[Event "New York"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1924.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Maroczy,G"]
[Black "Lasker,Ed"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Lopez "Battle Royale""]
[ECO "D38"]
[PlyCount "155"]

1. c4 { The English Opening. White controls a center square with a flank pawn. However, this opening can easily transpose into a number of different openings. } 1... e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 { The opening has transposed from an English Opening into a Queen's Gambit. } 4... Nbd7 5. Bg5 { Pinning the Knight to the Queen. } 5... Bb4 { A counter-pin! } 6. cxd5 exd5 7. e3 { Shoring up the d-pawn and letting the light-squared Bishop get out. } 7... c6 8. Bd3 O-O 9. O-O Re8 10. Qc2 h6 11. Bh4 Nf8 { Lasker plans to drive away the h4-Bishop. } 12. a3 Be7 13. b4 { With just two pawn moves, Maroczy has taken most of the a3-f8 diagonal away from Black's Bishop. } 13... g5 { Lasker is still gunning for the h4-Bishop, but he's seriously weakened his Kingside pawns. } 14. Bg3 Nh5 15. Be5 { The Bishop now slices right into the heart of the Black King's weakened fortress. } 15... Be6 16. b5 f6 17. Bg3 c5 18. dxc5 Nxg3 19. hxg3 { While the White King's pawn cover is a bit weaker now, it's nowhere near as bad as that around the Black King. } 19... Bxc5 20. Ne2 Qe7 21. Qb2 { Maroczy anticipates ...Rc8 and wastes no time in getting his Queen off of the file. } 21... Nd7 22. Ned4 Ne5 23. Be2 ( 23. Nxe5 fxe5 24. Nxe6 Qxe6 { And Black now has two open or half-open files to exploit with his Rooks. } ) 23... Rac8 { Lasker grabs the open file (as his opponent anticipated). } 24. Rfd1 Bf7 25. a4 Bb4 26. Rab1 Bc5 27. Qb3 { Although the White Queen and Black Bishop are on the same diagonal, the Queen is in no real danger -- the d4-Knight prevents the obstructing pawn from advancing. } 27... Qd7 28. Rbc1 Bf8 29. a5 Rxc1 { By trading Rooks, young Lasker gives up control of the file. } ( 29... Nc4 { Blocking the file with the Knight (while still controlling the squares behind it) would have been better. } ) 30. Rxc1 Rc8 { Now Lasker tries getting the file back. } 31. Rc2 Nc4 32. a6 bxa6 33. bxa6 Qd6 34. Ra2 { Maroczy isn't ready to trade Queens yet, so he moves to prevent ...Qa3. } 34... Ne5 35. Qd1 Qb6 { Now Lasker controls two open files. Can he exploit this advantage? Can he continue to accumulate other advantages? } 36. Ra1 Rb8 37. Nf5 Qb3 38. Qf1 { Maroczy is starting to have some problems. His pieces are becoming bottled up. Even so, there are no real weaknesses for his opponent to exploit. } ( 38. Qxb3 Rxb3 { Now ...Rb2, attacking the e2-Bishop, is a strong likelihood. } ) 38... Rb6 39. N3d4 Qb2 40. Nb5 { The Knight lands on a protected square and cuts off the communication between the Black Rook and Queen. } 40... Bh5 { Lasker sees a way to reconnect his Rook and Queen. } 41. Bxh5 Rxb5 42. Be2 Rb8 43. Qd1 Qb3 44. Qxb3 Rxb3 { When your position is cramped, relieve it by exchanging. } 45. Rd1 Rb2 46. Kf1 Nc6 47. Rxd5 Nb4 48. Rd1 Kh7 49. g4 Nc6 50. Rd7+ Kh8 ( 50... Kg6 51. Bd3 { Cutting down the King's mobility. } 51... Ne7 { Black is forced to block the White Rook's Kingside access, otherwise Nh4 is mate. } 52. Nxe7+ Kf7 53. Nd5+ { White has a winning material advantage. } ) 51. Bf3 Rb1+ 52. Ke2 Rb2+ 53. Kd1 Rb1+ 54. Kd2 Rb2+ 55. Kc3 Rb6 { This whole sequence was a bit odd. Kings are better placed near the center for the endgame. Lasker has just helped his opponent to achieve this goal. } 56. Be2 Bb4+ { We see now that Lasker was trying to draw the White King toward the center where it could be attacked. } 57. Kc2 Ba3 58. Rb7 Bc5 59. Nxh6 { Not only is the Black attack not working out, he's also losing more material. } 59... Ne5 60. Bd3 Nxd3 61. Rxb6 ( 61. Kxd3 Rxa6 62. Nf5 Ra2 { Black's position is still not great, but he has chances for counterplay now. } ) 61... Ne1+ 62. Kd1 Bxb6 63. Kxe1 Kg7 { An interesting position. Bishops are better than Knights with pawns on both sides of the board, but the White a-pawn is on the wrong color square for Black to do anything about it. White has a Kingside pawn majority, but with a set of doubled pawns. White has the advantage, but needs to play carefully here. } 64. Nf5+ Kf7 65. Kd2 { The right move. White needs to get his King into the center. } 65... Ke6 66. Kc3 Kd5 67. Kb4 Kc6 68. Ne7+ Kd6 69. Ng8 Bd8 70. Kb5 { The White King makes threats against the Black a-pawn. This is crucial because the White a-pawn is just two squares from promotion. } 70... Kd5 71. Nh6 Bb6 72. Nf5 { With the Knight covering the e3-pawn (keeping the Black Bishop from capturing it), the f2-pawn can now advance. } 72... Bd8 73. f3 Bb6 { Lasker is reduced to making pointless Bishop moves. His King can't move, or else the White King penetrates to c6 and can swing around to attack the a7-pawn. } 74. g3 Bd8 75. e4+ { Black's problems are terminal now. The King must leave c6 unprotected (all of the squares around c6 are covered by White's forces). } 75... Ke5 76. Kc6 { As expected, the White King takes over c6. } 76... Bb6 77. Nd6 Bf2 { Desperation. There's no way the Bishop can capture on g3 without allowing White to promote. However, White can promote regardless. So what's Lasker's point? He hopes to distract his opponent into making a mistake. Such tricks rarely work. } 78. Nc8 { The idea is to play 79.Kb7 and the pawn can't be stopped from promoting (see the variation). Lasker sees that he's busted and throws in the towel. } ( 78. Nc8 Be3 79. Kb7 Bf2 80. Nxa7 Bxa7 81. Kxa7 Kd6 82. Kb7 { Once a King has reached the seventh rank and is covering an advancing pawn, there is no way for an opposing King to prevent the pawn's promotion. This would still work if the pawn was on c6 instead of a6. } ) 1-0