José Raúl Capablanca

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José Raúl Capablanca
Full name	José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera
Country	Cuba
Born	November 19, 1888(1888-11-19) Havana, Cuba
Died	March 8, 1942 (aged 53) New York City, United States
World Champion	1921-1927

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 – March 8, 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players of all time, and was renowned for his exceptional end game skill and speed of play.^[1][2] Due to his achievements in the chess world, mastery over the board and his relatively simple style of play he was nicknamed the "Human Chess Machine".^[3][4]

Contents 1 Biography and career 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Early adult career 1.3 World title contender 1.4 During World War I 1.5 World Champion 1.6 Losing the title 1.7 Post-championship and partial retirement 1.8 Return to competitive chess 1.9 Final years 2 Assessment 2.1 Playing strength and style 2.2 Influence on the game 2.3 Personality 3 Capablanca chess 4 Notable chess games 5 Writings 6 Tournament results 7 Match results 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit] Biography and career

[edit] Childhood

José Raúl Capablanca, the second surviving son of an army officer,^[5] was born in Havana on November 19, 1888.^[6] According to Capablanca, he learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play, pointed out an illegal move by his father, and then beat his father twice. At the age of eight he was taken to Havana Chess Club, which had hosted many important contests, but on the advice of a doctor he was not allowed to play frequently. Between November and December 1901, he narrowly beat the Cuban Chess Champion, Juan Corzo, in a match.^[6][7][8] However in April 1902 he only came fourth out of six in the National Championship, losing both his games against Corzo.^[8] In 1905 Capablanca passed with ease the entrance examinations for Columbia University in New York City, as he wished to play for Columbia's strong baseball team, and soon was selected as shortstop on the freshman team.^[7] In the same year he joined the Manhattan Chess Club, and was soon recognized as the club's strongest player.^[6] He was particularly dominant in rapid chess, winning a tournament ahead of the reigning World Chess Champion, Emanuel Lasker, in 1906.^[6] In 1908 he left the university to concentrate on chess.^[6][7]

[edit] Early adult career

Capablanca's skill in rapid chess lent itself to simultaneous exhibitions, and his increasing reputation in these events led to a USA-wide tour in 1909.^[9] Playing 602 games in 27 cities, he scored 96.4% – a much higher percentage than that of previous players, for example, Géza Maróczy's 88% and Frank Marshall's 86% in 1906. As a result of this performance, he gained sponsorship for an exhibition match that same year against Marshall, the US champion,^[10] who had won the 1904 Cambridge Springs tournament ahead of World Champion Emanuel Lasker and Dawid Janowski, and whom Chessmetrics ranks as one of the world's top three players at his peak.^[11] Capablanca beat Marshall by 15–8 (8 wins, 1 loss, 14 draws) – a margin comparable to what Emanuel Lasker achieved against Marshall (8 wins, no losses, 7 draws) in winning his 1907 World Championship match. After the match, Capablanca said that he had never opened a book on chess openings.^[6][12] Following this match, Chessmetrics rates Capablanca the world's third strongest player for most of the period from 1909 through 1912.^[13]

Capablanca made a clean score in the 1910 New York State Championship, winning all seven games.^[14] After another gruelling series of simultaneous exhibitions,^[9] Capablanca placed second, with 9½ out of 12, in the 1911 National Tournament at New York, half a point behind Marshall, and half a point ahead of Charles Jaffe and Oscar Chajes.^[14][15] Marshall, invited to play in a tournament at San Sebastián, Spain, in 1911, insisted that Capablanca also be allowed to play.^[16]

According to David Hooper and Ken Whyld, San Sebastián 1911 was "one of the strongest five tournaments held up to that time", as all the world's leading players competed except the World Champion, Lasker, who was inactive in serious play at the time.^[17][18] At the beginning of the tournament, Ossip Bernstein and Aron Nimzowitsch objected to Capablanca's presence because he had not fulfilled the entry condition of winning at least third prize in two master tournaments.^[6] Capablanca won brilliantly against Bernstein in the very first round, more simply against Nimzowitsch,^[9] and astounded the chess world by taking first place, with a score of six wins, one loss and seven draws, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Milan Vidmar, Marshall, Carl Schlechter and Siegbert Tarrasch, et al.^[6] His loss, against Rubinstein, was one of the most brilliant achievements of the latter's career.^[19] Some European critics grumbled that Capablanca's style was rather cautious, though he conceded fewer draws than any of the next six finishers in the event. Capablanca was now recognized as a serious contender for the world championship.^[9]

[edit] World title contender

In 1911, Capablanca challenged Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess Championship. Lasker accepted his challenge while proposing seventeen conditions for the match. Capablanca objected to some of the conditions, which significantly favored Lasker, and the match did not take place.^[20][21]

In 1913, Capablanca won a tournament in New York with 11/13, half a point ahead of Marshall.^[14][22] Capablanca then finished second to Marshall in Capablanca's hometown, Havana, scoring 10 out of 14, and losing one of their individual games.^[14][23] The 600 spectators naturally favored their native hero, but sportingly gave Marshall "thunderous applause".^[23][24] In a second 1913 tournament in New York, at the Rice Chess Club, Capablanca won all thirteen games.^[9][14]

