JOSE RAUL CAPABLANCA (born Nov-19-1888, died Mar-08-1942, 53 years old) Cuba [what is this?] José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera was the third World Champion, reigning from 1921 until 1927. Renowned for the simplicity of his play, his legendary endgame prowess, accuracy, and the speed of his play, he earned the nickname of the "Human Chess Machine". Background Capablanca, the second son of a Spanish Army officer, was born in Havana. He learned to play at an early age by watching his father and defeated Cuban Champion Juan Corzo in an informal match in 1901 by 6.5-5.5 (+4 −3 =5), turning 13 years of age during the match. Despite this and despite taking 4th place in the first Cuban Championship in 1902, he did not focus on chess until 1908 when he left Columbia University where he had enrolled to study chemical engineering and play baseball. He did, however, join the Manhattan Chess Club in 1905, soon establishing his dominance in rapid chess. He won a rapid chess tournament in 1906 ahead of the World Champion Emanuel Lasker, and played many informal games against him. Within a year or two of dropping out of university and after playing simultaneous exhibitions in dozens of US cities, winning over 95% of his games, Capablanca had established himself as one of the top players in the world, especially after the Capablanca - Marshall (1909) New York match exhibition win 15-8 (+8 -1 =14). Tournaments Capablanca won the 1910 New York State Championship by defeating co-leader Charles Jaffe in a tiebreaker match. In 1911, he placed second in the National Tournament in New York, with 9½ out of 12, half a point behind Marshall, and half a point ahead of Jaffe and Oscar Chajes. There followed Capablanca's groundbreaking win at San Sebastian (1911) with 9½/14 (+6 -1 =7), ahead of Akiba Rubinstein and Milan Vidmar on 9, Marshall on 8.5, and other luminaries such as Carl Schlechter, Siegbert Tarrasch and Ossip Bernstein. Before the tournament, Aron Nimzowitsch protested the unknown Capablanca's involvement in the event, but the latter demonstrated his credentials by defeating Nimzowitsch in their game. Winning at San Sebastian was only the second time a player had won a major tournament at his first attempt since Harry Pillsbury 's triumph at Hastings in 1895, and it provided a powerful boost to his credibility to challenge for the world title. He did so, but the match did not take place for another 10 years. In early 1913, Capablanca won a tournament in New York with 11/13 (+10 -1 =2), half a point ahead of Marshall. Capablanca then finished second with 10/14 (+8 -2 =4), a half point behind Marshall in Havana, losing one of their individual games, rumour having it that he asked the mayor to clear the room so that no one would see him resign. Returning to New York, Capablanca won all thirteen games at the New York tournament of 1913, played at the Rice Chess Club. 1914 saw the <"tournament of champions"> played at St. Petersburg. Capablanca, with 13/18 (+10 -2 =6), came second behind Lasker and well ahead of Alexander Alekhine on 10, Tarrasch on 8.5 and Marshall on 8. After the outbreak of World War I, Capablanca stayed in New York and won tournaments held there in 1915 (13/14 (+12 -0 =2)), 1916 (14/17 (+12 -1 =4)) and 1918 (10.5/12 (+9 =3)). During the New York 1918 tournament, Marshall played his prepared Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez* against Capablanca, but Capablanca worked his way through the complications and won. Soon after the war, Capablanca crossed the Atlantic to decisively win the Hastings Victory Tournament 1919 with 10.5/11, a point ahead of Borislav Kostic. Capablanca did not play another tournament until 1922, the year after he won the title from Lasker. During his reign, he won London 1922 with 13/15 (no losses), 1.5 points ahead of Alekhine; placed second behind Lasker at New York 1924 (suffering his first loss in eight years – to Richard Reti – since his 1916 lost to Oscar Chajes); placed 3rd at Moscow in 1925 behind Efim Bogoljubov and Lasker respectively with +9 =9 -2; won at Lake Hopatcong (New York) 1926 with 6/8 (+4 =4), a point ahead of Abraham Kupchik and won at New York in 1927 with 14/20 (+10 -1 =9), 2.5 points clear of Alekhine, his last tournament before his title match with Alekhine. During the latter tournament, Capablanca, Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Milan Vidmar, Nimzowitsch and Marshall played a quadruple round robin, wherein Capablanca finished undefeated, winning the mini-matches with each of his rivals, 2½ points ahead of second-placed Alekhine, and won the "best game" prize for a win over Spielmann. This result, plus the fact that Alekhine had never defeated him in a game, made him a strong favourite to retain his title in the upcoming match against Alekhine. However, Alekhine's