I expect Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) to provide more examples of a master exploiting the common, weak, airy pawn structure than other world champions. Lasker — champion for a record 27 years (1894-1921) — let opponents hang themselves. If you let them, opponents will set up that unsatisfactory pawn structure on their own; it’s more brutal when you force them to.
[Event "Simultaneous exhibition"]
[Site "Netherlands"]
[Date "1908"]
[White "E. Lasker"]
[Black "B. Johannes van Trotsenburg"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"]{ <sub><em>Click or tap on a move in the game text for a popout display board.</em></sub></br>[#]}
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Nf3
{</br> Almost all the greats tried this Two Knights’ Attack against the Caro-Kann. If you don’t look further than 1923, you’ve got Lasker, Tarrasch, Capablanca, Bogoljubov. The active variation took hold with the fashion-conscious masses in 1960, when Tal played it during a world championship match (about which he wrote a most remarkable <a href="https://www.betterworldbooks.com/product/detail/Tal-Botvinnik-1960--Match-for-the-World-Chess-Championship-9781941270424" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">book</a>). </br>}
3... dxe4
({</br> } 3... Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6 { is most solid by test.</br>} )
4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6
{</br> 5…Bg4 to pin the king knight is an improvement. Black here goes with what he knows.</br>}
6. h4 h6
{</br> Black follows the pattern with which he is familiar: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3, but the Two Knights’ Attack leaves the d-pawn on d2 to accelerate the piece play.</br>}
7. Ne5
{ </br> White wins 9 out of 10 games that begin this way.</br>}
7... Bh7 8. Qh5 g6 9. Bc4 $1 e6 {[#]} 10. Qe2 Bg7
( {</br> Black has won a couple of games with} 10... Qe7{.</br>})
11. Nxf7 ( {</br> In Evans-Humphries, North Island ch 1961, Black played to the end:} 11. Nxf7 Kxf7 12. Qxe6+ Kf8 13. Qf7#) 1-0 *
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