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 1,253  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. J Corzo vs Capablanca 1-0 41 1901 Havana casual B01 Scandinavian 6. Capablanca vs A Fiol ½-½ 49 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 7. A Gavilan vs Capablanca 0-1 39 1901 Match-series C45 Scotch Game 8. A K 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 Marquez 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 Marquez 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 1,253

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 220 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing> Sep-22-11    visayanbraindoctor: <Albertan> That's because Capa could swiftly and easily calculate all positions of jumping horses; so in the hands of the opposition, they held no fear for him. When it was he who was jumping his horses around then it must have been terrible indeed for his opponents. For instance, the way he handles his knights in this game can hardly be improved upon: Capablanca vs Yates, 1924 Sep-22-11    SugarDom: Calculation was not the forte of Capablanca. It was Intuition, knowing the right move without deep calculation... Sep-27-11    I play the Fred: http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/... Pretty cool stuff here. Sep-30-11    The Rocket: <"The great World Champions Morphy, Steinitz, and Lasker were past masters in the art of Pawn play; they had no superiors in their handling of endgames. The present World Champion has not the strength of the other three as an endgame player, and is therefore inferior to them. - Jose Capablanca"> Nonsense from the bitter Capa.... There was no one that handled endgames better than Alekhine. He was a machine once the game was in his hand. Karpov and Fine both point out this incredible skill. Alekhine lost many games but once he got the advantage it was over. Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: <drnooo: more properly this belongs on Capas page, but The Brain Doctor with his extensivity (not a word but it is now) concerning Capa would know this: not sure if it has ever been mentioned anywhere, if so someone please tell me but what seems overlooked about Capa is that he might just have been over the hill in that match, period. He was just enough older than Alekhine that his great powers were gone in short age not hypertension was the real culprit, just enough that when facing the very very best such as Alekhine they were no longer up to the task. In short he might well have lost his rematch no matter what. Which does not take away one whit his being the very best we have seen ever. Even Alekhine said we will not see his like again. > Most people that 'go over the hill' do so for physical health reasons o for psychological reasons. Psychological reasons can often be reversed, but a chronic illness is more difficult yo manage. I have read that as early as the 1924 New York tournament, Capa had already sought out medical consult for headaches, correct me if I am wrong (which I could be). Capa was a proud man, and he is the type of hard-headed personality who would never seek consult unless forced to by symptoms that are growing increasingly intolerable. If all these are true, then Capa became symptomatic sometime after the 1922 London tournament. In a sense, he began his downhill trip at that point in time. The rest of his career looks typical of a man with health problems- brilliant runs increasingly interspersed with bad (for him) performances. Errors began to increasingly creep in his calculations. As a reaction, he began his tendency for simplification in order to avoid positions that required very accurate calculations. Very telling was his shift from e4 to d4 during his match with Alekhine. It is well known that e4 openings often are more open and tactical in nature than d4 openings which easily transform to semi-close or closed middlegames that do not require such precision calculations. (We saw the same thing occur to Karpov; as he aged he transformed from an e4 to a d4 player.) For the rest of his career Capa became a d4 player, something which at first looks totally weird considering he probably was and is the greatest master of the Ruy Lopez, which is the most common opening if black replies e5 to e4. In the CG data base, he only lost one game with the Ruy, the famous Lasker vs Capablanca, 1914, and he was Black. With White he never lost with the Ruy, and only allowed 5 or 6 draws in his entire career, which means that it was almost suicide to play e5 to Capa's e4 and go to the Ruy. Yet, in spite of his health problem and psychological lack of motivation after he won the Title, it is almost a certainly that Capa would have easily defended his Title against any other player except the brilliant Alekhine. Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: By 1927, Capa was weaker and AAA was stronger than their respective selves in 1922. Capa was also less motivated and AAA was just as fanatical as ever in his pursuit of the Title. Yet I would agree with almost every one before the match that Capa had more chances of winning. If Capa's chances of winning in 1922 against AAA was something like 90%, by 1927, it had decreased to something like 60%. IMO AAA did beat the odds. He still had a 40% chance of winning and the match fell into this this probability. I believe that if they had played 3 matches in a row after 1924, with Capa having a 60% chance of winning, the probable results would be as follows: 1. Capa wins 3 matches 0.60 x 0.60 x 0.60 = 0.216 2. Capa loses 3 matches in a row 0.40 x 0.40 x 0.40 = 0.064 3. Capa wins one match and loses two (0.60 x 0.40 x 0.40) + (0.40 x 0.60 x 0.40) + (0.40 x 0.40 x 0.60) = 0.288 4. Capa wins two matches and loses one (0.60 x 0.60 x 0.40) + (0.60 x 0.40 x 0.60) + (0.40 x 0.60 x 0.60) = 0.432 In an alternate universe wherein Capa and AAA played each other 3 consecutive matches, chances of Capa winning more matches than AAA would be #1 plus #4 above. 