In September 1913, Capablanca secured a job in the Cuban Foreign Office,^[6] which made him financially secure throughout his life.^[18] Hooper and Whyld write that, "He had no specific duties, but was expected to act as a kind of ambassador-at-large, a well-known figure who would put Cuba on the map wherever he travelled."^[25] His first instructions were to go to Saint Petersburg – where he was due to play in a major tournament.^[9] On his way he gave simultaneous exhibitions in London, Paris and Berlin, where he also played two-game matches against Richard Teichmann and Jacques Mieses, winning all his games.^[6][9] After arriving in Saint Petersburg, he played similar matches against Alexander Alekhine, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky and Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky, losing one game to Znosko-Borovsky and winning the rest.^[6]

The St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament was the first in which Capablanca played World Champion Emanuel Lasker under normal tournament conditions^[9]. The St. Petersburg event was arranged in an unusual way: after a preliminary single round-robin tournament involving eleven players, the top five were to play a second stage in double round-robin format, with scores from the preliminary tournament carried forward to the second contest.^[9] Capablanca placed first in the preliminary tournament, 1½ points ahead of Lasker, who was out of practice and made a shaky start. Despite a determined effort by Lasker, Capablanca still seemed on course for ultimate victory. However, in their second game of the final, Lasker reduced Capablanca to a helpless position and Capablanca was so shaken by this that he blundered away his next game to Siegbert Tarrasch.^[9] Lasker thus finished half a point ahead of Capablanca and 3½ ahead of Alekhine.^[6][26] Alekhine commented:

His real, incomparable gifts first began to make themselves known at the time of St. Petersburg, 1914, when I too came to know him personally. Neither before nor afterwards have I seen – and I cannot imagine as well – such a flabbergasting quickness of chess comprehension as that possessed by the Capablanca of that epoch. Enough to say that he gave all the St. Petersburg masters the odds of 5–1 in quick games – and won! With all this he was always good-humoured, the darling of the ladies, and enjoyed wonderful good health – really a dazzling appearance. That he came second to Lasker must be entirely ascribed to his youthful levity – he was already playing as well as Lasker.^[27]

After the breakdown of his attempt to negotiate a title match in 1911, Capablanca drafted rules for the conduct of future challenges, which were agreed by the other top players at the 1914 Saint Petersburg tournament, including Lasker, and approved at the Mannheim Congress later that year. The main points were: the champion must be prepared to defend his title once a year; the match should be won by the first player to win six or eight games, whichever the champion preferred; and the stake should be at least £1,000 (worth about £347,000 or $700,000 in 2006 terms^[28]).^[21]

[edit] During World War I

World War I began in midsummer 1914, which brought international chess to a virtual halt for more than four years.^[9] Capablanca won tournaments in New York in 1914, 1915, 1916 (with preliminary and final round-robin stages) and 1918, losing only one game in this sequence.^[29] In the 1918 event Frank James Marshall, playing Black against Capablanca, unleashed a complicated counter-attack, later known as the Marshall Attack, against the Ruy Lopez opening. It is often said that Marshall had kept this secret for use against Capablanca since his defeat in their 1909 match;^[30] however, Edward Winter discovered several games between 1910 and 1918 where Marshall passed up opportunities to use the Marshall Attack against Capablanca; and an 1893 game that used a similar line.^[31] This gambit is so complex that Garry Kasparov used to avoid it,^[32] and Marshall had the advantage of using a prepared variation. Nevertheless, Capablanca found a way through the complications and won.^[18] Capablanca was challenged to a match in 1919 by Borislav Kostić, who had come through the 1918 tournament undefeated to take second place. The match was to go to the first player to win eight games, but Kostić resigned the match after losing five straight games.^[6][33] Capablanca considered that he was at his strongest around this time.^[9][34]

[edit] World Champion

The Hastings Victory tournament of 1919 was the first international competition on Allied soil since 1914. The field was not strong,^[9] and Capablanca won with 10½ points out of 11, one point ahead of Kostić.^[29]

In January 1920, Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca signed an agreement to play a World Championship match in 1921, noting that Capablanca was not free to play in 1920. Because of the delay, Lasker insisted that if he resigned the title, then Capablanca should become World Champion. Lasker had previously included in his agreement before World War I to play Akiba Rubinstein for the title a similar clause that if he resigned the title, it should become Rubinstein's.^[35] Lasker then resigned the title on June 27, 1920, saying, "You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." When Cuban enthusiasts raised $20,000 to fund the match provided it was played in Havana, Lasker agreed in August 1920 to play there, but insisted that he was the challenger as Capablanca was now the champion. Capablanca signed an agreement that accepted this point, and soon afterwards published a letter confirming it.