superior preparation prevailed against Capablanca's native talent. After losing the title, Capablanca settled in Paris and engaged in a flurry of tournament competition aimed at improving his chances for a rematch with Alekhine. However the latter dodged him, refusing to finalise negotiations for a rematch, boycotting events that included Capablanca, and insisting that Capablanca not be invited to tournaments in which he participated. In 1928, Capablanca won at Budapest with 7/9 (+5 =4), a point ahead of Marshall, and at Berlin with 8.5/12 (+5 =7), 1.5 points ahead of Nimzowitsch; he also came second at Bad Kissingen with 7/11 (+4 -1 =6), after Bogoljubov. In 1929, Capablanca won at Ramsgate with 5.5/7 (+4 =3) ahead of Vera Menchik and Rubinstein, at Budapest with 10.5/13 (+8 =5), and at Barcelona with 13.5/14, two points clear of Savielly Tartakower he also came equal second with Spielmann and behind Nimzowitsch at Carlsbad with 14.5/21 (+10 -2 =9). He won at the 1929-30 Hastings tournament and came second at Hastings in 1930-31, behind Max Euwe, his only loss being to Sultan Khan. Several months later he won New York for the last time, this time with a score of 10/11 (+9 =2) ahead of Isaac Kashdan. Perhaps discouraged by his inability to secure a rematch with Alekhine, there followed a hiatus for over three years before he reentered the fray with a fourth placing at Hastings in 1934-35 with 5.5/9 (+4 -2 =3), behind Sir George Thomas, Euwe and Salomon Flohr but ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik and Andre Lilienthal. In 1935, he secured 4th place in Moscow with 12/19 (+7 -2 =10), a point behind Botvinnik and Flohr, and a half point behind the evergreen Lasker. Also in 1935, he came second at Margate with 7/9 (+6 -1 =2), half a point behind Samuel Reshevsky. 1936 was a very successful year, coming 2nd at Margate with 7/9 (+5 =4), a half point behind Flohr, but then he moved up a gear to take Moscow with 13/18 (+8 =10), a point ahead of Botvinnik who in turn was 2.5 points ahead of Flohr, and then came =1st with Botvinnik at the famous Nottingham tournament, with 10/14 (+7 -1 =6) ahead of Euwe, Reuben Fine and Reshevsky on 9.5, and Flohr and Lasker on 8.5. These latter two results were the only tournaments in which he finished ahead of Lasker, which enhanced his chances of challenging for the title, but a challenge to World Champion Euwe was out of the question until after the Euwe - Alekhine World Championship Rematch (1937) , which was won by Alekhine. In 1937, Capablanca came =3rd with Reshevsky at Semmering with 7.5/14 (+2 -1 =11) behind Paul Keres and Fine and in 1938 he won the Paris tournament with 8/10 (+6 =4) ahead of Nicolas Rossolimo. The worst result of his career occurred at the AVRO tournament which was played in several cities in the Netherlands in 1938, placing 7th out of 8 players with 6/14 (+2 -4 =8), the only time he ever had a negative score in a tournament. His health in this tournament was fragile as he had suffered severe hypertension, which affected his concentration towards the end of his games; he may have also suffered a slight stroke halfway through the tournament. Travelling between the numerous cities in which the tournament was played was also hard on the ageing master. In 1939 he played his last tournament at Margate, placing =2nd with Flohr on 6.5/9 (+4 =5) a point behind Keres. Shortly afterwards, he finished his playing career – albeit unknowingly - in a blaze of glory by winning gold with +7 =9 on board one for Cuba at the 8th Olympiad in Buenos Aires. Matches In addition to the informal match against Corzo in 1901 and the exhibition match against Marshall in 1909 (see above), Capablanca played a three-game match against Charles Jaffe in New York in 1912, winning two and drawing one, and won the first game of a match against Chajes before the latter withdrew from the match. In 1914, he defeated Ossip Bernstein 1.5-0.5, Tartakower by 1.5-0.5 and Andre Aurbach by 2-0. On his way to the 1914 tournament in St Petersburg, he played two-game matches against Richard Teichmann and Jacques Mieses in Berlin, winning all his games. Once he reached Saint Petersburg, he played similar matches against Alexander Alekhine, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky and Fyodor Duz-Khotimirsky, losing one game to Znosko-Borovsky and winning the rest. In 1919, Capablanca accepted a challenge to a match from Borislav Kostić who had come second at New York in 1918 without dropping a game. The match was to go to the first player to win eight games, but Kostić resigned from the match, played in Havana, after losing five straight games - Capablanca - Kostic (1919). In late 1931, just before his temporary retirement from top-level chess, Capablanca also won a match (+2 −0 =8) against Euwe - Capablanca - Euwe (1931). World Championship