Berthold Lasker

Berthold Lasker (also, per birth registry Jonathan Berthold Barnett) (31 December 1860 in Berlinchen – 19 October 1928 in Berlin) was a German physician, writer and chess master. Life Berthold Lasker was born Jonathan Berthold Lasker in Berlinchen (Barlinek, now West Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland). He was the son of a Jewish cantor and grandson of a well regarded Rabbi. He had a brother who was 8 years younger, the later World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker. He attended the Friedrichwerdersches Gymnasium in Berlin and graduated in 1879 with the Abitur. From 1881 until 1888 he studied medicine at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. During this time he shared his flat with his brother Emanuel whom he drew into playing chess and the chess scene. For about a year Lasker practised as a physician in Elberfeld, where he met the poet and playwright Else Lasker-Schüler. After they married in 1894, they lived in Berlin, where he practised as a specialist for skin diseases. The relationship with his wife was unhappy. In 1899, they had a son, the paternity of which his wife denied him in court, which the district court found credible. Lasker-Schüler accused her husband of violence, and in 1903 they were divorced. At the beginning of the century, Lasker went to the U.S. for a longer period of time. He attempted to open a second office in New York City, without success.