The match was played in March–April 1921; Lasker resigned it after just fourteen games, having lost four games and won none.^[35] Reuben Fine and Harry Golombek attributed the one-sided result to Lasker's being in mysteriously poor form.^[29][36] Fred Reinfeld mentioned speculations that Havana's humid climate weakened Lasker and that he was depressed about the outcome of World War I, especially as he had lost his life savings.^[9] On the other hand, Vladimir Kramnik thought that Lasker played quite well and the match was an "even and fascinating fight" until Lasker blundered in the last game. Kramnik's explanation was that Capablanca was twenty years younger, a slightly stronger player, and had more recent competitive practice.^[37]

The press regarded neither Lasker's 1920 resignation of the championship, nor Capablanca's acceptance, as legitimate. Edward Winter, after a lengthy summary of the facts, concludes that, "The press was dismissive of Lasker's wish to confer the title on Capablanca, even questioning the legality of such an initiative, and in 1921 it regarded the Cuban as having become world champion by dint of defeating Lasker over the board."^[35] Reference works invariably give Capablanca's reign as titleholder as beginning in 1921, not 1920.^[38][39][40] The only challenger besides Capablanca to win the title without losing a game is Kramnik, in the Classical World Chess Championship 2000 against Garry Kasparov.^[41]

Capablanca comfortably won the London tournament of 1922, with an undefeated thirteen points from fifteen games, ahead of Alexander Alekhine on 11½, Milan Vidmar (11), and Akiba Rubinstein (10½).^[42] During this event, Capablanca proposed the "London Rules" to regulate future World Championship negotiations: the first player to win six games would win the match; playing sessions would be limited to five hours; the time limit would be 40 moves in 2½ hours; the champion must defend his title within one year of receiving a challenge from a recognized master; the champion would decide the date of the match; the champion was not obliged to accept a challenge for a purse of less than US $10,000 (worth about $349,000 in 2006 terms^[43]); 20% of the purse was to be paid to the title holder and the remainder divided, 60% going to the winner of the match, and 40% to the loser; the highest purse bid must be accepted.^[44] Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubow, Geza Maroczy, Richard Reti, Rubinstein, Tartakower and Vidmar promptly signed them.^[45] In the period 1921-1923, Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch all challenged Capablanca, but only Alekhine could raise the US $10,000 Capablanca demanded and only for a match in 1927.^[46]

In 1922, Capablanca also gave a simultaneous exhibition in Cleveland against 103 opponents, the largest in history up to that time, winning 102 and drawing one - setting a record for the best winning percentage ever in a large simultaneous exhibition.^[47]

After beginning with four draws, followed by a loss,^[9] Capablanca placed second at the New York 1924 chess tournament, 1½ points behind Emanuel Lasker, though two ahead of third-placed Alekhine, with the score of 14/20 (+10 -1 =9).^[42] Capablanca's defeat at the hands of Richard Reti in the fifth round was his first in serious competition in eight years.^[14][48] He made another bad start at the Moscow 1925 chess tournament,^[9] and could only fight back to third place, two points behind Bogoljubow and ½ point behind Emanuel Lasker. Capablanca won at Lake Hopatcong, 1926 with 6 points out of 8, ahead of Abraham Kupchik (5) and Maroczy (4½).^[49]

A group of Argentinian businessmen, backed by a guarantee from the president of Argentina, promised the funds for a World Championship match between Capablanca and Alekhine in 1927.^[50] Since Nimzowitsch had challenged before Alekhine, Capablanca gave Nimzowitsch until January 1, 1927 to deposit a forfeit in order arrange a match.^[51] When this did not materialize, a Capablanca–Alekhine match was agreed, to begin in September 1927.^[52]

In the New York 1927 chess tournament, played from February 19 to March 23, 1927,^[53][54] six of the world's strongest masters played a quadruple round robin, with the others being Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Milan Vidmar, Nimzowitsch and Marshall,^[49] with Bogoljubow and Emanuel Lasker not present.^[18] Before the tournament, Capablanca diffidently wrote that he had "more experience but less power" than in 1911, that he had peaked in 1919 and that some of his competitors had become stronger in the meantime;^[9] however, he finished undefeated, winning the mini-matches with each of his rivals, 2½ points ahead of second-place Alekhine, and won the "best game" prize for a win over Spielmann.^[49]

In December 1921, shortly after becoming World Champion, Capablanca married Gloria Simoni Betancourt. They had a son, José Raúl Jr., in 1923 and a daughter, Gloria, in 1925.^[55] According to Capablanca's second wife, Olga, his first marriage broke down fairly soon, and he and Gloria had affairs.^[56] Both his parents died during his reign, his father in 1923 and mother in 1926.^[55]

[edit] Losing the title

Since Capablanca had won the New York 1927 chess tournament overwhelmingly and had never lost a game outright to Alekhine, he was regarded by most pundits as the clear favorite in their World Chess Championship 1927 match.^[9] However, Alekhine won the match, played from September to November 1927 at Buenos Aires, by 6 wins, 3 losses, and 25 draws^[57] – the longest formal World Championship match until the contest in 1984-85 between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.^[58] Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess world.^[57] After Capablanca's death, Alekhine expressed surprise at his own victory, since in 1927 he had not thought he was superior to Capablanca, and he suggested that Capablanca had been over-confident.^[27] Capablanca entered the match with no technical or physical preparation,^[6][9] while Alekhine got himself into good physical condition,^[59] and had thoroughly studied Capablanca's play.^[60] According to Kasparov, Alekhine's research uncovered many small inaccuracies, which occurred because Capablanca was unwilling to concentrate intensely.^[61] Vladimir Kramnik commented that this was the first contest in which Capablanca had no easy wins.^[37] Luděk Pachman suggested that Capablanca, who was unused to losing games or to any other type of setback, became depressed over his unnecessary loss of the eleventh game, a long, gruelling endgame, featuring errors by both players.^[62][63]

Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was willing to give Capablanca a return match, on the same terms that Capablanca had required as champion – the challenger must provide a stake of US $10,000, of which more than half would go to the defending champion even if he was defeated.^[64] Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch had all challenged Capablanca in the early 1920s but only Alekhine could raise the US $10,000 Capablanca demanded and only in 1927.^[46] After Capablanca's death, Alekhine wrote that Capablanca's demand for a $10,000 stake was an attempt to avoid challenges.^[27] Negotiations dragged on for several years, often breaking down when agreement seemed in sight. Their relationship became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher appearance fees for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.^[59][65]

[edit] Post-championship and partial retirement

After losing the World Championship in late 1927, Capablanca played more often in tournaments, hoping to strengthen his claim for a rematch.^[66] From 1928 through 1931, he won six first prizes, also finishing second twice and one joint second.^[14] His competitors included rising stars such as Max Euwe and Isaac Kashdan,^[67][68] as well as players who had been established in the 1920s, but Capablanca and Alekhine never played in the same tournament during this period, and would next meet only at the Nottingham, 1936 tournament, after Alekhine had lost the world title to Euwe the preceding year.^[66][69][70] In late 1931, Capablanca also won a match (+2 -0 =8) against Euwe,^[14][70] whom Chessmetrics ranks sixth in the world at the time.^[71]

Despite these excellent results, there were signs of decline in Capablanca's play: his play slowed from the speed of his youth, with time trouble appearing at intervals;^[18] although he continued to produce many superb games, gross blunders began to appear in his play.^[9][18][70] For all this, Chessmetrics nonetheless ranks Capablanca as the second strongest player in the world (after Alekhine) from his loss of the title through autumn 1932, except for a brief appearance in the top place.^[13]

After winning an event at New York in 1931, he withdrew from serious chess,^[14] perhaps disheartened by his inability to secure a return match against Alekhine,^[70] and played only less serious games at the Manhattan Chess Club and simultaneous displays.^[72] On 6 December 1933, Capablanca won all nine of his games in one of the club's weekly rapid chess tournaments, finishing two points ahead of Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine and Milton Hanauer.^[72]

[edit] Return to competitive chess

Capablanca had not considered divorcing his first wife, as he had never intended to re-marry. His second wife, Olga, wrote that they met in the late spring of 1934; by late October were deeply in love, and Capablanca recovered his ambition to prove he was the world's best player.^[56] In 1938, he obtained a divorce, marrying Olga on October 20, 1938,^[56] about a month before the AVRO tournament.^[73]

In the first event of his comeback, the Hastings tournament of 1934–35, he finished fourth, though coming ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik and Andor Lilienthal in the standings.^[74] After placing second by ½ point in the Margate tournaments of 1935 and 1936, he finished fourth, one  point behind the joint winners at Moscow in 1935;^[74] Emanuel Lasker's third place at the age of 66 was hailed as "a biological miracle."^[75] The following year, Capablanca won an even stronger tournament in Moscow, one point ahead of Botvinnik and 3½ ahead of Salo Flohr, who took third place;^[74] A month later, he shared first place with Botvinnik at Nottingham, with a mark of (+5 -1 =8), losing only to Flohr; Alekhine placed sixth, only one point behind the joint winners.^[74] These 1936 tournaments, the last two of Lasker's life,^[76] were the only ones in which Capablanca finished ahead of Lasker, now 67.^[77] During these triumphs Capablanca began to experience debilitating symptoms of hypertension.^[34] He tied for second place at Semmering in 1937, then could only finish seventh of the eight players at the 1938 AVRO tournament,^[78] an élite contest designed to select a challenger for Alekhine's world title.^[79][80] Capablanca's high blood pressure was not correctly diagnosed and treated until after the AVRO tournament, and caused him to lose his train of thought towards the end of playing sessions.^[34]

After winning at Paris in 1938 and placing second in a slightly stronger tournament at Margate in 1939, Capablanca played for Cuba in the 8th Chess Olympiad, held in Buenos Aires, and won the gold medal for the best performance on the top board.^[81] While Capablanca and Alekhine were both representing their countries in Buenos Aires, Capablanca made a final attempt to arrange a World Championship match. Alekhine declined, saying he was obliged to be available to defend his adopted homeland, France, as World War II had just broken out.^[82] Also, Alekhine sat out the match when the teams from Cuba and France faced each other in the Buenos Aires Olympiad, thus declining an opportunity to meet Capablanca once more.

[edit] Final years

On 7 March 1942, Capablanca was observing a skittles game and chatting with friends at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York City, when he asked for help removing his coat, and collapsed shortly afterwards. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 6 a.m. the next morning. The cause of death was given as "a cerebral haemorrhage provoked by hypertension".^[83] Capablanca's great rival Emanuel Lasker had died in the same hospital only a year earlier.^[84] Capablanca's body was given a public funeral in Havana's Colón Cemetery on March 15, 1942.^[83]

His bitter rival Alekhine wrote in a tribute to Capablanca:

… Capablanca was snatched from the chess world much too soon. With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we shall never see again.^[27]

Emanuel Lasker once said: "I have known many chess players, but only one chess genius: Capablanca."

