World Chess Championship 1908
|
Defending champion |
Challenger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Emanuel Lasker | Siegbert Tarrasch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Born 24 December 1868 39 years old |
Born 5 March 1862 46 years old | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A World Chess Championship was played between the incumbent Emanuel Lasker and the challenger Siegbert Tarrasch, both Germans, from August 17 to September 30, 1908, in Düsseldorf and Munich. Lasker successfully defended his title.
Lasker had become world champion in 1894, and Tarrasch had consistently refused to play for the world championship, and though he was perceived to be one of the strongest players in the world in the 1890's, he had failed to issue a challenge to Wilhelm Steinitz, making it all the more surprising that he played his first and only against Lasker, as the two of them were known not to be on good terms. Tarrasch won the Ostend 1907 chess tournament, which qualified him for the championship, and the terms of the match were agreed by July 1908.
Though contemporary commentators predicted a close-fought match, in the event Lasker took an early lead and maintained it, winning convincingly with 8 wins to 3.