Emanuel Lasker vs Jose Raul Capablanca
Lasker-Capablanca World Championship Match (1921)  ·  Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Hedgehog Variation (C66)  ·  1/2-1/2

[Event "Habana, WCH"] [Site "Habana, WCH"] [Date "1921.03.30"] [EventDate "?"] [Round "6"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Jose Raul Capablanca"] [ECO "C66"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "86"] 1.e4 {Notes by J. R. Capablanca} e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O d6 5.d4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Be7 7.Re1 exd4 8.Nxd4 O-O 9.Bxc6 bxc6 10.Bg5 Re8 11.Qd3 h6 12.Bh4 Nh7 13.Bxe7 Rxe7 14.Qc4 {Up to this point the game was identical with the third. Here Lasker changed the course of the game.} Qe8 15.Re2 {Re3 had also to be considered.} Rb8 16.b3 c5 17.Nf3 Bb5 {Not the best.Ng5 was the right move. The text move leaves Black with an exceedingly difficult ending.} 18.Nxb5 Qxb5 19.Qxb5 Rxb5 20.Kf1 Ng5 21.Nd2 Ne6 {The maneuvers of this knight are ofmuch greaterimportance than it might appear on the surface. It is essential to force White to play c3 in order to weaken somewhat the defensive strength of his queen’s knight’s pawn.} 22.c3 f6 23.Nc4 Nf4 {Again the moves of the knight have a definite meeting. The student would do well to carefully study this ending.} 24.Re3 Ng6 25.Nd2 Rb8 26.g3 a5 27.a4 {It is now seen why Black had to compel White to play c3. With the white pawn at c2 Black’s game would be practically hopeless, since White’s b pawn would not have to be protected by a piece, as is the case now.} Ne5 28.f4 Nd7 29.Ke2 Nb6 30.Kd3 c6 31.Rae1 Kf7 32.Nc4 {e5 would have lead to a much more complicated and difficult ending, but Black seems to have an adequate defense by simply playing fxe5, followed by d5, when White retakes the pawn.} Nxc4 33.Kxc4 Re6 {This is the best move and not Ke6 which would be met by Rd3.} 34.e5 fxe5 35.fxe5 d5 36.Kxc5 Rxb3 37.c4 {Not the best, but at any rate the game would have been a draw. The best move would have been Rf1+.} dxc4 38.Re4 {Probably the only way to obtain a sure draw.} c3 39.Rc4 h5 40.Re3 Rb2 41.Rcxc3 Rxh2 42.Kb6 Rb2+ 43.Kxa5 g5 {There was not any object for either player too attempt to win such a game.} 1/2-1/2

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Annotations by Jose Raul Capablanca.      [26 more games annotated by Capablanca]

explore this opening find similar games 23 more Lasker/Capablanca games PGN: download | view Help: general | java-troubleshooting

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Aug-02-07    cn1ght: I know 'Spanish' and 'Ruy lopex' are the same opening, but normally a single source keeps the same name throughout, it's strange that this website switches between both names. Mar-02-08    Knight13: I like the way Capablanca moves his knights around in the closed endgame to weaken white's pawns, but I don't see how that really became helpful. Nov-23-09    Ulhumbrus: <Knight13: I like the way Capablanca moves his knights around in the closed endgame to weaken white's pawns, but I don't see how that really became helpful.> Capablanca's comment on White's 27th move 27 a4 suggests a part of the answer, as follows. Capablanca wants to play the move ...a5 in order to play ....a4 and so to remove his weak a pawn. With White's c pawn on c2, White can answer ....a5 with a4 and then play Nc4, and attack the Black a5 pawn, thus tying a Rook - a piece of greater value than the Knight- to the defence of the Black a5 pawn. With the White c pawn on c3 this does not work. The b3 pawn lacks a c2 pawn to defend it, and White's N is tied to the defence of the b3 pawn, so that the move Nc4 invites the capture ...Rxb3.

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Featured in the Following Game Collections [what is this?] Match Lasker! by amadeus L9.1 QGD from How to Defend in Chess by Colin Crouch game coll by tak gambit World Championship Game #6 from WCC Index [Lasker-Capablanca 1921] by suenteus po 147 Aurora's favorite games by Aurora Ghandy's favorite games by Ghandy Match Capablanca! by amadeus 43 from Match Lasker-Capablanca by Nobis Strategic battles 2 by TheDestruktor Meus jogos pessoais by Ghandy On the shoulders of giants by ughaibu Round 6,Capablanca leads 3 1/2-2 1/2 from 1921 World Chess Championship by Penguincw (Berlin-4.0-0 d6-Hedgehog) from lazintata's_spanish_2 by lazintata

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