An annual Capablanca Memorial tournament has been held in Cuba, most often in Havana, since 1962.^[85]

[edit] Assessment

[edit] Playing strength and style

As an adult, Capablanca lost only 34 serious games.^[84] He was undefeated from February 10, 1916, when he lost to Oscar Chajes in the New York 1916 tournament, to March 21, 1924, when he lost to Richard Réti in the New York International tournament. During this streak, which included his 1921 World Championship match against Lasker, Capablanca played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing 23.^[48][86] In fact, only Marshall, Lasker, Alekhine and Rudolf Spielmann won two or more serious games from the mature Capablanca, though in each case, their overall lifetime scores were minus (Capablanca beat Marshall +20 -2 =28, Lasker +6 -2 =16, Alekhine +9 -7 =33), except for Spielmann who was level (+2 -2 =8).^{[citation needed]} Of top players, only Keres had a narrow plus score against him^{[citation needed]} (+1 -0 =5).^[87] Keres' win was at the AVRO 1938 chess tournament, during which tournament Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was 22.^[88]

Statistical ranking systems place Capablanca high among the greatest players of all time. Nathan Divinsky and Raymond Keene's book Warriors of the Mind (1989) ranks him fifth, behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Botvinnik – and immediately ahead of Emanuel Lasker.^[89] In his 1978 book The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present, Arpad Elo gave retrospective ratings to players based on their performance over the best five-year span of their career. He concluded that Capablanca was the strongest of those surveyed, with Lasker and Botvinnik sharing second place.^[90] Chessmetrics (2006) is rather sensitive to the length of the periods being compared, and ranks Capablanca between third and fourth strongest of all time for peak periods ranging in length from one to fifteen years.^[91] Its author, the statistician Jeff Sonas, concluded that Capablanca had more years in the top three than anyone except Lasker, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov – although Alexander Alekhine had more years in the top two positions.^[92] A 2006 study claimed to show that Capablanca was the most accurate of all the World Champions when compared with computer analysis of World Championship match games.^[93][94] However, this analysis was criticized for using a second-rank chess program, Crafty, modified to limit its calculations to six moves by each side, and for favoring players whose style matched that of the program.^[95]

Boris Spassky, World Champion from 1969 to 1972, considered Capablanca the best player of all time.^[96] Bobby Fischer, who held the title from 1972 to 1975, admired Capablanca's "light touch" and ability to see the right move very quickly. Fischer reported that in the 1950s, older members of the Manhattan Chess Club spoke of Capablanca's performances with awe.^[97]

Capablanca excelled in simple positions and endgames, and his positional judgment was outstanding, so much so that most attempts to attack him came to grief without any apparent defensive efforts on his part. However, he could play great tactical chess when necessary – most famously in the 1918 Manhattan Chess Club Championship tournament (in New York) where Marshall sprang a deeply-analyzed prepared variation on him, which he refuted while playing under the normal time limit (although ways have since been found to strengthen the Marshall Attack).^[18][98] He was also capable of using aggressive tactical play to drive home a positional advantage, provided he considered it safe and the most efficient way to win, for example against Spielmann in the 1927 New York tournament.^[99][100]

[edit] Influence on the game

Capablanca founded no school per se, but his style was very influential in the games of two world champions: Fischer and Anatoly Karpov. Botvinnik also wrote how much he learned from Capablanca, and pointed out that Alekhine had received much schooling from him in positional play, before their fight for the world title made them bitter enemies.

As a chess writer, Capablanca did not present large amounts of detailed analysis, instead focusing on the critical moments in a game. His writing style was plain and easy to understand.^[101] Botvinnik regarded Capablanca's book Chess Fundamentals as the best chess book ever written.^[101] In this book, Capablanca pointed out that while the bishop was usually stronger than the knight, queen and knight was usually better than queen and bishop^[102] – the bishop merely mimics the queen's diagonal move, while the knight can immediately reach squares the queen cannot. Botvinnik credits Capablanca as the first with this insight.^{[citation needed]} Recent research is divided over Capablanca's conclusion: in 2007, Glenn Flear concluded that queen plus bishop is stronger,^[103] while in 1999, Larry Kaufman, analysing a large database of games, concluded that results very slightly favored queen plus knight.^[104] John Watson wrote in 1998 that an unusually large proportion of queen and knight versus queen and bishop endings are drawn, and that most decisive games are characterized by the winning side having one or more obvious advantages in that specific game.^[105]

[edit] Personality

Early in his chess career, Capablanca had received some criticism, mainly in Britain, for the allegedly conceited description of his accomplishments in his first book, My Chess Career. He therefore took the unprecedented step of including virtually all of his tournament and match defeats up to that time in Chess Fundamentals, together with an instructive group of his victories. Nevertheless his preface to the 1934 edition of Chess Fundamentals is confident that "reader may therefore go over the contents of the book with the assurance that there is in it everything he needs."^[101] However Julius du Mont wrote that he knew Capablanca well and could vouch that he was not conceited. In du Mont's opinion critics should understand the difference between the merely gifted and the towering genius of Capablanca, and the contrast between the British tendency towards false modesty and the Latin and American tendency to say "I played this game as well as it could be played" if he honestly thought that it was correct.^[6] Fischer also admired this frankness.^[97] Du Mont also said that Capablanca was rather sensitive to criticism,^[6] and chess historian Edward Winter documented a number of examples of self-criticism in My Chess Career.^[101]

