World Chess Championship 1907
The 1907 World Chess Championship was a chess match contested between reigning world champion Emanuel Lasker of Germany, and challenger Frank J. Marshall of the United States, for the world [chess championship]. It took place in six American cities from January 26 to April 6. Lasker defended his title in dominant fashion, holding Marshall winless throughout the series, while winning eight games and drawing seven.
This was the first world championship since 1897, partly because Lasker had taken a break from chess to pursue his PhD in Mathematics. He made his return to chess in the London 1899 chess tournament, and after that, several players would try to challenge Lasker to the world championship, including Dawid Janowski, Géza Maróczy, Carl Schlechter and Siegbert Tarrasch. Each bid fell apart at some stage, however, with the latter eventually playing for the world championship in World [Chess Championship 1908|1908]. Frank Marshall had come ahead of Lasker in the 1904 [Cambridge Springs International Chess Congress], and the discussion of the terms of a world championship match began in 1906, with the players agreeing to reduce the number of game wins for a match victory from ten to eight, a precedent that would continue in the next world championship.
As was widely predicted, the match was a walkover for Lasker, and it was believed that Marshall wasn't his most worthy challenger. This match was seen as a side show to the next years championship between Lasker and Tarrasch. Marshall himself summed up the match in his autobiography in one sentence, saying, "Tedious play aimed at wearing down my opponent is averse to my nature."
Background
Lasker had played little chess since retaining the World Championship in 1896–1897, in part due to his doctoral studies in mathematics. However, Lasker agreed to defend his title against American challenger Frank Marshall from January 26 to April 6, 1907, in the United States, with the games being played in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, and Memphis.Because Lasker had requested the significant sum of $5,000, Marshall turned to chess associations in various cities to sponsor the game, which is what led to it being held in so many cities. On March 2, Lasker and Marshall met with then-president of the United States Theodore Roosevelt, and had their Washington game in the Northern Liberty Market.
Despite three World Championship matches in the previous 30 years having been held at least partially in the United States, this would be the last championship on American soil until 1990.