Capablanca's win at San Sebastian in 1911 provided the results and the impetus for Capablanca to negotiate with Lasker for a title match, but some of Lasker's conditions were unacceptable to Capablanca, especially one requiring the challenger to win by two points to take the title, while the advent of World War I delayed the match. In 1920, Lasker and Capablanca agreed to play the title match in 1921, but a few months later, the former was ready to surrender the title without a contest, saying, "You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." A significant stake ($25,000, $13,000 guaranteed to Lasker) was raised that induced Lasker to play in Havana where Capablanca won the Lasker - Capablanca World Championship Match (1921) - without losing a game - after Lasker resigned from the match when trailing by 4 games, the first time a World Champion had lost his title without winning a game until the victory by Vladimir Kramnik in the Kasparov - Kramnik Classical World Championship Match (2000). From 1921 to 1923, Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch all challenged Capablanca, but only Alekhine could raise the money stipulated in the so-called "London Rules", which these players had signed in 1921. A group of Argentinean businessmen, backed by a guarantee from the president of Argentina, promised the funds for a World Championship match between Capablanca and Alekhine, and once the deadline for Nimzowitsch to lodge a deposit for a title match had passed, the title match was agreed to, beginning in September 1927. Capablanca lost the Capablanca - Alekhine World Championship Match (1927) at Buenos Aires in 1927 by +3 -6 =25 in the longest title match ever, until it was surpassed by the legendary Karpov - Kasparov World Championship Match (1984/85). The match lasted over ten weeks, taking place behind closed doors, thus precluding spectators and photographers. All but two of the 34 games opened with the Queen's Gambit Declined. Before Capablanca and Alekhine left Buenos Aires after the match, they agreed in principle to stage a rematch, with Alekhine essentially sticking with the conditions initially imposed by Capablanca. Despite on-again off-again negotiations over the next 13 years, the rematch never materialised, with Alekhine playing two title matches each against Bogolyubov and Euwe in the subsequent decade. While Capablanca and Alekhine were both representing their countries at the Buenos Aires Olympiad in 1939, an attempt was made by Augusto de Muro, the President of the Argentine Chess Federation, to arrange a World Championship match between the two. Alekhine declined, saying he was obliged to be available to defend his adopted homeland, France, as World War II had just broken out. A couple of days prior to this, Capablanca had declined to play when his Cuban team played France, headed by Alekhine, in the Olympiad. Simultaneous exhibitions Capablanca's legendary speed of play lent itself to the rigours of simultaneous play, and he achieved great success in his exhibitions. From December 1908 through February 1909, Capablanca toured the USA and in 10 exhibitions he won 168 games in a row before losing a game in Minneapolis; his final tally for that tour was 734 games, winning 96.7% (+703 =19 -12). In March and April 1911, Capablanca toured Europe for the first time, giving exhibitions in France and Germany scoring +234=33-19. Once completed, he proceeded to San Sebastian and his historic victory before again touring Europe via its cities of Rotterdam, Leiden, Middelburg, The Hague, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Berlin, Breslau, Allenstein, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Stuttgart, Mannheim, Frankfurt, Paris, London and Birmingham at the end of which his tally was +532=66-54. After he received his job as a roving ambassador-at-large from the Cuban Foreign Office, Capablanca played a series of simuls in London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Riga, Moscow, Kyiv, and Vienna on his way to St Petersburg in 1914, tallying +769=91-86. In 1922, Capablanca 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 – 99.5% - in a large simultaneous exhibition. In 1925 Capablanca gave a simultaneous exhibition in Leningrad and won every game but one, a loss against 12-year-old Mikhail Botvinnik, whom he predicted would one day be champion. Capablanca still holds the record for the most games ever completed in simultaneous exhibitions, playing and completing 13545 games between 1901-1940.