Game Six: Pillsbury-Lasker, St. Petersburg 1896 "Lovely chess moves and lovely melodies (and lovely theorems in mathematics, etc.) have this in common: every one has idiosyncratic nuances that seem logical a posteriori but that are not easy to anticipate a priori."Emanuel Lasker, on the mend from a devastating case of typhoid fever, wasn't expected to triumph against the American wünderkind Harry Pillsbury. In the middle of the tournament, however, Pillsbury's morale was shattered by the news that he had contracted syphilis. Deeply shaken, Pillsbury prematurely developed his queen, a tactical error that Lasker exploited with characteristic brilliance by sacrificing a rook. This well-played--and indeed brilliant--strategy that eventually lead to Pillsbury's resignation on the 29th move. Pillsbury was a tragic example of Cyril Connolly's observation "Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising." After what the Evening Bulletin referred to as "a period of temporary insanity" Pillsbury tried to commit suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of the Philadelphia Presbyterian Hospital in 1904. He didn't have long to suffer, however, for his short, brilliant life ended when he died at age 33 from general paresis of the insane on 17 June 1906. |
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