Carl Schlechter - uncrowned World Champion

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Carl Schlechter - uncrowned World Champion
Compiled by backrank

In 1910, the Austrian Carl Schlechter drew a World Championship Match with Emanuel Lasker, a match he had good chances to win. He was at the height of his powers then and could just beat anybody. Schlechter is usually regarded as a rather boring positional player. However, he has won quite a number of brilliancy prizes (as indicated below), and there are surprisingly many shorter games (under 30 moves) by him. The truth is that he was not attacking directly, but on solid positional grounds and after taking appropriate precautions. He was an intuitive player rather than a calculator, and I'm always impressed by his deep understanding of the position. He could even sac a few pawns (as in the game vs. Schubert) or a whole piece (see the game vs. Duras) without calculating the consequences, only on merely positional considerations. He could counterattack as fast as lightning after a single weaker move of the attacker (such as in the game vs. Spielmann). Frequently, he did not conclude a game with the utmost tactical precision (because he was not a calculator), but in the most safe and secure way (such as in the games vs. Marshall, Maroczy and Tartakower). Despite this fact, he was one of the most accurate players ever. He was also one of the first who demonstrated the technique of attacking on both wings simultaneously (later made more popular by Capablanca and Petrosian), such as shown in the famous game vs. John.

For anyone who wants to improve his/her positional understanding and intuition, Schlechter's games are ideal models.

See also: Game Collection: 0

Schlechter vs H Suechting, 1908
(C87) Ruy Lopez, 44 moves, 1-0
brilliancy prize (although incorrect combination)
Schlechter vs Salwe, 1909
(C84) Ruy Lopez, Closed, 38 moves, 1-0
Spielmann vs Schlechter, 1908
(C92) Ruy Lopez, Closed, 31 moves, 0-1
G Marco vs Schlechter, 1904
(C68) Ruy Lopez, Exchange, 26 moves, 0-1
Tartakower vs Schlechter, 1908
(C68) Ruy Lopez, Exchange, 28 moves, 0-1
brilliancy prize
Schlechter vs Lasker, 1904
(D55) Queen's Gambit Declined, 37 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs D Przepiorka, 1906
(D37) Queen's Gambit Declined, 17 moves, 1-0
19. e6!! (brilliancy prize)
Schlechter vs Janowski, 1905
(D60) Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, 34 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs F Duz-Khotimirsky, 1908
(D33) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 26 moves, 1-0
brilliancy prize
Schlechter vs Maroczy, 1907
(D02) Queen's Pawn Game, 28 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Chigorin, 1905
(D31) Queen's Gambit Declined, 22 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs H Suechting, 1911
(D15) Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, 44 moves, 1-0
Swiderski vs Schlechter, 1906
(D02) Queen's Pawn Game, 30 moves, 0-1
Swiderski vs Schlechter, 1908
(D02) Queen's Pawn Game, 26 moves, 0-1
Schlechter vs L Forgacs, 1910
(C42) Petrov Defense, 46 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Alekhine, 1910
(C41) Philidor Defense, 34 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs J Berger, 1908
(C28) Vienna Game, 54 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Marshall, 1908
(B40) Sicilian, 33 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Lasker, 1910
(C66) Ruy Lopez, 69 moves, 1/2-1/2
Schlechter vs Lasker, 1910
(C66) Ruy Lopez, 58 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Lasker, 1910
(B32) Sicilian, 48 moves, 1/2-1/2
Schlechter vs Lasker, 1910
(B33) Sicilian, 65 moves, 1/2-1/2
Even if he lost it, it's too important to be omitted!
Lasker vs Schlechter, 1910
(D11) Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, 71 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs J Mieses, 1907
(B01) Scandinavian, 30 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs J Mieses, 1908
(B01) Scandinavian, 34 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Mason, 1903
(C41) Philidor Defense, 47 moves, 1-0
This game has entered lots of instructional books
Schlechter vs W John, 1905
(D31) Queen's Gambit Declined, 50 moves, 1-0
Trout Quintet or Death and the Maiden? ;) (brilliancy prize)
F Schubert vs Schlechter, 1915
(D34) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 24 moves, 0-1
brilliancy prize
Schlechter vs G Marco, 1904
(D63) Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, 32 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Janowski, 1900
(C67) Ruy Lopez, 45 moves, 1-0
The variation on move 7 is far more famous than the actual game
Schlechter vs J Perlis, 1911
(D11) Queen's Gambit Declined Slav, 45 moves, 1-0
Positional piece sac (brilliancy prize)
Schlechter vs Duras, 1911
(C49) Four Knights, 43 moves, 1-0
brilliancy prize
Schlechter vs P Leonhardt, 1911
(D02) Queen's Pawn Game, 21 moves, 1-0
Problem-like finish
Schlechter vs P Meitner, 1899
(C54) Giuoco Piano, 34 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs P Meitner, 1898
(C51) Evans Gambit, 26 moves, 1-0
23. Bxc5!
Schlechter vs Maroczy, 1902
(C11) French, 37 moves, 1-0
24. d6!
Schlechter vs Tarrasch, 1903
(A55) Old Indian, Main line, 26 moves, 1-0
Janowski vs Schlechter, 1902
(C42) Petrov Defense, 23 moves, 0-1
P Meitner vs Schlechter, 1899
(C80) Ruy Lopez, Open, 26 moves, 0-1
P Meitner vs Schlechter, 1895
(C77) Ruy Lopez, 16 moves, 0-1
Schlechter vs Tarrasch, 1900
(D32) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 25 moves, 1-0
H Trenchard vs Schlechter, 1898
(D00) Queen's Pawn Game, 31 moves, 0-1
Schlechter vs Steinitz, 1898
(C28) Vienna Game, 24 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs Janowski, 1898
(D40) Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch, 30 moves, 1-0
Schlechter vs W Napier, 1902
(D05) Queen's Pawn Game, 31 moves, 1-0
Pillsbury vs Schlechter, 1895
(D50) Queen's Gambit Declined, 44 moves, 0-1
A Nimzowitsch vs Schlechter, 1905
(B22) Sicilian, Alapin, 26 moves, 0-1
Pillsbury vs Schlechter, 1900
(C43) Petrov, Modern Attack, 34 moves, 0-1
Burn vs Schlechter, 1900
(D08) Queen's Gambit Declined, Albin Counter Gambit, 49 moves, 0-1
F Duz-Khotimirsky vs Schlechter, 1910
(D32) Queen's Gambit Declined, Tarrasch, 33 moves, 0-1
50 games

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