** Legacy, testimonials and life Soon after gaining the title, Capablanca married Gloria Simoni Betancourt in Havana. They had a son, José Raúl Jr., in 1923 and a daughter, Gloria, in 1925. His father died in 1923 and his mother in 1926. In 1937 he divorced Gloria and in 1938 married Olga Chagodayev, a Russian princess. Capablanca's famous "invincible" streak extended 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 time he played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing 23, including his successful title match against Lasker. Between 1914 and his World Championship match against Alekhine, Capablanca had only lost four games of the 158 match and tournament games he had played. In match, team match, and tournament play from 1909 to 1939 he scored +318=249-34. Only Spielmann held his own (+2 −2 =8) against Capablanca, apart from Keres who had a narrow plus score against him (+1 −0 =5) due to his win at the AVRO 1938 tournament, during which the ailing Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was 22. Capablanca played himself in Chess Fever http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0015673/, a short film shot by V. Pudovkin at the 1925 Moscow tournament. The film can be seen at http://video.google.com/videoplay?d.... On 7 March 1942, Capablanca collapsed at the Manhattan Chess Club and he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died the next morning from "a cerebral haemorrhage provoked by hypertension". Emanuel Lasker had died in the same hospital the year before. Capablanca's body was given a public funeral in Havana's Colón Cemetery a week later, with President Batista taking personal charge of the funeral arrangements. Capablanca proposed a new chess variant, played on a 10x10 board or a 10x8 board. He introduced two new pieces. The chancellor had the combined moves of a rook and knight (the piece could move like a rook or a knight). The other piece was the archbishop which had the combined moves of a bishop and knight. Capablanca‘s style also heavily influenced the styles of later World Champions Botvinnik, Robert James Fischer and Anatoly Karpov. Botvinnik observed that Alekhine had received much schooling from Capablanca in positional play before their fight for the world title made them bitter enemies. While not a theoretician as such, he wrote several books including A Primer of Chess, Chess Fundamentals and My Chess Career. Alekhine: <…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.> Lasker: <I have known many chess players, but only one chess genius: Capablanca.> Notes Capablanca occasionally played consultation on the team consisting of Reti / Capablanca. Sources: Bill Wall's Chess Master Profiles - http://billwall.phpwebhosting.com/a...; Edward Winter's article A Question of Credibiity: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...; Chess Corner's article on Capablanca: http://www.chesscorner.com/worldcha... and <kingcrusher>'s online article at http://www.gtryfon.demon.co.uk/bcc/.... A list of books about Capablanca can be found at http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/.... * Ruy Lopez, Marshall (C89) ** http://www.fide.com/component/conte... Wikipedia article: José Raúl Capablanca Last updated: 2025-03-16 04:08:07

Try our new games table.

page 1 of 51; games 1-25 of 1,252  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. R Iglesias vs Capablanca 0-1 38 1893 Odds game 000 Chess variants 2. Capablanca vs E Delmonte 1-0 18 1901 Match-series B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 3. L Paredes vs Capablanca 0-1 45 1901 Match-series C44 King's Pawn Game 4. Capablanca vs E Corzo 1-0 35 1901 Match-series C67 Ruy Lopez 5. Capablanca vs A Fiol ½-½ 49 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 6. J Corzo vs Capablanca 1-0 41 1901 Havana casual B01 Scandinavian 7. A Gavilan vs Capablanca 0-1 39 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 8. A Ettlinger vs Capablanca 0-1 53 1901 Casual game C45 Scotch Game 9. Capablanca vs M Marceau 1-0 31 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 10. M Sterling vs Capablanca ½-½ 50 1901 Havana C77 Ruy Lopez 11. Capablanca vs J A Blanco 1-0 49 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 12. E Delmonte vs Capablanca 0-1 32 1901 Match-series D00 Queen's Pawn Game 13. Capablanca vs L Paredes 1-0 29 1901 Match-series C02 French, Advance 14. E Corzo vs Capablanca 1-0 32 1901 Match-series C11 French 15. Capablanca vs J Corzo 0-1 60 1901 Havana casual C45 Scotch Game 16. A Fiol vs Capablanca 0-1 36 1901 Havana C55 Two Knights Defense 17. Capablanca vs A Gavilan 1-0 77 1901 Match-series C01 French, Exchange 18. Capablanca vs M Sterling 1-0 30 1901 Havana C01 French, Exchange 19. Capablanca vs E Corzo 0-1 30 1901 Havana casual C40 King's Knight Opening 20. Capablanca vs E Corzo 1-0 42 1901 Havana casual C40 King's Knight Opening 21. J A Blanco vs Capablanca 0-1 77 1901 Havana C55 Two Knights Defense 22. Capablanca vs C Echevarria 1-0 49 1901 Simul, 8b C44 King's Pawn Game 23. Capablanca vs J Corzo 0-1 29 1901 Capablanca - Corzo C45 Scotch Game 24. J Corzo vs Capablanca 1-0 27 1901 Capablanca - Corzo C52 Evans Gambit 25. Capablanca vs J Corzo ½-½ 61 1901 Capablanca - Corzo A80 Dutch  page 1 of 51; games 1-25 of 1,252

REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Capablanca wins | Capablanca loses

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-09-02    Sneaky: From Fred Wilson's "Picture History of Chess" - - - "There have been times in my life when I came very near thinking that I could not lose even a single game. Then would be beaten, and the lost game would bring me back from dreamland to earth. Nothing is so healthy as a thrashing at the proper time, and from few won games have I learned as much as I have from most of my defeats. Of course I would not like to be beaten at a critical moment, but, otherwise, I hope that I may at odd times in the future lose a few more games, if thereby I derive as much benefit as I have obtained from defeats of the past." - JR Capablanca Capablanca wrote this seemingly conceited statement over a year before he won the world championship. Yet he sincerely believed that he was virtually unbeatable--and with good cause. He knew that he was born with a greater natural genius for chess than any man who had ever lived. During his entire career, which spanned over 40 years, he only lost 36 serious games. Nov-10-02    pawntificator: It's also in Irving Chernev's "The Bright Side of Chess" AND in "Practical Chess Psychology" by Anatzia Avni. Is it in any other chess books? By the way, I hate to get into discussions like this, but: born with a greater natural genius for chess than any man who had ever lived?? That's debatable. But I'm just a sucker for Morphy. Nov-26-02    Samuel Maverick: He should have been World Champion from 1914 to 1948 and the player of the century. Chess came so easily to him, he did not feel like he had to study. A great end game player, but also profound in the opening and middle game too. Chess Fundamentals and My Chess Career are both brilliant Nov-26-02    drukenknight: Since he died in 1943 it would have be quite difficult for him to defend the world championship after that year. Nov-26-02    PVS: Mayhap Mr Maverick meant that as Alekhine (who died in 1946) was the only champion until the 1948 match/tournament, so Capablanca would been. Obviously nothing could have been organised during the war. Or perhaps he believes that had he been champion his life would have been different, and his labefaction would not have when it did, in 1942 by the way, not 1943. Nov-26-02    Sneaky: How Capa lost to Alekhine in the first place is still a mystery to me. It is a great testament to Alekhine's incredible will to win and personal strength. I believe I heard a quote where Alekhine admitted himself that he would never beat JR in a rematch, referring to Capablanca as simply "The Chess Machine." In my mind, there is no doubt who the greater player was, but it's hard to argue with the results of a match. Maybe we should go over those games sometime soon. Nov-26-02    PVS: ALEKHINE V. CAPABLANCA Here is how I see it. With one exception (Alekhine), Capablanca was talent wise, at least one full step ahead of the other chess greats of his time. Therefore, he could best them in a match without preparation. He beat Euwe easily in 1931. By failing to prepare for Alekhine he gave up too much, because Alekhine had been preparing to beat Capablanca for years, and in this one case, Capablanca's edge in ability, though real, was not sufficient. Alekhine fell into the same trap in 1935. Himself one half step ahead of Euwe, he did not take the match seriously and was upset. He was able to get a return match, prepare, and win. This is a chance he never granted Capablanca. Nov-26-02    refutor: re : alekhine-capablanca what happened in that match was that alekhine played a better capablanca than capablanca did. alekhine knew that he couldn't play his normal aggressive style v. capablanca so worked hard to play a more "positional' game similar to capablanca's and beat him with it Nov-26-02    PVS: I agree, he played better because he had trained and prepared. He was also close to Capablanca in talent. He avoided the return match because he believed Capablanca would beat him if he also trained and prepared. Alekhine certainly deserved to win the 1927 match. Nov-27-02    drukenknight: "Himself one half step ahead of Euwe, he did not take the match seriously and was upset. " Hey Euwe was a great player too. At least during this period. Have you ever played the games between these two out? These are the best games overall (taking the entire series into account) that I have seen. Nov-27-02    PVS: I meant to imply that Euwe was a great player, a half step behind Alekhine is certainly great to me. Nov-27-02    ughaibu: PVS: about Capablanca being a step ahead of anyone of the time, what is your view on the fact that Lasker came ahead of