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

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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

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 27 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing> Apr-14-05    refutor: <did a guy like bogoljubov raise the $10,000 when he played alekhine?> no he didn't...the rules state that the champion "didn't have to" accept a challenge unless the $10,000 stakes were raised Apr-14-05    RookFile: Ah. What this means is that Alekhine was a great lawyer, but as a chess player, he preferred to face a weaker player than Capablanca, a guy whom Capa slapped silly to the tune of 5 to 0. Also, Euwe was a preferable opponent, even though Capablanca beat him in a match and had an overall career record of 4 to 1 against him. Excellent. Apr-14-05    RookFile: To give you an idea of how ridiculous it was for Alekhine to prefer Euwe and Bogo over Capablanca, remember that even old Lasker, obviously way past his prime, was still beating Euwe and Bogo. Euwe vs Lasker, 1934 Lasker vs Euwe, 1936 Lasker vs Bogoljubov, 1936 So, when Euwe won the title, and had to figure out who to play first, there were at least 3 guys who could/would have beaten him! I give Euwe credit for being a man and giving the guy he beat a rematch. Apr-14-05    iron maiden: The 1934 match against Bogoljubov was probably a waste of time and money. But in 1929, Bogo's credibility as a challenger to Alekhine was at least as good as Capablanca's. Remember that he had beaten Capa out in two tournaments before he played that first title match. Apr-14-05    RookFile: If that was the criteria, maybe Alekhine should have played Lasker instead. Certainly not Bogo, who, in the years leading up to 1929, Capablanca pounded on: Capablanca vs Bogoljubov, 1922 Capablanca vs Bogoljubov, 1924 Bogoljubov vs Capablanca, 1928 Apr-14-05    iron maiden: <maybe Alekhine should have played Lasker instead.> Certainly Lasker had more credibility to a title shot than Capablanca, having finished ahead of him in three consecutive international tournaments. Bogoljubov deserved a shot at the world championship because he won two strong mid-1920's events ahead of Capablanca. Sure, his record against Capa was unfavorable, but as I've mentioned time and time again, individual results do not count for all. Geller had a plus score against Fischer; should he have gotten the 1972 title match instead of RJF? Apr-14-05    RookFile: No, because they had a system in place that guaranteed the best player with getting a shot. Geller did participate, and guess what, he lost his matches. Let's not go too far overboard with Lasker: for one thing I know he simply didn't want to play Alekhine. He had moved on. Apr-14-05    iron maiden: <RookFile> The same holds true for Bogoljubov. He may have had an inferior score against Capablanca, but he earned his credibility by finishing ahead of him in tournaments--just as Fischer did with Geller. BTW, why did you even bring Lasker up if you're so certain that he "simply didn't want to play Alekhine?" Apr-15-05    RookFile: Sort of humorous that we have to establish that Capablanca was a stronger player than Bogo, who he beat 5 to 0, with 2 draws. To put this in perspective, in the years from 1914 leading up to the 1927 Alekhine match, Capablanca lost a grand total of 4 games out of the 158 he played. We can contrast this with Bogo, who lost 8 games in 1927 alone. But, because Bogo had finished ahead of Capa in Moscow in 1925 (even though Capa beat him in their game), and at Bad Kissingen 1928 ( where Capa set up a lovely mating net on an open board against Bogo ), evidently Capa needed to prove himself. No problem there, he must have done something right by finishing 2nd at Karslbad 1929, well ahead of Bogo, winning Moscow 1936, and winning Nottingham 1936 with basically twice as many points as Bogo. So, good news: Capa also "earned" a shot at Alekhine. But.... strange.... he didn't get it. How did Alekhine feel about Bogo? He used to tell this joke: "I had a dream that I had died. As I was standing at the Pearly Gates, I was dismayed because Saint Peter told me that no chess players are allowed in heaven. I was leaving, rather sadly, when who did I see in there but my good friend Bogolyjubov! I brought this to Peter's attention, but he