Edward Lasker (1885-1981) was a leading American chess and go player. Lasker earned degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering. He also invented the breast pump, which saved many premature infants´ lives and made Lasker a lot of money, although it caused his friends to refer to him facetiously as "the chest player." He published several books on American checkers, chess, and go. Edward Lasker participated in the legendary New York chess tournament in 1924, facing world-class masters like Alekhine, Capablanca, Rubinstein, Lasker, and Réti.
Although Lasker had a negative record against Capablanca, he had a drawn game against Capablanca with black pieces in New York in 1924 (moves given in Algebraic chess notation):
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. Nc3 c6 6. e3 Qa5 7. Bxf6 Nxf6 8. Bd3 Bb4 9. Qb3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 O-O 11. O-O Bxc3 12. bxc3 b6 13. Ne5 Bb7 14. Be2 c5 15. Nc4 Qa6 16. Qb2 Bd5 17. Ne5 Qc8 18. a4 Nd7 19. c4 Be4 20. Nxd7 Qxd7 21. dxc5 bxc5 22. Qe5 Qc6 23. f3 Bg6 24. Rfd1 Rfd8 25. Rxd8+ Rxd8 26. Rd1 Rxd1+ 27. Bxd1 1/2-1/2
He lived on the Upper West Side of New York City at the time of his death.
He was friends with former World chess champion Emanuel Lasker, but they had no biological relationship.
Books
- Chess Strategy, 1915 (second edition)
- Chess and Checkers: the Way to Mastership, 1918
- Go and Go-Moku, 1934 (2nd ed. 1960)
- The Adventure of Chess, 1949 (2nd ed. 1959), ISBN 048620510.
Quotes
- "It has been said that man is distinguished from animal in that he buys more books than he can read. I should like to suggest that the inclusion of a few chess books would help to make the distinction unmistakable." — From ´The Adventure of Chess´
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