By chess grandmaster Ray Keene, chess columnist for The Times, Sunday Times and Spectator and author of over 100 books on mind sports.
Was Schlechter Robbed?
"CARL HAFFNER'S Love Of The Draw" (Harvill Press) is a new book by talented young Austrian novelist and chess player Thomas Glavinic. In it the author revisits the ancient controversies surrounding Carl Schlechter’s attempt in 1910 on Emanuel Lasker’s world title.
With one game to go in that 10-game series, Lasker trailed by one point. Schlechter had a clear draw in the final game but apparently playing for a win he blew it, and thus allowed Lasker to keep his title.
What was the reason for the virtually invincible Schlechter (called Haffner – the name of his maternal grandmother - in the book) losing this incredibly vital game?
Garry Kasparov once maintained to me hotly that it was well-known that Schlechter had to win the match by two points to gain the title – on this assertion Kasparov based his claim that he is the only world champion in the history of chess who has saved his title by winning the very last game to draw the contest (Kasparov v Karpov, Seville 1987, game 24).
By this reckoning Lasker had imposed a secret contract that contained such a clause.
Others maintain that Schlechter was too honourable to win the title by a fluke (he had been lucky in a lost position in game 5) and therefore strove to win at all costs. Others say it was simple human error – Schlechter saw a win but miscalculated and lost and it had nothing to do with honour codes or secret contracts.
This controversy has raged for almost 90 years – can we solve it? Click here to see my notes to the crucial final game to set the debate rolling.
Let’s hear from all chess historians – human error, honour code, secret contract – or what?
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- Ray Keene