Despite his achievements Capablanca appeared more interested in baseball than in chess, which he described as "not a difficult game to learn and it is an enjoyable game to play."^[106] His second wife, Olga, thought he resented the way in which chess had dominated his life, and wished he could have studied music or medicine.^[56]

[edit] Capablanca chess

In an interview in 1925 Capablanca denied reports that he thought chess had already currently reached its limit because it was easy for top players to obtain a draw. However he was concerned that the accelerating development of chess technique and opening knowledge might cause such stagnation in 50 years' time. Hence he suggested the adoption of a 10x10 board with 2 extra pieces per side:

• a chancellor that moves as both a rook and a knight;
• an archbishop that moves as both a bishop and a knight. This piece would be able to deliver checkmate on its own, which none of the conventional pieces can do.

He thought this would prevent technical knowledge from becoming such a dominant factor, at least for a few centuries.^[108]

Capablanca and Edward Lasker experimented with 10x10 and 10x8 boards, using the same expanded set of pieces. They preferred the 8-rank version as it encouraged combat to start earlier, and their games typically lasted 20 to 25 moves.^[107] Contrary to the claims of some critics, Capablanca proposed this variant while he was world champion, not as sour grapes after losing his title.^[109]

Similar 10x8 variants had previously been described in 1617 by Pietro Carrera and in 1874 by Henry Bird, differing only in how the new pieces were placed in each side's back row. Subsequent variants inspired by Capablanca's experimentation have been proposed, including Grand chess (which uses a 10x10 board and has pawns on the third rank), Gothic Chess (which used to be patented), and Embassy Chess (the Grand chess setup on a 10x8 board).

[edit] Notable chess games

• Jose Raul Capablanca vs L Molina, Buenos Aires 1911, Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern. Knight Defense (D52), 1-0 An impressive Greco's sacrifice along with deceptive simplicity and effortless endgame.
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Frank James Marshall, ch Manhattan CC, New York 1918, Spanish Game: Marshall Attack. Original Marshall Attack (C89), 1-0 One of the most famous games of Capablanca. It is on record that Marshall unveiled this attack after careful preparation. Perfect example of defending against an extremely aggressive attack.
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Professor Marc Fonaroff, New York 1918, Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Hedgehog Variation (C62), 1-0 A freaky ending with amazing accuracy.
• Emanuel Lasker vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Lasker-Capablanca World Championship Match, Havana 1921. Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Rubinstein Variation (D61), 0-1 A strategic masterpiece and instructive endgame which should be on everybody's list. Capablanca out-playing the great Lasker in the endgame with simple and perfect maneuvering of pieces. A must-see game for chess endgame fans.
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Savielly Tartakower, New York 1924, Dutch Defense, Horwitz Variation: General (A80), 1-0 A brilliant endgame from the natural genius. Dubbed as "Rook Before you Leap". Demonstrates the exceptional endgame skills of Capablanca with flawless artistry.
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Rudolf Spielmann, New York 1927, Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation (D37), 1-0 A remarkable tactical game which earned the "Brilliancy Price" for Capablanca. This is a showcase of Capablanca's tactical skills complementing positional supremacy.
• Jose Raul Capablanca vs Andor Lilienthal, Moscow 1936, Reti Opening: Anglo-Slav. Bogoljubow Variation (A12), 1-0 A perfect endgame and pawn play utilizing the space against material advantage.
• Ilia Abramovich Kan vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Moscow 1936, Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense (C25), 0-1 Another demonstration of Caplabanca's endgame supremacy. This game seems a drawn game, but witness how Capablanca ekes out a win using his positional mastery.

[edit] Writings

• Havana 1913, by José Raúl Capablanca. This is the only tournament book he wrote. It was originally published in Spanish in 1913 in Havana. Edward Winter translated it into English, and it appeared as a British Chess Magazine reprint, Quarterly #18, in 1976.
• A Primer of Chess by José Raúl Capablanca (preface by Benjamin Anderson). Originally published in 1935. Republished in 2002 by Harvest Books, ISBN 0156028077.
• Chess Fundamentals by José Raúl Capablanca (Originally published in 1921. Republished by Everyman Chess, 1994, ISBN 1857440730. Revised and updated by Nick de Firmian in 2006, ISBN 0-8129-3681-7.)
• My Chess Career by José Raúl Capablanca (Originally published by Macmillan in 1921. Republished by Dover in 1966. Republished by Hardinge Simpole Limited, 2003, ISBN 1843820919.)
• The World's Championship Chess Match between José Raul Capablanca and Dr. Emanuel Lasker, with an introduction, the scores of all the games annotated by the champion, together with statistical matter and the biographies of the two masters, 1921 by José Raul Capablanca. (Republished in 1977 by Dover, together with a book on the 1927 match with annotations by Frederick Yates and William Winter, as World's Championship Matches, 1921 and 1927 by José Raúl Capablanca. ISBN 0486231895.)
• Last Lectures by José Raúl Capablanca (Simon and Schuster, January 1966, ASIN B0007DZW6W)

