Jose Raul Capablanca vs Oscar Chajes (1915)

Jose Raul Capablanca vs Oscar Chajes
New York Masters (1915) · Spanish Game: Open Variations. Classical Defense (C83) · 1-0

[Event "New York Masters"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1915.04.25"]
[EventDate "1915.04.19"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Oscar Chajes"]
[ECO "C83"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "95"]

1. e4 {Notes by Capablanca} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6
5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Be7 10. Nbd2
Nc5 11. Bc2 d4 12. Ne4 dxc3 13. Nxc5 Bxc5 14. Be4 Qd7 15. bxc3
{I had published, some months previously, an analysis of the
variation 11...d4, and I gave the text moves as an example of
a simple way for White to play against it in order to obtain
the better game. I left off at the above position, stating
that White had the better game. Chajes and a few other local
players studied the analysis, and came to the conclusion that
was wrong. They thought that Black had at least as good a game
as White; in fact, better. Therefore Chajes availed himself of
the first opportunity to prove his contention. I was ignorant
of all this at the time, and was consequently very much
surprised at his "falling" (as I thought) into my published
variation, and commented on it to one of the spectators, who
then enlightened me as to the true reason of his play. The
game, I hope, will show that my judgment was better than his,
as at no point of the proceedings was I in danger of obtaining
anything worse than a draw. The advantage of White rests
mainly on the strength of the pawn at e5, which largely
restricts the action of the Black pieces, while it gives
plenty of freedom for the maneuvering of the White forces.}
Rd8 16. Qxd7+ Bxd7 17. Rd1 Ne7 {Black could not castle because
of 18. Be3! Bxe3 19. Rxd7! Rxd7 20. Bxc6 and White will come
out with two minor pieces for a Rook and two pawns.} 18. Nd4
h6 {A bad move, which shows that Black did not properly
understand the position. He wants to prevent the pinning of
the Knight by Bg5 and does not realize that the posting of the
White Bishop at a3 (after Nb3) is much more important. He
should now castle when White's best move would probably be
19.Be3} 19.Nb3 Bb6 20.Ba3 h5 {He now must attempt to bring his
King's Rook into the game in this way.} 21.Rd3 Bg4 22. Rxd8+
Kxd8 23. Nc5 Rh6 {He naturally avoids the alternative
23... Bxc5 which would leave White with two Bishops in an open
position.} 24.h3 Bc8 25. Rd1+ Ke8 26. Kf1 g5 {To prevent
27.f4, which was the intention, revealed by White's last
move.} 27. Nd3 f5 {White threatened to win a pawn by
28.Bc1. Besides, the pawn at e5 completely blocks the free
maneuvering of Black's pieces; therefore in desperation he
advances the f-pawn to get rid of White's e-pawn, and thus
have breathing space.} 28. exf6 Rxf6 29. Re1 Be6 {29... Re6
would be no better, as then White could play either 30. Bg6+!
Rxg6 31. Rxe7+ Kd8 32. Ne5 threatening the Rook, and 33.Nf7
mate.} 30. Bf3 Rh6 {Not good, but there was no way to avoid
the loss of a pawn, which in such positions means the loss of
the game. If 30... h4 31. Bg4 and if 30... g4 31. hxg4 hxg4
32. Bxg4 Bxg4 33. Rxe7+ Kd8 34. Rg7 winning.} 31. Bxh5+ Kd7
32. Bg4 Nc6 33. Rxe6 Rxe6 34. Bc1 Kd6 35. Bxe6 Kxe6 {He might
have resigned, as he will now be two pawns behind, without any
compensation whatever for them.} 36. Bxg5 Ba5 37. Bd2 Kd5
38. h4 Ne5 39. Nxe5 Kxe5 40. h5 c5 41. g4 Kf6 42. Ke2 c4
43. f4 Kf7 44. Kf3 Bd8 45. Ke4 a5 46. Kd5 Be7 47. g5 Kg8
48. f5 1-0

To move:

Last move:

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

explore this opening	find similar games	11 more O Chajes/Capablanca games
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Nov-12-04		Bobak Zahmat: It is not smart to deny analysis made by Capablanca of a variation. This way Chajes shows that not everyone can understand the meanings of every move made by super grandmaster. After 11. ... d4 is actually played, Capablanca dominates the game!

Nov-12-04		Whitehat1963: Even though he's my personal chess hero, Capablanca's analysis was hardly perfect. Here's what he says about black's 29th move: "29... e6 would be no better, as then White could play either 30. g6+! xg6 31. xe7+ d8 32. e5 threatening the ook, and 33.f7 mate." Only one problem, 29...Re6 is indeed much better than Chajes' 29...Be6. If white plays 30. Bg6+, black counters more than effectively with the simple 30...Nxg6! What do Crafty and the chess engines have to say about 29...Re6, 30. Bg6+?

Nov-12-04		matey: Whitehat, no way Capablanca would of made such an obvious analysis error, that note needs to be taken out.

Nov-13-04		Whitehat1963: I make no apologies or retractions, <matey>. I'm just as surprised as you are that Capa could miss something so obvious, but my weak computer program confirms that 29...Re6 followed by Capa's 30. Bg6+ is effectively countered by 30...Nxg6! Can anyone with access to a good program like Fritz or Crafty confirm this? My program says that black has a significant advantage after 30...Nxg6! (Perhaps Capa saw this move but left it out of his published analysis, but I can't see why he would.)

Nov-13-04		Calli: The notes are from "My Chess Career" (Macmillan 1920) Capablanca did indeed make the gross analysis error of 29...Re6 30.Bg6+?? He does however, also, give the correct move of 30.h4! This essentially wins the pawn because if 30...g4 then 31.Nf4 wins easy. He is therfore correct when he says that Re6 is "no better".

Nov-14-04		euripides: Golombek repeats the error in his book on Capablanca.

Nov-14-04		offramp: Capablanca may have written his notes to this game without a board in front of him...just looking at the scoresheet. Had the position arisen on the board at the time he would not have blundered away a piece.

Nov-14-04		Calli: <euripides> Good point. In the revised, edited version (Batsford 1997), John Nunn corrects Golombek, calling 30.Bxg6 "a total oversight". Nunn was unaware that Capablanca had made the same error! Did Golembek blindly copy "My Chess Career"? Glancing at his other notes, he refers to Capablanca's annotations several times but adds his own comments as well. It appears that he started with Capa's comments, but failed to check this variation. Another point - In Golembek's notes to the critical 18...h6?, he wrongly claims that Capablanca recommended 18...Bg4 and goes on to show that Black still has a bad position. However, as you can see from the notes, Capa recommended 18...0-0 and then 19...Bg4. Nunn also corrects another annotation in the game. Conclusion: Instructive notes by Capa albeit with a bad error, but a really sloppy effort from Harry on the annotations for this game.

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