This is a rather selective view of the rest of Lasker's tournament. The Torre game was in round 12. In round 13 he got an extremely bad position against Dus Chotmirsky and nevertheless won; but as we read in other books winning from a bad position is the very quintessence of Lasker. In round 14 he beat Marshall in an excellent game. In Round 15 came the missed draw against Levenfish, followed by a short draw against Tartakower; but in the next two rounds he beat Spielmann and Zubarev. He ended the tournament with a quiet draw against Saemisch, a great drawn battle with Bogoljubov, and another short draw against Gotthilf. But it is silly to make much of the last-round Gotthilf game. Lasker would have had to beat Bogoljubov the round before to have a realistic chance of catching him. In the final round, Bogoljubov drew in 20 moves to clinch first place, and Capablanca had a bye. So 1st, 2nd and 3rd places were all determined.

"I really don't consider this game as a good one>* <...since both of us commited alot of mistakes.>** <I appreciate Lasker's attacking spirit and I know he was not on his best day.">***

*not a good game?? I find it unbelievable that he would say this, if I were the author of this gem, I would speak highly of it and refer to it as my pride and joy. He must have been a very humble person.

**So what?? The immortal game is a treasure of chess history although it's full of mistakes!. So his play is less than elegant at the beginning, but he works up some fireworks and the combination after 25.Bf6!! has since become a hallmark tactic.

5853. Seesaw

Regarding the seesaw, or windmill, maneuuvre, the earliest instance of the word ‘seesaw’ found so far appeared on page 251 of the American Chess Magazine, September 1897:

‘A pretty so-called seesaw of checks finishes the game ...’

John Simpson (Oxford, England), the Chief Editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, notes an earlier, different, use of the term on page 263 of the Chess Player’s Chronicle, 1849:

‘This see-saw is pretty enough. White evidently must not accept the proffered donum.’

The proffered donum was the black rook, the note being appended to Black’s 38th move. The full game, from pages 262-263 of the Chronicle, was: Henry Edward Bird – Elijah Williams
Occasion?
French Defence

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 exd5 exd5 4 Nf3 Nf6 5 Bd3 Bd6 6 O-O O-O 7 c3 Ne4 8 Nbd2 f5 9 c4 c6 10 cxd5 cxd5 11 Qb3 Kh8 12 Qc2 Nc6 13 a3 h6 14 b4 a6 15 Nb3 Qf6 16 Bb2 g5 17 Nfd2 g4 18 f4 gxf3 19 Rxf3 Qh4 20 Rh3 Qg5 21 Re1 Rg8 22 Nf3 Qg7 23 Ne5 Bxe5 24 dxe5 Be6 25 Bc1 f4 26 Rh4 Raf8 27 Bxf4 Ng5 28 Kh1 Ne7 29 Nd4 Bf7 30 e6 Bg6 31 Bxg6 Qxg6 32 Qxg6 Rxg6 33 Bxg5 Rxg5 34 Rxh6+ Kg7 35 Rh3 Re5 36 Rg3+ Ng6 37 Rc1 Rc8 38 Rf1 Rf8 39 Kg1 Rxf1+ 40 Kxf1 Re4 41 e7 Kf7 42 Nf5 Rf4+ 43 Rf3 b6 44 Kf2 a5 45 bxa5 bxa5 46 Kg3 Rxf3+ 47 Kxf3 Ne5+ 48 Ke3 Nc4+ 49 Kd4 Nxa3 50 Kxd5 Nb5 51 Nd6+ Nxd6 52 Kxd6 Ke8 53 Kc5 and White won.

I assume you mean this position, after <30...Kh8>:

click for larger view

If White takes the a7-pawn, he just opens up the a-file for Black's rook. After the combination finishes (<35.Rh3>), Black can get the pawn back with ...Rxa2 and also have an active rook.

Emanuel Lasker - Carlos Torre [C11]
Simultaneous, Brooklyn Jewish Center,
May 27, 1924
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Be7 6.Bxf6 Bxf6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.Bd3 c5 9.0-0 cxd4 10.Re1 Qb6 11.Nxf6+ gxf6 12.Rb1 Nc5 13.Nxd4 Bd7 14.b4 Nxd3 15.Qxd3 0-0-0 16.Red1 Rhg8 17.b5 e5 18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.Qxf5+ Qe6 20.Qe4 h6 21.a4 f5 22.Qe3 f4 23.Qxa7 Rxg2+ 24.Kf1 Rg1+ 25.Kxg1 draw.