Jose Raul Capablanca vs Leon Labatt (1909) Labatt's Blue Ribbon

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Jose Raul Capablanca vs Leon Labatt
"Labatt's Blue Ribbon" (game of the day Nov-15-2023)
Simul, 24b (1909) (exhibition), New Orleans, LA USA, Dec-18
French Defense: McCutcheon. Exchange Variation (C12) · 0-1

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

0-1

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Jul-25-08		Whitehat1963: Capa should have opted for the candy instead!

Apr-18-10		sozinattack: Simple and elegant.

Dec-30-14		thegoodanarchist: I thought my pun submission, "Labatt's Blue Ribbon", was my best ever. I guess not. Though I did have "Not Fade Away" in the Fischer - Spassky rematch. To quote Bill Murray: So I got that going for me...

Dec-30-14		drleper: I think white's problems started with 11.Bxf6? Not that it's losing, but I can't see any sensible reason to take the knight there as it just frees black up and helps him develop with apparently no benefit for white.

Dec-31-14		RookFile: Maybe Capa should have gone with 6. Bd3 and 7. Nge2

Jan-01-15		Wyatt Gwyon: Judges seemed to give Capablanca problems. Capablanca vs R T Black, 1911

Jan-01-15		karik: Chessgames.com I believe 26. -Re4 is the correct move instead of Re5.

Jun-13-15		TheFocus: From a simultaneous exhibition in New Orleans, Louisiana on December 18, 1909. Capablanca scored +19=3-2.

Dec-09-21		syracrophy: This guy defeated Lasker in an exhibition as well!

Nov-15-23		EphemeralAdvantage: Capa played 5. exd5 in most of his McCutcheon games. It is certainly theoretically inferior to 5. e5 but a practical choice to avoid the d4-e5 vs d5-e6 pawn chain positions, if you don't enjoy them that is. Reminds me a bit of Fischer's obsession with, the also theoretically inferior, 13. dxc5 (instead of 13. d5) in the Chigorin Ruy Lopez. One has to play what one feels comfortable with.

Nov-15-23		An Englishman: Good Evening: Truly a blue ribbon game for Black, who looked more like Capa than Capa! The game title refers to a North American brand of beer; haven't seen one of those for a while, still produced? The MacCutcheon seems like a good choice for amateurs in simuls v. a Super-GM. MacCutcheon himself walloped Steinitz in the game that made his name.

Nov-15-23		OhioChessFan: Excellent pun, although Labatt has Blue but not a Blue Ribbon.

Nov-15-23		perfidious: <Englishman....The game title refers to a North American brand of beer; haven't seen one of those for a while, still produced?> Definitely; there is a plant in Montreal, less than two hours' drive from here.

Nov-15-23		BxChess: I used to enjoy Labatt's blue in Canada. I think every country has a blue beer. I've had Bla (with a circle above the a) in Sweden, and I seem to recall a Bleu bier in France. In Australia its Toohey's Blue.

Nov-15-23		Check It Out: Nice pun. According to their website, Labatt's is still produced, and was founded by John Labatt in 1847. https://www.labattusa.com/history/1...

Nov-15-23		HeMateMe: To our Canadian friends, have a beer! (And put out those damn forest fires).

Nov-15-23		FSR: Labatt puts on a clinic. 14.Ne5? dropped a pawn, and then Capa allowed Labatt to trap his knight with 19...a5! and 21...f6! That forced Capa to give Black a winning passed pawn with 23.c4 in order to free it. Labatt could rightly be proud of this demolition of the future world champion, who had already, by smashing Marshall 15-8 in their April match, proven himself to be one of the best players on the planet. http://www.chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/...

Nov-15-23		piltdown man: Wow, that's a beautiful finish.

Nov-15-23		offramp: This was the best of all time.

Nov-15-23		eternaloptimist: This is a lousy game b/c capa played a bad move early in the game & let labatt get a pawn up as a result of that. Capa didn't play well as a whole in this game. The pun isn't good either b/c like <OCF> said there isn't a labatt blue ribbon beer. There is however a labatt blue beer. Also a blue ribbon is given to the winner of a competition, tournament etc.. Labatt participated in a simul & didn't win a tournament. By the end of the game labatt is 3 pawns up & threatening to Queen a pawn & each player only made 28 moves. I'm not impressed

Nov-16-23		Sally Simpson: Hi eternaloptimist, <This is a lousy game...The pun isn't good either...I'm not impressed.> Not your top choice for this one being GOTD then. Leon Labatt was a reasonable player, possibly too strong to be allowed in a simul though Capablanca let him play in Capablanca vs L L Labatt, 1915 and got his revenge. Labatt has wins v Lasker and Marshall on his C.V. and an overall plus score v Capablanca.

Nov-16-23		MissScarlett: The best thing about <GOTD>s is that if you don't like one, there'll be another one along tomorrow for you not to like.

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