[edit] Tournament results

The following table gives Capablanca's placings and scores in tournaments.^{[14][29][42][49][66][69][70][74][78][110]} The first "Score" column gives the number of points out of the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

Date	Location	Place	Score		Notes
1910	New York State	1st	20/20	+20 −0 =0
1911	New York	2nd	9½/12	+8 −1 =3
	San Sebastián (Spain)	1st	9½/14	+6 −1 =7	Ahead of Akiba Rubinstein and Milan Vidmar (9), Frank James Marshall (8½)[110] and 11 other world-class players.[17] His only loss was to Rubinstein, and his win against Ossip Bernstein was awarded the brilliancy prize.[110]
1913	New York	1st	11/13	+10 −1 =2	Ahead of Marshall (10½), Charles Jaffe (9½) and Dawid Janowski (9)[110]
	Havana	2nd	10/14	+8 −2 =4	Behind Marshall (10½); ahead of Janowski (9) and five others.[110]
	New York	1st	13/13	+13 −0 =0	Ahead of Oldrich Duras
1914	St. Petersburg	2nd	13/18	+10 −2 =6	Behind Emanuel Lasker (13½); ahead of Alexander Alekhine (10), Siegbert Tarrasch (8½) and Marshall (8). This tournament had an unusual structure: there was a preliminary tournament in which eleven players played each other player once; the top five players then played a separate final tournament in which each player who made the "cut" played the other finalists twice; but their scores from the preliminary tournament were carried forward. Even the preliminary tournament would now be considered a "super-tournament". Capablanca "won" the preliminary tournament by 1½ points without losing a game, but Lasker achieved a plus score against all his opponents in the final tournament and finished with a combined score ½ point ahead of Capablanca's.[110]
	New York	1st	11/11	+11 −0 =0	Ahead of Oldrich Duras (8½) and ten others.[29]
1915	New York	1st	13/14	+12 −0 =2	Ahead of Marshall (12) and six others.[29]
1916	New York	1st	14/17	+12 −1 =4	Ahead of Janowski (11) and 11 others. The structure was similar to that of St. Petersburg 1914.[29]
1918	New York	1st	10½/12	+9 −0 =3	Ahead of Boris Kostić (9), Marshall (7), and four others
1919	Hastings	1st	10½/11	+10 −0 =1	Ahead of Kostić (9½), Sir George Thomas (7), Frederick Yates (7) and eight others[29]
1922	London	1st	13/15	+11 −0 =4	Ahead of Alekhine (11½), Vidmar (11), Rubinstein (10½), Efim Bogoljubow (9), and 11 other players, mostly very strong[42]
1924	New York	2nd	14½/20	+10 −1 =9	Behind Lasker (16); ahead of Alekhine (12), Marshall (11), Richard Réti (10½) and six others, mostly very strong[42]
1925	Moscow	3rd	13½/20	+9 −2 =9	Behind Bogojubow (15½) and Lasker (14); ahead of Marshall (12½) and a mixture of strong international players and rising Soviet players[49]
1926	Lake Hopatcong	1st	6/8	+4 −0 =4	Ahead of Abraham Kupchik (5), Géza Maróczy (4½), Marshall (3) and Edward Lasker (1½)[49]
1927	New York	1st	14/20	+8 −0 =12	Ahead of Alekhine (11½), Aron Nimzowitsch (10½), Vidmar (10), Rudolf Spielmann (8) and Marshall (6).[49]
1928	Berlin	1st	8½/12	+5 −0 =7	Ahead of Nimzowitsch (7), Spielmann (6½) and four other very strong players[66]
	Bad Kissingen	2nd	7/11	+4 −1 =6	Behind Bogojubow (8); ahead of Max Euwe (6½), Rubinstein (6½), Nimzowitsch (6) and seven other strong masters[66]
	Budapest	1st	7/9	+5 −0 =4	Ahead of Marshall (6), Hans Kmoch (5), Spielmann (5) and six others[66]
1929	Ramsgate	1st	5½/7	+4 −0 =3	Ahead of Vera Menchik (5), Rubinstein (5), and four others[69]
	Carlsbad	2nd=	14½/21	+10 −2 =9	Behind Nimzowitsch (15); tied with Spielmann; ahead of Rubinstein (13½) and 18 others, mostly very strong[69]
	Budapest	1st	10½/13	+8 −0 =5	Ahead of Rubinstein (9½), Savielly Tartakower (8) and 11 others[69]
	Barcelona	1st	13½/14	+13 −0 =1	Ahead of Tartakower (11½) and 13 others[69]
1930–31	Hastings	2nd	16½/9	+5 −1 =3	Behind Euwe (7); ahead of eight others[70]
1931	New York	1st	10/11	+9 −0 =2	Ahead of Isaac Kashdan (8½) and 10 others[70]
1934–35	Hastings	4th	5½/9	+4 −2 =3	Behind Thomas, (6½), Euwe (6½) and Salo Flohr (6½); ahead Mikhail Botvinnik (5), Andor Lilienthal (5) and four others[74]
1935	Moscow	4th	12/19	+7 −2 =10	Behind Botvinnik (13), Flohr (13) and Lasker (12½); ahead of Spielmann (11) and 15 others, mainly Soviet players[74]
	Margate	2nd	7/9	+6 −1 =2	Behind Samuel Reshevsky (7½); ahead of eight others.[74]
1936	Margate	2nd	7/9	+5 −0 =4	Behind Flohr (7½); ahead of Gideon Ståhlberg and eight others.[74]
	Moscow	1st	13/18	+8 −0 =10	Ahead of Botvinnik (12), Flohr (9½), Lilienthal (9), Viacheslav Ragozin (8½), Lasker (8) and four others[74]
	Nottingham	1st=	10/14	+7 −1 =6	Tied with Botvinnik; ahead of Euwe (9½), Reuben Fine (9½), Reshevsky (9½), Alekhine (9), Flohr (8½), Lasker (8½) and seven other strong opponents[74]
1937	Semmering	3rd=	7½/14	+2 −1 =11	Behind Paul Keres (9), Fine (8); tied with Reshevsky; ahead of Flohr (7), Erich Eliskases (6), Ragozin (6) and Vladimirs Petrovs (5)[78]
1938	Paris	1st=	8/10	+6 −0 =4	Ahead of Nicolas Rossolimo (7½) and four others[78]
	AVRO tournament, at ten cities in The Netherlands	7th	6/14	+2 -4 =8	Behind Keres (8½), Fine (8½), Botvinnik (7½), Alekhine (7), Euwe (7) and Reshevsky (7); ahead of Flohr (4½)[78]
1939	Margate	2nd=	6½/9	+4 −0 =5	Behind Keres (7½); tied with Flohr; ahead of seven others[78]