Capablanca in all the tournaments in which they both competed until Moscow 1936 when Lasker was in his late sixties? Nov-27-02    PVS: My view is that in the 1921 match, Capablanca won +4=10 and matches are much better comparisons than tournaments. It was like Kasparov-Smyslov in 1983, Lasker could not compete with him. However, one could not conclude merely from the 1983 Candidates final that Kasparov was better than Smyslov when the latter was in his prime. As for the tournaments, from 1910 through 1931, Capablanca played in twenty-six tournaments and won eighteen. Lasker was a great fighter and very diligent, Capablanca was quite the opposite. As I said, Capablanca was a step ahead in talent, not overall strength. I did not say, nor did I mean to say, that Capablanca was a step of ahead of Lasker when that player was in his prime. There was a twenty year age difference. Lasker was over fifty when they played for the title. Dec-01-02    Bob Radford: I agree with PVS entirely on the comments concerning the Capablanca V.Alekhine match. Capa just did not appear to take Alekhine seriously enough and paid the ultimate price. A simply study of the World Championship Matches that have taken place show that all of them have appeared to be destined to reach that ultimate goal, where as other great masters down the years have tried and failed because the destined one is around at that particular time. Korchnoi is a perfect example of a marvelous player who would almost certainly have been in the history books with those others but for the fact that Karpov and no one else was destined not Korchnoi to take over from Fischer. It was just never going to happen no matter what Korchnoi did he was never going to win it. Fate plays its part, but for me the one player that never seemed to ever be a likely World Champion was Khalifman, as i did not think for one minute that Akopian would beat Adams and then lose to Khalifman in the final in Las Vegas. Fate had other ideas it seems, whereas the star of India Anand shone so brightly it was clear to see that his time would come and it did did`nt it? Do you agree with me or not? i would be honoured for any reply to my statement. Dec-02-02    PVS: History will not consider Khalifman to have been a world champion. Virtually no ones does now. Dec-02-02    Kenneth Sterling: I agree. Jan-19-03    amit.kureel: I surely agree with you PVS, not just Khalifman but also Anand (although I am also from India, but I should be fair), Ponomariov are not World Champions for me! They just managed to win one knock-out tournament! The World Championship, in any sport, is organized to find out the best player, and anybody with a fair understanding would agree that they were not the best in their times. For that matter, I don't consider Kramnik to be the best because, first he lost a match to Shirov and then won (a hastily arranged) match against Kasparov. A true world champion has to show a consistently better performance over all of his competition, which Kramnik has never shown. So even when he managed to win the match, Kasparov was the better player. Only now, the situation has slightly changed, when Kasparov has clearly shown some reduction in strength, hence, there are a bunch of players, like, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand, Shirov, Adams, Leko, Topalov, Ivanchuk, Ponomariov, Grischuk, Akopian, Khalifman, Polgar, Morozevich and Karpov (Karpov is still a match for the best!) who can fight for the top spot. My only concern is that in the current unification cycle, the names of Anand, Shirov, Adams, Ivanchuk and Karpov are missing! Jan-19-03    Ashley: I think Kasparov, Kramnik and Anand are the three strongest players and should be included. Jan-19-03    PVS: Anand and Kramnik seem to be the two players younger than Kasparov who have the best chances to be among greats when their careers are over. I think that most of the very strong players mentioned by amit.kureel are at least one class below world championship contender. Kasparov must be there of course. If I had to choose a fourth, I would select Karpov. Jan-20-03    Ashley: I agree with PVS about Anand and Kramnik. They played a draw Monday at Wijk aan Zee. Jan-20-03    judokausa1: Hate to say this but Karpov is no longer a contender for the crown. While he can play some great chess and will for many years he is well past his prime. (Yes he won the 4 game speed match against Kasparov but that, I think, is also due in part to their intimate familiarity with each other. The sheer number of times that they have played each other evens out the age factor. Karpov is one of the all time greats though. The K-K matches have yet to be matched for their intensity and level of play. Jan-20-03    BLD9802: How did we go from discussing Capablanca to debating who should be the current and future