About the series
Miniatures to Memorize is a series of short games (30 moves or fewer) that I highly recommend beginner- and intermediate-level players to commit to memory. Some games show how to quickly punish your opponent’s natural-looking but inaccurate moves, while others demonstrate how easily you can go wrong and completely blunder your game. Even if you’re in the world top 20.
Follow along on a physical chess set. I cannot stress this enough. Only if you don’t have one right now, go to the lichess study.
Why should you memorize this game?
As White
This miniature is a clinic in recognizing when an exchange sacrifice is not only possible but necessary. Lasker saw that structure and king safety mattered more than material. For club players, it’s a reminder to value time, coordination, and weak squares over counting pieces.
As Black
The game warns against slow development in sharp openings. Pirc tried to maneuver with knights and queenside ideas while leaving his king in the center. Against a sharp and principled opponent, such indulgence is punished immediately.
Game Details
White: Emanuel Lasker
Black: Vasja Pirc
Event: Moscow 1935
Site: Moscow, URS
Date: March 14, 1935
Round: 19
Result: 1–0
Opening: Sicilian Defense, Scheveningen (B85)
Context
By 1935, Emanuel Lasker was 66 years old, far past the age when most grandmasters even compete. Yet in the legendary Moscow tournament—featuring Botvinnik, Flohr, Capablanca, and others—Lasker stunned the chess world by finishing undefeated in second place.
This game against Vasja Pirc is a reminder that experience and clarity of vision can outshine youth and theory. Pirc, later immortalized by the opening that bears his name, faced a Lasker who demonstrated ruthless efficiency: sharp calculation, positional instincts, and psychological authority. It’s a miniature that shows how a veteran can dismantle ambitious but loose play.
Pull out your chess board
And if you don’t have one within reach, follow along on Chessgames.
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Be2 e6
A classic Sicilian Scheveningen setup. Black wants solidity, keeping the central pawns compact.
7. O-O a6 8. Be3 Qc7 9. f4 Na5
White begins the standard kingside push. Black tries to counter with knight jumps and queenside activity, but the timing feels suspicious.
10. f5 Nc4 11. Bxc4 Qxc4
Pirc hopes to exploit tactical chances: he tempts Lasker to weaken himself. But trading bishops and then grabbing the c4–square leaves Black’s king exposed.
12. fxe6 fxe6 13. Rxf6!
A thunderbolt! Lasker doesn’t hesitate to sacrifice the exchange. The point is that Black’s pawn cover collapses and the king becomes a target.
- If 13…gxf6, which Pirc played, the g-file and dark squares become indefensible.
- Declining with 13…Be7 also runs into 14. Rf1 and crushing pressure.
13…gxf6 14. Qh5+ Kd8 15. Qf7!
Smooth, accurate, and merciless. White doesn’t even need fireworks—just steady pressure.
- If 15…Be7, then 16. Nf5! skewers the position.
15…Bd7 16. Qxf6+ Kc7 17. Qxh8 Bh6
Black tries to cover dark squares, but his king is wandering into a net.
18. Nxe6+! Qxe6 19. Qxa8 Bxe3+ 20. Kh1 1–0
Lasker ends it elegantly. The queen dominates, Black’s pieces are shattered, and mate is inevitable. Pirc resigns rather than suffer further.
From my Chess Journal dated 12 February, 2023
Minakhi Misra 