replied: 'No, he only thinks he's a chess player.' " Finally, Lasker was brought up only to show how low in strength Bogo and Euwe were, that even an old washed up champ could still beat those guys. Apr-15-05    RookFile: And as far as Capa winning tournaments goes... I hadn't even mentioned London 1922, New York 1927, or Berlin, 1928. Looking objectively, Bogo was roughly the same strength as Marshall or Nimovich, another pair of pretenders that Alekhine and Capablanca took turns slapping silly. So, it wasn't Capa's fault, for example, that Bogo wasn't at New York 1927, where Capa essentially gave a simultaneous exhibition against the world's leading players (except Lasker).... certainly the way he beat them made it seem like a simul. Apr-15-05    Jamespawn: Rookfile: When you say Lasker didn`t want to play Alekhine , he had moved on, do you mean he didn`t think he could win a match against Alekhine, or that , in his 60`s, he didn`t think he could become World Champion? Apr-15-05    RookFile: When Lasker lost to Capablanca, he was really done with chess. Sure, he showed up at New York 1924 and dominated, but really, after playing a lot of years, he had lost interest. Around 1927, what Lasker was interested in was: GO, an oriental varation of chess. Also, Bridge, Lasker became a Life Master at Bridge, played in international tournaments, and was the team leader of the German team at the bridge olympics. Sure, the younger Alekhine was a better player than Lasker in the late 1920's, but this had more to do with Lasker's age and lack of interest than Alekhine, against whom Lasker put up a comfortable plus, when they did play. Lasker wouldn't have even played chess in the 1930's except that he had blown his retirement savings on some foolish investment, I think involving chickens, and needed to play again to make some money. It was this broken down player who beat Euwe and Bogo anyway. Yet Euwe and Bogo get a world title shot vs. Alekhine, but not Capablanca. Apr-15-05    ughaibu: RookFile: this "broken down player", Lasker also beat Capablanca in 1935, why is this different from him beating Bogolubow or Euwe? How do you conclude that Alekhine was stronger than Lasker in the Late 20s? Go has absolutely no similarities with chess other than the players move in turns and the sides are distinguished by black or white pieces. Apr-15-05    RookFile: It's different because Capablanca beat Lasker 4 times during the time period we're talking about, compared to Lasker's sole victory. During this same time period, Lasker played Euwe twice, winning both games, and, if you take the most charitable case for Bogo, Lasker split a couple of games with him. ( But if you throw in 1923 and 1924, Lasker gets 3 more wins, to Bogo's none.) So, to sum up this time period: Lasker vs Capa: 1 - 4 Lasker vs.Euwe: 2 - 0 Lasker vs.Bogo: 1 - 1 ( or 4 - 1 ) Lasker stopped playing chess completely after 1926, not picking it up again until 1934. On the other hand, Alekhine was preparing like crazy for his 1927 match against Capa. I think it's safe to say that the reigning world champion was stronger than a guy who wasn't even playing. And I realize that Go is different, I've played it myself. Apr-15-05    ughaibu: We're talking about a challenger for Alekhine so the "time period" begins from 1927, the score is Lasker vs. Capablanca: 1-1 plus one draw. Apr-15-05    paladin at large: Lasker really wanted to leave chess, but the rise of the Nazis and their assumption of power in 1933 forced him to return to chess. He played, I believe, primarily to make a living in these years, not from any ambition for another title shot. He, like Capablanca, did not have anything to prove to anyone. One of the many remarkable things which stands out about Capablanca's career, is that he hardly ever seems to have lost, except perhaps out of overconfidence (this is understandable when you consider that it took Alekhine 14 years from their first encounter to beat Capa for a first time). And Capa always seems to come back and give whoever beat him a drubbing. This seems to be true if you look at a number of Capa losses and his subsequent encounter with that player, e.g. Reti, Black, perhaps Chajes, Lasker, and I do don't know who else - and Alekhine in 1936. Thanks <RookFile> for your clear case. Apr-15-05    Eopithecus: Edward Lasker was the one interested in