0.216 + 0.432 = 0.648 (I may have committed errors in my computations; corrections are welcome.) Oct-04-11    swissfed: Page 77: ¡¥Capablanca kept saying that he would win [the 1927 title match] and he was born to stay world champion until he died. Alekhine, for his part, didn¡¦t think for a moment that Capablanca could beat him. Each was completely sure of himself and convinced of his talent.¡¦ (Chess and the Art of Negotiation Westport, 2006) Capablanca telling the truth in his own right. Oct-04-11    SugarDom: Capablanca had the advantage in intuition, but Alekhine had advantage in memory and calculation. That guy played against 30 players blindfolded... Oct-04-11    AVRO38: The seeds of Capablanca's defeat in 1927 can be gleaned from his belief that chess was almost played out (a strange and erroneous belief that future greats would also hold, Fischer is an obvious example). Capa like Fischer even proposed a new version of the game. Capa thought that the QGD was the final word in the evolution of chess and that the game was thus played out and a forced draw. He could not conceive of losing a QGD game let alone 6 such games in a match. Of course we know today that the game of chess is far from being played out and that the Orthodox QGD is bad for Black. As hypermodern openings gained respectability and as players began to realize that the Orthodox QGD was a bad defense, Capa changed his views but the damage was done and his poor match strategy against Alekhine had cost him the title. I have no doubt that Capa would have defended his title if he had played different openings in 1927. Capa's loss was a wake up call to the chess world. Just compare the openings from the 1929 title match to those of 1927. For the first time we see the King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian, and Grunfeld in championship play. Also, the Orthodox QGD is abandoned for the Slav and Cambridge Springs/Semi-Slav variations. It is clear that after Capa's loss the chess world had turned a page and the modern era of chess openings had begun. Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: <AVRO38> That is an interesting insight. I agree with that part of your post that opines that the 1927 match ushered in the hypermodern openings into world championship play. World Championship matches after the QGD single-dish buffet of 1927 displayed openings that are essentially the same openings still being used today in WC matches. The next WC match Alekhine-Bogoljubov World Championship Match (1929) featured 7 slavs, 4 nimzo-indians, 2 grunfelds, 1 kings indian. As a comparison the Anand-Kramnik World Championship Match (2008) featured 5 slavs and 3 nimzo-indians. Seems that slavs and nimzo-indians are still 'in' now in the 21st century. Oct-04-11    Shams: <Alekhine, for his part, didn't think for a moment that Capablanca could beat him.> His actions tell a different story. Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: <SugarDom: Capablanca had the advantage in intuition, but Alekhine had advantage in memory and calculation. That guy played against 30 players blindfolded...> <bronkenstein: Speaking of Tal as a calculator , Dvoretsky made few interesthing observations in an old article of his (topic was ´classifying´ players as mostly Intuitive or Calculators). He classified Kasparov, Botvinik, Korchnoi, Polugaevsky, Euwe etc as calculators , while putting Tal (!! , he noted that it will sound unbelieveable to many) as rather intuitive than calculating type , together with Alekhine etc.> IMO Capa differed from the usual 'I move this, he moves that' step-by-step analytical method of calculating that Kasparov, Botvinik, Korchnoi, Polugaevsky, and Euwe did. Instead I believe that he saw a continuum of potential positions flashing in and out of his mind's eye without analyzing in the above usual sense, similar to rapidly moving pictures in a film. He did not have to think 'I move this, he moves that'. He then chooses the trail of moving pictures leading to positions that his remarkable chess intuition told him are advantageous for him. Thus in a sense his calculation was not based on step-by-step analysis but on another type of ability. This phenomenon of seeing a chess game as rapidly flashing potential positions probably occasionally occurs among all good chess players. Most of us have experienced this - suddenly the winning positions and the way to them are so clear that we do not have to analyze in the usual manner. Some chess players describe it as flashes of inspiration. We are grateful and awed if it happens to us, for it rarely does. In Capa's case however, it was the norm. Among today's top chess players, Anand (or at least the younger version of Anand) may have had this ability to a certain extent. This ability to suddenly 'see' everything in rapid flashes explains why Capablanca (and the young Anand) played so fast; and why they were untouchable in quick games. It also explains why Capablanca had difficulty in explaining how he thought up his moves. Cryptic Capablanca remarks such as given a