Above it says:

<Casual game (1909), Rice CC, New York, NY USA, Apr-15>

But the fact that there is a score sheet indicate that this was a serious game. I speculate that a bet was involved.

Above it says:

<Casual game (1909), Rice CC, New York, NY USA, Apr-15>

But the fact that there is a score sheet (and no mention that it was a quick game) indicates that this was a serious classical game. I speculate that a bet was involved.

There are numerous pre-WW2 games in this site that are labeled or described as <friendly>, or <casual>, or <offhand>, or <exhibition>, or <training> games, but as far as I can tell, these were quite serious classical games. The fact that we have records of them proves that they were most probably written down in score sheets, which is why we have a record of them in the first place. The players obviously thought the games were serious enough to be written down in score sheets.

As a youngster I once played a two game match with a friend. (I can see he is now an IM and has a few tournament games recorded in this site.) We used a chess clock and wrote down our moves in a score sheet. The games would probably be regarded now as perhaps <friendly>, or <casual>, or <offhand>, or <exhibition>, or <training> but in fact there was nothing <casual> or <offhand> about them; we drew them after fighting it out tooth and nail under classical conditions, writing down our moves just as in regular tournaments.

So, if you were playing a casual game with Capablanca, Kasparov, Carlsen, etc, you wouldn't record the game.

<if two chess players take the trouble of recording a game in score sheets>

There's only one score sheet in the picture.

That same day, he defeated Koehler in a rapid match, 5-1, also at the Manhattan Chess Club.

On the bottom of the scoresheet, Capa says he used the same variation against Charles Jaffe the following day, April 16th. He indeed did play that game against Jaffe as practice before meeting with Frank Marshall.

No. My Capablanca library is limited to the more popular editions. I looked at Hooper and Brandreth's <The Unknown Capablanca>, and then checked Caparros's book, but it wasn't in there. That does mean that it had probably been found after them. That sent me to CHESS NOTES where I found the article I linked to.

As for me personally, I think this score sheet is the original one. Note the crossed out correction. If Capablanca made a copy and sent this to any one, he would most probably had done the whole score correctly with no erasures. He would have had the time to 'doctor' it. It looks as if he forgot to write down a move, and then corrected it during the game itself. See- he crossed out RxP on the 57th line and rewrote it on the 58th.

If Capablanca were writing down his moves in real time, IMO this was probably a classical game. (A chess player usually does not write down his moves during a quick game.) I opine that the two players were probably playing a classical game for a stake. Or maybe it was in some other 'unknown' local tournament.

On the other hand, if Capa did play a blitz and a rapid tournament in the same day, then this was probably another quick game. I doubt if he could have played two quick game tournaments and still have the time for a classical one.

Or maybe he did in the evening after a siesta. If someone raised money, taking advantage of the fact Capa was around the vicinity, Capa might have grabbed it.

Its laughable that <VBD> would spew out voluminous speculation and unsupported opinions, yet demand others provide supporting evidence

And this is a real gem: <As for me personally, I think this score sheet is the original one. Note the crossed out correction. If Capablanca made a copy and sent this to any one, he would most probably had done the whole score correctly with no erasures. He would have had the time to 'doctor' it. It looks as if he forgot to write down a move, and then corrected it during the game itself. See- he crossed out RxP on the 57th line and rewrote it on the 58th.

If Capablanca were writing down his moves in real time, IMO this was probably a classical game. (A chess player usually does not write down his moves during a quick game.) I opine that the two players were probably playing a classical game for a stake. Or maybe it was in some other 'unknown' local tournament.

On the other hand, if Capa did play a blitz and a rapid tournament in the same day, then this was probably another quick game. I doubt if he could have played two quick game tournaments and still have the time for a classical one.

Or maybe he did in the evening after a siesta. If someone raised money, taking advantage of the fact Capa was around the vicinity, Capa might have grabbed it.> This horrific, rambling piece of conjecture (without firm evidence) needs no commentary whatever

<The game seems to have been unpublished until we gave it on page 26 of the Spring 1992 Kingpin. It was subsequently included on pages 65-66 of Kings, Commoners and Knaves, and for ease of reference is reproduced below:>

C.N. 4551

For the record, the note at the bottom of the score reads:

<Capablanca’s concluding note, to an unidentified correspondent, reads:

<‘I send you this game which I played the other day so that (barring the ending) you may know how not to play for Black. To make up for the game, I played Jaffe the following day and he never had a ... [rest of text missing].’>

<<>>>

So, this appears to be one of a series of pre-match exhibit warm-up games by Capablanca.

Here is the mentioned Jaffe game from the next day:

Capablanca vs C Jaffe, 1909

Wouldn't the likeliest source be the unnamed source to whom the scoresheet was given (or some descendant thereof)?

In other words, someone outside the family?

Otherwise, how did the wife regain custody?

L R Eisenberg vs Capablanca, 1909>

From your link Capablanca vs C Jaffe, 1909

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4X...

<zanzibar: Capa played a series of exhibition games prior to his Marshall match at the club. This game was played on the day before:

L R Eisenberg vs Capablanca, 1909>

<the score-sheet of Capablanca v Jaffe, written in pencil by the Cuban and with the additional information ‘20 moves an hour>

This describes the detailed setting for this game and for the Jaffe game.

Fortunately it gives the time control: <20 moves an hour>

That's well within the range of <classical> time controls.

If we assume most of these written-down <exhibition> games had more or less the same time controls, then they were quite serious games.

My reward for long stretches of 3-point guesses was arriving in a lost position at move 35.