world champions?! :-) Mar-25-03    tud: Capablanca met 3 generations of players, Lasker, himself or Alekhine, Botvinnik and managed to be always between the first 3-4 (except Amsterdam where he had a stroke) in a tournament. In his last appearance in Buenos Aires, he won the gold medal ahead of Keres, Alekhine, Eliskases, Najdorf etc. Apr-06-03    BishopBerkeley: Capablanca's 18 Simple Principles If you haven't read J. R. Capablanca's "A Primer of Chess", I really encourage you to! A master-rated player might find little there of help (though he would find some masterful games at the end), but for anyone else, it should be a helpful book. At the end of Chapter 3 (titled, "The Openings"), Capa sets forth 18 general principles that one should consider. The better a player you are, the more you will be able to deviate from these principles from time to time, but unless you have a really good reason to stray from them, I encourage you to follow them. Here they are: [In the opening, we should emphasize]: 1. Rapid and solid development, avoiding the creation of any permanent weakness. It follows that if through your development you induce your opponent into creating any such weakness, so much the better. The development should aim at the control of the centre, either through immediate possession of it by the pawns, or by the long-range action of the pieces. 2. Do not move the same piece twice before full development has taken place. 3. Avoid loss of material without full compensation. [In the Middlegame]: 1. Co-ordinate the action of your pieces. 2. Control of the centre is essential to a successful attack against the King. 3. Direct and violent attacks against the King must be made *en masse*, with full force, to ensure their success. The opposition must be overcome at all cost; the attack cannot be broken off, because that generally means defeat. 4. Other things being equal, any material gain, no matter how small, means success. 5. Position comes first; material next; Space and time are complementary factor of positon. 6. If the game will go to an ending for a decision, consider the type of ending to come before exchanging pieces. [continued in the next message] Apr-06-03    BishopBerkeley: Capablanca's 18 Simple Principles (continued) [In the endings]: 1. Time increases in importance in the endings. 2. Two bishops are better than two knights. 3. A bishop is generally better than a knight, but not always. 4. Rook and bishop are generally better than rook and knight. 5. Queen and knight are generally better than queen and Bishop. 6. Pawns are strongest when in line with each other. [Here, I'm sure he means when in a horizontal line.] 7. When the opponent has a bishop, it is generally better to have your pawns on squares of the same colour as your opponent's Bishop. Whenever you have a bishop, whether the opponent has one or not, keep your pawns on squares of opposite color to that of your own bishop. 8. The king, a purely defensive piece during the opening and middlegame, very often becomes an offensive piece in the endings. In many endings, the king is the deciding factor. 9. In endings, the king should generally be marched forward towards the centre of the board. In king and pawn endings almost invariably so. [Capa then refers to his later and more advanced book, "Chess Fundamentals"]: Those general principles not in this book will be found in "Chess Fundamentals", where all the general pinciples of chess are expounded in a clear and concise manner. [End of quote] Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 264) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing>

NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion.

Please observe our posting guidelines: No obscene, racist, sexist, or profane language. No spamming, advertising, duplicate, or gibberish posts. No vitriolic or systematic personal attacks against other members. Nothing in violation of United States law. No cyberstalking or malicious posting of negative or private information (doxing/doxxing) of members. No trolling. The use of "sock puppet" accounts to circumvent disciplinary action taken by moderators, create a false impression of consensus or support, or stage conversations, is prohibited. Do not degrade Chessgames or any of it's staff/volunteers. Please try to maintain a semblance of civility at all times. See something that violates our rules? Blow the whistle and inform a moderator. NOTE: Please keep all discussion on-topic. This forum is for this specific player only. To discuss chess or this site in general, visit the Kibitzer's Café.

Messages posted by Chessgames members do not necessarily represent the views of Chessgames.com, its employees, or sponsors. All moderator actions taken are ultimately at the sole discretion of the administration.

Copyright 2001-2025, Chessgames Services LLC