Lasker's Combination
The Tactician's Handbook Vol 4
by Victor Charushin

Lasker's Combination is the sacrifice of both Bishops, a destructive assault upon the enemy King's castled position. Few tactical motifs impress so powerfully as this legacy of the 2nd world champion. Indeed, when Lasker used his Bishops like a wrecking-ball to demolish Bauer's Kingside in their famous encounter, this stunning double sacrifice was thought to be a magical accident, or one-of-a-kind wizardry only gods might perform. Yet here, in volume four of The Tactician's Handbook, we discover that the unlucky Bauer merely succumbed to the iron laws of chess. Here Charushin demonstrates that Lasker's Combination is simply another technique, an element of tactical play - and one that can be mastered! Game after game reveal the inner workings of this remarkable attacking method, classified and richly annotated in Charushin's inimitable style.

The Tactician's Handbook offers a solid foundation of knowledge about the tactics of chess, the basis for a higher understanding of chess combinations. Now players can examine the separate building blocks of combinational play (the mechanics of attack!) in short, focused steps. Each volume is devoted to a single and memorable pattern, illustrated by hundreds of real-world examples. Readers can immediately apply the skills learned here, mixing and matching these tactical templates into their own games. For example, note how often Alekhine's Block (volume one) is seen as part of Lasker's two-Bishop sacrifice! Lasker's Combination establishes Charushin as an original and thought-provoking teacher, and The Tactician's Handbook as a practical, common sense battle plan for the middlegame in chess.

Author: Victor Charushin
Title: International Master
Published: 1998
Pages: 96
Annotation: FAN