Go. Apr-15-05    ughaibu: Emanuel Lasker played go, but not very well. Apr-15-05    RookFile: ughaibu, welcome to the discussion. Earlier, iron maiden made this point: That because Bogo had won Moscow 1925, ahead of Capablanca, and also Bad Kissingen 1928, that Bogo deserved a shot at Alekhine more than Capa. I didn't agree with him, and hopefully above, the list of tournaments Capa won and the fact the Capa was 5 - 0 against Bogo means something. So, the point is, if we go down the road that iron maiden took us, we need to start looking at games from 1925. Otherwise, one of Bogo's wins doesn't count, and it further increases the difference in number of tournaments won by 1 in favor of Capablanca. So, if you apply iron maiden's standard, what this does is give Capa a 3 to 1 cushion over Lasker, for the same time period where Lasker was beating Euwe by 2 to 0, for example. I didn't check Bogo, but I believe this means 1 to 1. The game that gets left out is Capa's win over Lasker in New York 1924. Fair enough? And paladin is right when he says that Lasker was forced to play for money when he went broke. Apr-15-05    Poulsen: Clearly Bogo was a very strong player - chessmetrics has him as the no. 1 "rated" player at some point in the 1920'es - and placing him roughly in the same over-all position as Shirov or Topalov. Personally I think Aljechin preferred to play against Bogo - not because of his strenght, but because of his style, which suited Aljechin well. Capa on the other hand had a style, that made him much harder to beat - not just for Aljechin, but for everyone. Kasparov also "feared" Karpov in the 80'es, more than Anand in the 90'es - mainly because of their very different style. Apr-15-05    RookFile: Bogo was about the same strength as Nimzo. Both Bogo and Nimzo got slapped around about equally as hard by Alekhine and Capablanca. Apr-15-05    ughaibu: What do you mean "fair enough"? Capablanca and Lasker played one draw in 1925, the score between them is still 1-1 from 1925(inc.) onwards. If we stop at 1935, when Alekhine is no longer in a position to require a challenger Lasker would even be 1-0 up. Apr-15-05    Poulsen: Bogo and Nimzo were very diffent players. In the early-1920'es Bogo had a firm grip on Nimzo, but the table changed in late-1920's. I think, that Capa and Aljechin both would have won in matches against Nimzo and Bogo, but the matter of WCH in the late 1920'es would have be to settled between those four. No-one else - Tartakower, Reti etc. - could be considered. This tells us, how strong Capa and Aljechin actually were compared to their contemporaries ... Apr-15-05    RookFile: Let's include links to Capa's wins over Lasker from 1925 onwards: Lasker vs Capablanca, 1926 Capablanca vs Lasker, 1926 Lasker vs Euwe, 1936 The win in 1936 counts, because it is relavent to the point being made: that the people Alekhine were playing for the world championship were not even as strong as Lasker ( who of course was past his prime and no longer as strong as Capa ). It especially counts when you realize that in the same tournament,the old champ still beat Euwe, at that time the reigning world champion: Lasker vs Euwe, 1936 After Alekhine won his rematch against Euwe, he would be champion for another 8 years or so. 8 years is a long time, Alekhine still could have easily played some chess, including a Capa rematch, in 1937, 1938, or even 1939. Of course, World War 2 started, so we have to give Alekhine the benefit of the doubt for being practically unable to play, even if he was a Nazi supporter and chose not to get out while he could. By the way: how was Capa's challenger chosen? In a pretty fair way: the guy who came in second to him in New York 1927 got to play him. For that time, it was the closest thing they had to an interzonal. How strong were Capa and Alekhine compared to their opponents (setting aside Emanuel Lasker)? I don't have to comment.... the results speak for themselves. Typically, they were large pluses during this time period, the 20's and 30's. In the late 1930's, of course, several very strong challengers emerged. Apr-15-05    RookFile: Lasker vs Euwe, 1936 Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 264) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 27 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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