Emanuel Lasker vs Bobby Fischer
Two chess prodigies, compared on what is actually documented: field, era, country and record. No invented numbers.
The record, side by side
| Emanuel Lasker | Bobby Fischer | |
| Field | Sports | Sports |
| Sub-field | Chess | Chess |
| Born | 1868 | 1943 |
| Died | 1941 | 2008 |
| Country of birth | Germany | - |
| Star sign | Sagittarius | Pisces |
Who they are
Emanuel Lasker
Twenty-seven years. The number sits in chess history like a geological formation — vast, improbable, and resistant to easy explanation. From 1894 to 1921, through two world wars, through the rise of Cubist art and the Russian Revolution and the invention of the automobile, Emanuel Lasker held the World Chess Championship without interruption. No champion before him had held the title longer than eight years. No champion after him has come close. He remains the longest-reigning World Chess Champion in the history of the game, and the mystery of how he did it — against…
Full biography of Emanuel Lasker →
Bobby Fischer
On a July evening in 1972, in a stark hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, two men sat down to play chess with the eyes of the world upon them. One represented the Soviet Union, the dominant chess power that had held the World Championship for twenty-four consecutive years. The other was a twenty-nine-year-old from Brooklyn who had learned the game from a pamphlet at age six, who had barely slept in weeks, who had already threatened to withdraw from the match twice, and who was now the most famous chess player on earth. Robert James Fischer…
Full biography of Bobby Fischer →
What they share
- Both are held here under Sports.
- Same sub-field: Chess.
Where they part
- 75 years separate their births (1868 and 1943).
- Their lifetimes never overlapped.
Questions people ask
- Who came first, Emanuel Lasker or Bobby Fischer?
- Emanuel Lasker. Emanuel Lasker was born in 1868, Bobby Fischer in 1943.
- What field is each of them in?
- Emanuel Lasker is filed under Sports (Chess). Bobby Fischer is filed under Sports (Chess).
- Were they contemporaries?
- No - their lifetimes do not overlap.