At the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Capablanca took the medal for best performance on a country's first board.^[78]

[edit] Match results

Here are Capablanca's results in matches.^[14] The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

Date	Opponent	Result	Location	Score		Notes
1900	Juan Corzo	Won	Havana	7−5	+4 −2 =6	For the championship of Cuba; Corzo was the reigning champion.
1909	Frank James Marshall	Won	New York	15−8	+8 −1 =14
1919	Boris Kostić	Won	USA	5-0	+5 −0 =0
1921	Emanuel Lasker	Won	Havana	11−7	+4 −0 =14	For the World Chess Championship.
1927	Alexander Alekhine	Lost	Buenos Aires	15½−18½	+3 −6 =25	For the World Chess Championship.
1931	Max Euwe	Won	Netherlands	6−4	+2 −0 =8	Euwe became World Champion 1935–1937.[111]

[edit] See also

• List of people who have beaten José Raúl Capablanca in chess
• World Chess Championship 1927
• List of people on the cover of Time Magazine: 1920s - 7 Dec. 1925

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Harold Schonberg (1973). Grandmasters of Chess. New York, NY: W W Norton & Co Inc.
• Edward Winter (1981). World Chess Champions. London, UK: Pergamon Press.
• Irving Chernev (1982). Capablanca's Best Chess Endings. New York: Dover Publications.
• Harry Golombek (1947). Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess. London, UK: Bell.
• Fred Reinfeld (1990). The Immortal Games of Capablanca. New York, NY: Dover Publications.
• Dale Brandreth & David Hooper (1993). The Unknown Capablanca. New York, NY: Dover Publications.
• Irving Chernev (1995). Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games. New York, NY: Dover Publications.
• Edward Winter (1989). Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
• Garry Kasparov (2003). My Great Predecessors: part 1. Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-330-6.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: José Raúl Capablanca

• José Raúl Capablanca player profile at ChessGames.com
• Biography on Chesscorner.com
• Lasker's Chess Magazine (Feb 1905) recognizes Capablanca at age 16
• Capablanca biography
• Capablanca's Chess — a program implementation.
• The Genius and the Princess by Edward Winter (1999), with considerable input by Capablanca's widow Olga on his life.
• Edward Winter, List of Books About Capablanca and Alekhine

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Emanuel Lasker	World Chess Champion 1921–1927	Succeeded by Alexander Alekhine

v • d • e World Chess Championships pre-FIDE 1886, 1889, 1891, 1892 (Steinitz) · 1894, 1897, 1907, 1908, 1910 (Jan-Feb), 1910 (Nov-Dec) (Lasker) · 1921 (Capablanca) · 1927, 1929, 1934 (Alekhine) · 1935 (Euwe) · 1937 (Alekhine) FIDE 1948, 1951, 1954 (Botvinnik) · 1957 (Smyslov) · 1958 (Botvinnik) · 1960 (Tal) · 1961 (Botvinnik)  · 1963, 1966 (Petrosian) · 1969 (Spassky) · 1972 (Fischer) · 1975, 1978, 1981 (Karpov) · 1984-1985, 1986, 1987, 1990 (Kasparov) Split title Classical 1993, 1995 (Kasparov) · 2000, 2004 (Kramnik) FIDE 1993, 1996, 1998 (Karpov) · 1999 (Khalifman) · 2000 (Anand) · 2002 (Ponomariov) · 2004 (Kasimdzhanov) · 2005 (Topalov) FIDE 2006 (Kramnik) · 2007, 2008 (Anand) · Future: 2010, 2011