Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match (1927)

HISTORY OF THE WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP

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Capablanca vs Alekhine 1927
Buenos Aires

From 1921 to 1927, Alexander Alekhine labored to become José Raúl Capablanca's logical challenger, winning or sharing first prize in 12 of 20 tournaments (he also won or shared six second prizes during this period). He also began a minute study of Capablanca's games, searching for weaknesses.¹ In the age of luminaries such as Rubinstein, Bogoljubow, and Nimzowitsch, Alekhine was not the only legitimate contender to the crown. He was, however, the only leading player able to secure the necessary finances to allow the match to take place. In 1927 the two giants met over the chessboard in Buenos Aires with the World Championship title at stake.

Capablanca
Argentinian newspaper photo. Click here for larger view.
Capablanca was, of course, a heavy favorite in this match. In addition to his own record, his heads-up record against Alekhine was far superior. They had met in four previous tournaments, and in each case Capablanca had placed higher. Their head-to-head record was an exceptional +5 -0 =7 for Capablanca. Grandmaster predictions were heavily in his favor. Rudolf Spielmann predicted that Alekhine would not win a single game, while the optimistic Bogolubov thought that he might perhaps win 2 games.²

In Argentina, from September 16 through November 29, 1927, the world witnessed the longest World Championship Match in the history of chess. The conditions for the match was the first to win 6 games. The star opening of this match was the Orthodox Defense to the Queen's Gambit which appeared in every game but two. After a titanic struggle of 34 games, Alekhine achieved the impossible: he defeated Capablanca 6 to 3, and became the 4th World Chess Champion.

click on a game number to replay game 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Alekhine 1 ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½

Capablanca 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½

click on a game number to replay game 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34
Alekhine 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1

Capablanca 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 0 ½ 0

FINAL SCORE: Alekhine 6; Capablanca 3 (25 draws)
Reference: game collection WCC Index [Capablanca-Alekhine 1927]

NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]

    · Game #11     Capablanca vs Alekhine, 1927     0-1
    · Game #34     Alekhine vs Capablanca, 1927     1-0
    · Game #1     Capablanca vs Alekhine, 1927     0-1

¹ Kings of Chess: 21-Player Salute, by Larry Parr.
² World Championship Chess Matches by Graeme Cree

Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match (1927)

page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 34

Game Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening
1. Capablanca vs Alekhine 0-1 43 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match C01 French, Exchange

2. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 19 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D65 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack, Main line

3. Capablanca vs Alekhine 1-0 42 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match A47 Queen's Indian

4. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 49 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D64 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack

5. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 42 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D51 Queen's Gambit Declined

6. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 40 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

7. Capablanca vs Alekhine 1-0 36 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D52 Queen's Gambit Declined

8. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 42 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D62 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack

9. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 34 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D51 Queen's Gambit Declined

10. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 20 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D62 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack

11. Capablanca vs Alekhine 0-1 66 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D52 Queen's Gambit Declined

12. Alekhine vs Capablanca 1-0 41 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D64 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack

13. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 27 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

14. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 25 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D64 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox, Rubinstein Attack

15. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 30 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

16. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 24 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

17. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 59 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

18. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 28 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

19. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 21 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

20. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 43 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

21. Capablanca vs Alekhine 0-1 32 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

22. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 86 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

23. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 48 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

24. Alekhine vs Capablanca ½-½ 41 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D67 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line

25. Capablanca vs Alekhine ½-½ 40 1927 Capablanca-Alekhine World Championship Match D63 Queen's Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense

page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 34

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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 23 OF 23 · Later Kibitzing >
May-07-09		returnoftheking: <Pillsbury worked very hard at chess and, like Morphy, was one of the most thoroughly booked-up players of his era.> source?

May-08-09		keypusher: <Analyze This> Thanks. But most of those look like casual games. You can find losses like that throughout his career in casual games, I think.

May-09-09		returnoftheking: < Pillsbury worked very hard at chess and, like Morphy, was one of the most thoroughly booked-up players of his era.> Not backed up in any way; coming from the guy who said: <Where do you get this stuff, <drnoo>? Do you just assume that anything you want to be true, is true?> How ironic:)

May-10-09		keypusher: <returnoftheking> You very much want to fight, don't you, sitzkrieg? With me, with <frogbert>, all your old enemies. I have to assemble an answer to you from the Hastings 1895, St. Petersburg '95-'96, Nuremberg 1896, Vienna 1898 and London 1899 tournament books. I'll get around to it when I get around to it. You can go back to the Carlsen page and keep trying to get yourself banned again in the meantime.

May-10-09		chancho: <keypusher> here's one you wrote from back in 07: <From Cheshire's bio of Pillsbury in the Hastings tournament book>: <22 at the time of the tournament, Pillsbury was born on December 5, 1872 at Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.A. He was educated for a commercial career, and did not make a study of the game until five years ago. Mr. Pillsbury is decidedly pleasant and unassuming in manner, and a perfect type of American and a tremendous smoker. He is remarkably self-composed, and sits at the chess table in a comfortable smile and with a self confident look on his face. His style of play is energetic, free from fads, and correct; while looking carefully after his defenses, he is always pressing forward for chances to win, which he is very quick to detect. The openings are thoroughly known, and in the middlegame his fearless maneuvers are superb. His chief successes are: 1890. He beat Steinitz, receiving pawn and move. 1890. He beat H.N. Stone by 5 to 2. 1893. He beat Walbrodt. 1893. He beat Schottlander. 1893. He won first prize, New York City Chess Club. 1895. He won first prize, Hastings.>

May-10-09		AnalyzeThis: <keypusher: But most of those look like casual games. > You don't get to be world champion by treating chess casually. I'm sure Lasker was trying.