position he could see everything that happened in the past, what is happening in the present, and will happen in the future may be an attempt to explain (a bit unsuccessfully) this ability. I do not know if this ability classifies as another form of intuition. Oct-04-11    drnooo: as usual, some very interesting speculations and even more on this page about El Cubano. Nevertheless, hypertension or not, look at how seldom in chess the 40ish guys have to climb down off the throne. Adios. For whatever reason. Even Alex hit that wall with Euwe. In other words I am somewhat, for the argument, taking the hypertension out of the argument. That said, then agreeing with The Doc that Capas health had a great deal to do with his loss. Still, still, and I have posted it here before, even with all that, at bottom Capa was just too bloody stubborn for his own good. Had he opted, and as one poster here has noted that apparently he had such faith in the qgd he couldn't shift gears, wouldn't is more like it, had he varied into the queens indian and so other softer white openings, say a Reti, he still could have had his cake and eaten as big a bites out of it he liked. Instead he just kept flailing away at that damned opening that was getting him nowhere fast. Which for me, has always seemed the real culprit of his defeat, playing right into Alekhines hot little hands. Giving the russian many a night to go home and bone up on every last little mistake and quirk of the qgd as Capa was playing it. Something close to insanity, considering whom he was playing against. Oct-04-11    SugarDom: El Cubano was just plain lazy. Chess like all other sports require very hard work at the top level... Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: <chancho: Ese Cubano aunque era un peresoso, era tremendo jugador. Eso es indiscutible.> Yes. And IMO lazy though he was, his ability/ talent that I hypothesized on in my last post allowed him to play tremendously strong chess without as much study as other top chess masters. Perhaps Capablanca would have liked the modern era of computers. Computers would have allowed him a far easier way of preparing for WC matches than the old book, pen, and paper method, which surely turned his lazy self off. Oct-04-11    visayanbraindoctor: <drnooo: had he varied into the queens indian..> I agree Capa should have varied with the QID. He was remarkably good with the QID. In his entire career, he only lost two times with it. He did take your advise (",) but mostly too late, after the 1927 match. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/ches... Oct-04-11    swissfed: He can not be mistaken when he said he was born to stay world champion until his death. Oct-04-11    The Rocket: <"Of course we know today that the game of chess is far from being played out and that the Orthodox QGD is bad for Black."> I dont know which exact variation you are referring to.. but capablanca variation is well known to be drawn as well the other ones. you seem to base your opinions on popularity of the openings which is misleading. The reason few people play orthodox QGD is not because its bad but because they are extremely hard to win with as black. Oct-04-11    AVRO38: <The reason few people play orthodox QGD is not because its bad but because they are extremely hard to win with as black.> This is a distinction without a difference. Oct-05-11    Shams: <AVRO38><This is a distinction without a difference.> You know perfectly well that it is not. Oct-05-11    visayanbraindoctor: <drnooo> Aside from the Queen's Indian Defense, it would have been a good idea for Capablanca to play the Modern Benoni in the 1927 WC match. Few people know it, but Capablanca and Marshall practically invented this opening. Capablanca was fantastic at this opening and never lost a Modern Benoni (or its reverse), playing white or black. This opening IMO should be re-named as the Capablanca-Marshall opening, or the Capablanca-Marshall Benoni. In the page below can be found a summary of Capa's Modern Benoni games. Benoni (A61) Oct-23-11    salemrami: how i change the color of the chessboard? Oct-23-11    OhioChessFan: <salemrami> I will note that if you come to the site and don't log in, you'll find the board to be brown and orange. If you do log in, the default colors are green and white. At least for premium members, and possibly all, if you click on the link at the bottom of this page that says "Preferences", you'll to to a page where you can change the colors. Oct-23-11    AnalyzeThis: I agree with those who say that Capa should have played the Queen's Indian more, especially against Alekhine. I bet that he would have put a couple of W's up on the board. Oct-25-11    Everett: <This phenomenon of seeing a chess game as rapidly flashing potential positions probably occasionally occurs among all good chess players> Pattern recognition, prevalent in mating attacks, endgame positions, middle-game tactical operations, is similar, yet I think you point to something else, even more "whole than part." Some sort of special gestalt. I think you allude to the essence of chess genius. This is what Kasparov explains when he says "Tal saw through combinations." More practically, it is not the calculation, but knowing what to calculate that sets those with talent apart from the others. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 264) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 220 OF 264 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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