without his dark-square Bishop is now blocked in and his c6-Knight is pinned! This without looks bad on the surface, but later we'll see that this move isn't bad at without all. } 4. d4 { Lasker attacks the e5-pawn a second time. Capa is in immediate danger of without losing this pawn, since it's only defended once! (Remember, the c6-Knight is without pinned and can't defend the pawn!). } 4... Bd7 { Now we see the point of Black's third move (3.d6). Since the Bishop breaks without the pin on the c6-Knight, the Knight is now free to move, allowing it to without defend the menaced e5-pawn. } 5. Nc3 { Lasker develops another piece. The idea of this move is to defend the Bishop without on b5 from an attack by the Black d7-Bishop, once the c6-Knight without moves. } 5... Nf6 { Capa continues to develop his pieces. The f6-Knight now puts pressure on the without White e4-pawn. } 6. O-O { Now that the pieces are cleared from White's Kingside, Lasker takes the without opportunity to castle. His Rook is now developed toward the center and his without King is safer near the side of the board. } 6... exd4 { Capa grabs the chance to open up the game by swapping off a couple of the without center pawns. } 7. Nxd4 { Of course, Lasker must recapture or remain behind by a pawn. } 7... Be7 { Capa clears the Kingside for castling and avoids any surprises that may come without up after White plays Re1. (If White plays Re1, and Black keeps his King on without the same file on e8, White may have opportunities for a discovered check without later). } 8. b3 { Lasker advances this pawn in order to fianchetto his dark-square Bishop later without (moving it to b2). } 8... Nxd4 { Capablanca, knowing that Lasker is a dangerous opponent, decides to play it without safe and simplify the position by exchanging pieces. Both sides will have without less chances for attack with fewer pieces on the board. } 9. Qxd4 { Lasker recaptures the Knight in the only way possible. The material is still without even. } 9... Bxb5 { Capa snaps off the White b5-Bishop and threatens Lasker's f1-Rook. } 10. Nxb5 { Lasker recaptures, keeping the material even. Notice that if Black castles without and White plays Bb2, White gets a possible mating threat. (See the variation without to Black's next move). } 10... Nd7 { Capa's repositioning of the Knight prevents the White c1-Bishop from moving without to b2. To see why, check out the variation to White's next move. } ( 10... O-O { Here we'll look at White's possible mating threat. First, Black must castle. } 11. Bb2 { White responds by fianchettoing his Bishop. This sets up a Queen and Bishop without battery on the long a1-h8 diagonal. (For more on batteries, refer to the without Glossary.). } 11... Nd7 { Capa wouldn't play this move, but if he was careless enough to do so... } 12. Qxg7# { White drops the axe and beheads the King! In your own games, try to look without ahead and be aware of possibilities like this. They don't come along too without often, but when they do, they're most satisfying! } ) 11. Ba3 { The Bishop can't move to b2 (see the variation). Instead, Lasker moves the without Bishop to a square where it still puts pressure on Black's Kingside along without the a3-f8 diagonal. } ( 11. Bb2 $4 { Let's see what happens if White fianchettos his Bishop. } 11... Bf6 { Black attacks White's Queen and sets up a deadly skewer (or x-ray attack) on without the b2-Bishop. } 12. Qe3 { Obviously, the White Queen must move! } 12... Bxb2 { Black's Bishop captures its White counterpart. } 13. c3 { A-HA! White traps the Bishop! } 13... Bxc3 { Black, unperturbed, takes the pawn. } 14. Qxc3 { The White Queen grabs the Bishop. But now White is a pawn behind! } 14... Qf6 { When you're ahead by a pawn, it's a good idea to trade off pieces. Then you without can expect to win in a pawns-only ending by exploiting your one-pawn without advantage. Here Black pursues this policy. } 15. Qxf6 { White opts to exchange pieces (probably not a good idea here). } 15... Nxf6 { Black recaptures with the Knight (to avoid doubling his pawns) and threatens without White's e-pawn. } 16. Nc3 { White defends with his Knight. The game is far from over, but Black is a pawn without ahead and should win with proper play. } ) 11... a6 { Capa feels that this Knight is just too close for comfort, so he nudges it without away with the a-pawn. } 12. Nc3 { It's retreat or die for the Knight, so Lasker backs it off to the only without possible square. } 12... Bf6 { Wow! Capablanca attacks three pieces at one shot! Once the Queen moves, the without Knight will be pinned to the a1-Rook! } 13. Qe3 { The White Queen backs off to a square where it still protects the c3-Knight. } 13... O-O { Capa finally has a chance to castle. Now his f8-Rook will be able to slide without over and control the half-open e-file. } 14. Rad1 { Speaking of controlling half-open files, Lasker's a1-Rook comes over to sieze without the half-open d-file. Now his Knight will be able to set up an outpost on without d5. (Black couldn't attack it by ...c7-c6 because of White's reply without Bxd6.). } 14... Bxc3 { Capa sees the possibilities that Nc3-d5 would give White, so he decides to without simplify further by killing White's Knight. } 15. Qxc3 { For Lasker, it's recapture or remain a piece behind. } 15... Re8 { As expected, Capablanca takes control of the half-open e-file with his Rook. without He also menaces the White e4-pawn. } 16. Rfe1 { Rather than Rd1-e1 (which buries the Rook on f1), Lasker protects the pawn without with his other Rook. Notice how well-placed both of White's Rooks