May-10-09		chancho: With the career that Lasker had, those losses are really not that big of a deal.

May-10-09		Fanacas: No being world champion so long and even at his old age stil a unbeliavable chess player. (and he didnt run from challengers for example tarrasch who was seen at that moment the strongest chess player in the world. And capablanca even though i regret that the match was cancled so much and played so late)

May-10-09		returnoftheking: lol keypusher. You make the problem very clear. Disagreeing is fighting to some people, including you. Remember what you said to drnoo and me. You just can't prove your statement so you attack people or hint that they should be banned. I don't know if Pillsbury was more booked up then other players-but I wouldn't agressively put other kibitzers down for thinking different-especially without proof of the opposite.

May-10-09		returnoftheking: <he didnt run from challengers for example tarrasch who was seen at that moment the strongest chess player in the world> I was under the impression that Tarrasch only got to play a match against Lasker after his prime, am I wrong here?

May-10-09		chancho: Lasker sought a match with Tarrasch before he became world champion. The latter dismissed him by saying that Lasker should go make a name for himself first by winning a major tournament. Lasker decided to go to the United States to challenge Steinitz to a match, and the rest is history.

May-10-09		returnoftheking: Many claim Lasker avoided some matches-f.e. tarrasch before 1900, rubinstein, capablanca but I never read this. But Tarrasch certainly is someone who could have said that! At any rate-wch-title meant money-hard to come by then- so it's understandable if one avoids dangerous opponents.

May-10-09		chancho: If those guys could have raised the stake, there's no doubt in my mind that Lasker would have played them. Lasker had the heart of a Lion. He had agreed to play Capa in 1911, but when Capa said during negotiations that the terms to various conditions, (among them only 30 games for the match) were most unfair, this angered Lasker to the point that he stopped negotiating. Lasker had also accepted challenges from Rubinstein, and Maroczy, but unfortunately due to problems with the raising of money for the match,(as well as other unforeseen circumstances) it prevented those matches from taking place. Too me the greatest blow to the game was when Lasker never got to play a world championship match with Pillsbury. The games from that match would have been epic.

May-10-09		returnoftheking: May I ask of what book (s)(?) you have the info about Lasker's negotiations with Capablanca and others? I hear a lot of stuff I don't know and urgently need to expand my library:P

May-10-09		chancho: Regarding Lasker? The Oxford Companion to Chess by Whyld and Hooper, and Emanuel Lasker The Life of a Chess Master by Jacques Hannak are two good sources. And the Pillsbury bio from the Cheschire book(now in the public domain) can be found here: http://www.chessville.com/misc/Hist...

May-10-09		Fanacas: And people didnt thought tarrasch was out of his prime and thought he would beat lasker, they thought lasker beatet steintiz becous steinitz had grown old.

May-10-09		returnoftheking: thanks Chancho

May-10-09		Fanacas: Btw Emanual Lasker The life of a chess master includesmany games about lasker, or just stories ?

May-10-09		chancho: <Fanacas> The book has 100 of his games and a biography.

May-10-09		keypusher: <AnalyzeThis: <keypusher: But most of those look like casual games. > You don't get to be world champion by treating chess casually. I'm sure Lasker was trying.> Treating chess casually and treating individual games casually are two different things. To quote Soltis, <Lasker used his simultaneous exhibitions to experiment, to have fun, to play in a style he didn't allow himself in money games.> You can look through a selection of his casual games and see if you don't agree that a similar observation could be made about his casual games generally. Here's a concrete example: In 1899 Lasker scored his greatest tournament triumph, +19-1=7 at London, finishing 4.5 points ahead of runners-up Pillsbury, Maroczy and Janowsky. But in casual games in the database for that year, his record (if I counted right) is +7-6=1. I'll let you decide which result you think is more representative of his real strength. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches...

May-10-09		AnalyzeThis: <chancho: With the career that Lasker had, those losses are really not that big of a deal. > This is the bottom line. We've probably given this question more attention than it deserves. The original topic was who was the toughest to beat. Certainly Lasker in his prime was. I just noted a few early losses.

May-11-09		Fanacas: I agree with keypusher if you, are a chess master and you play in tournaments (for money becous it is your living) i also want to have some fun for example in simultaneous exhibitions and casual game, for example i dont play the same way in a tournament game then when i play with my friends in a casual one.

Jul-14-09		Sneaky: Little known trivia: Due to a dispute over who would get the white pieces in the first round, the arbiter decided that for the first game, they BOTH would play Black! Photographic proof here: http://www.chessgames.com/history/1...

Jul-14-09		refutor: and Lurch was the arbiter

Jul-14-09		Sneaky: ROFL, yes! You apparently have the same book I do. Just ask "YouRang" he will testify to its veracity.

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