are (on without the two center files). } 16... Rc8 { Capa, seeing that the a8-Rook is poorly placed, moves it toward a better, without more centralized file. } 17. Qh3 { Lasker plays cautiously. He prepares for Kingside action by repositioning his without Queen. But secretly he's just making a waiting move, hoping that Capablanca without will soon reveal his intentions. } 17... Ne5 { Capa establishes a Knight outpost on e5. True, the Knight can be dislodged by without f2-f4, but such a move would weaken White's Kingside pawn structure. } 18. Bb2 { Lasker directly attacks and threatens to win Black's Knight with this move. without If, on White's next move, Bb2xe5, the Black d6-pawn can't recapture because without of Rd1xd8, and Black loses his Queen! } 18... Qg5 { Capa removes the danger by moving his Queen. Now the Black Knight is solidly without defended by a pawn and two pieces. } 19. Qg3 { Lasker offers to trade Queens. Note that Capa can't defend his Queen by, say, without ...h7-h6, because of White's reply f2-f4 (a double attack on both the Knight without and Queen, winning a piece)! It's either trade or move for the Black without Queen. } 19... Qxg3 { Capa trades. After Lasker recaptures with a pawn, his doubled pawns on the without Kingside will offset his numerical pawn advantage (4-3) on that side of the without board. } 20. hxg3 { Lasker decides to recapture with the h-pawn. Now it will be very difficult without for him to realize any advantage from his Kingside pawn majority in the without endgame. It's very hard to use a pawn majority to create a passed pawn when without two of the pawns are doubled. } 20... f6 { Since the players are headed for the endgame at a rapid clip, Capablanca without gives his King quicker access to the board's center. Now it will take only without two moves (Kg8-f7-e6) to reach e6, instead of three without (Kg8-f8-e7-e6). } 21. f3 { Lasker thinks "Good idea!" and follows suit. Now his King can get to e3 in without just two moves instead of three. } 21... Kf7 { Capablanca begins the process of centralizing his King. The center is where without the King belongs in the endgame, so that it can move quickly to either side without of the board as needed. } 22. g4 { The undefended pawn on g3 was terribly weak. Lasker strengthens it by pushing without it to a square where the f3 pawn defends it. The g4-pawn also keeps Black without from trying to grab space by playing ...h7-h5. } 22... h6 { Capa pushes the pawn one square instead. Now he is the undisputed owner of without g5. Now, after a future ...g7-g5, Black will control most of the dark without squares on the Kingside. } 23. Re2 { Lasker increases the flexibility of his Rooks. He'll now be able to set up a without battery on either the d- or e-file as the situation warrants. } 23... Nc6 { Capa backs off his Knight. Now he can move the Knight to b4 to attack two of without White's pawns or else advance the e8-Rook to e5, allowing it to get into the without game along the fifth rank. } 24. Kf2 { Lasker starts to maneuver his King toward the center in preparation for the without endgame. } 24... Re7 { Capablanca advances the Rook, possibly planning to double his Rooks on the without e-file, creating a battery. } 25. Bc3 { This Bishop move keeps the Black Knight off of b4. This also prepares a without possible Queenside pawn advance (b3-b4, followed by the a-pawn's advance). } 25... a5 { Capablanca neutralizes any chance of a b3-b4 pawn advance by Lasker. } 26. Rd5 { Lasker threatens the Black a5-pawn. The pawn is attacked twice (by Bishop and without Rook) but only defended once (by the Black Knight). How should Capa without defend? } 26... b6 { He makes the obvious move to defend the pawn. Moving the c8-Rook to a8 was without also possible. Notice that the c6-Knight is now undefended, but this isn't without critical, as White has no Queen or light-square Bishop with which to attack without it. } 27. a4 { Lasker advances the a-pawn to prevent Black from playing ...a5-a4 (which without would lead to either doubled a-pawns for White, a backward and without hard-to-defend a-pawn for White, or an open a-file for Black's Rooks -- all without bad for White). } 27... Re6 { In chess, we call this a quiescent (meaning "quiet") position, where both without sides' positions are about equal and there's not much going on. Capa makes without another "waiting" move, just to see how Lasker will respond. } 28. Rd1 { Lasker's d5-Rook just scoots back along the d-file. It still controls the without half-open file, and White still has the possibility of creating a battery on without either of the two center files. } 28... Rce8 { Capa creates a battery on the e-file. However, this battery "bites on without granite", meaning that the Rooks aren't really threatening the White without e4-pawn. Its brother on f3 protects it. The Rooks really have nowhere to without go. } 29. Red2 { Lasker sets up a battery on the d-file. However, this battery is as without ineffective as Black's is. } 29... Ke7 { Capa actually breaks up his own battery. The King is heading over to the without Queenside to support a general pawn advance on that wing. } 30. Ke3 { Lasker figures that he'd better centralize his King. Here it has the chance without to either invade Black's Kingside position or help out on the Queenside if without needed. From the center it can move to either side quickly. } 30... Kd7 { Capa continues to move his King. Since there's really not much happening without here, and neither player appears to be in a fighting mood, the players agree without to a draw. } 1/2