José Raúl Capablanca was a Cuban chess player widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Capablanca is best known for his exceptional endgame skills and his ability to simplify complex positions into winning endgames.
Capablanca’s chess career began at a young age. He learned to play chess at the age of four by watching his father. The story goes that Jose pointed out an illegal move his father played, then beat his father. At the age of 14, he finished 4th out of 6 in the Cuban Championship. He traveled to the United States for university - participating on their baseball team, but later dropping out of school to focus on chess.
In 1909, Capablanca participated in a chess tour across the United States playing 602 games in 27 cities scoring a 96.4% win percentage. A year later, he beat Charles Jaffe in the New York State Championship finishing the tournament with 7 wins and 2 draws.
In 1911, Capablanca challenged Emmanuel Lasker, the current world champion. Lasker sent a list of 17 conditions in order to play. Capablanca objected to some of the conditions so the match did not happen.
In 1913, Capablanca was offered a position in the Cuban Foreign Office, the job didn’t have formal duties, but allowed Capablanca to act as an ambassador to put Cuba on the map. This job allowed him to be financially secure for life so he could focus on chess. This allowed him to give simultaneous exhibitions in London, Paris, Berlin, and a series of matches in Saint Petersburg all in the name of Cuba.
During the course of World War I, Capablanca returned to the United States since international chess was halted. He won tournaments in 1914, 15, 16, and 18 only losing 1 game.
After the war, Lasker resigned the title to Capablanca because, quote - “You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery.”
The 14 game match was played in 1921, Capablanca won 4 wins, 0 losses, 10 draws.
6 or 7 years later - depending on the source - In 1927, Capablanca faced Alexander Alekhine for the World Championship. Prior to this match, Alekhine had never beaten Capablanca.
Stunning everyone, Alekhine won 6 wins to 3 losses with 25 draws. Relations soured between the two players due to the dynamic of a rematch and the amount of money needed. The two players did not play in the same tournament for almost 10 years.
In 1942, Capablanca died from complications from his hypertension.
Capablanca’s legacy is often cited as an influence by modern grandmasters including Bobby Fischer, Anatoli Karpov, and Mikail Botvinnik. He was also a prolific chess writer, and his books are still highly regarded today. Throw on top of that - he only lost 34 serious chess games as an adult and found his own version of chess and you have a player who has earned his way into chess immortality.
Today, we’re traveling back over a century to 1912 in a blindfold exhibition in Cuba.
Jose Raul Capablanca versus Jaime Baca Arus
Now, if we’re ready… let’s begin.
1. d4 d5 2. e3 e6 3. Bd3 c6 4. Nf3 Bd6 5. Nbd2 f5 6. c4 Qf6 7. b3 Nh6 8. Bb2 O-O 9. Qc2 Nd7 10. h3 g6 11. O-O-O e5 12. dxe5 Nxe5 13. cxd5 cxd5 14. Nc4 dxc4 15. Bxc4+ Nhf7 16. Rxd6 Qxd6 17. Nxe5 Be6 18. Rd1 Qe7 19. Rd7 Bxd7 20. Nxd7 Rfc8 21. Qc3 Rxc4 22. bxc4 Nd6 23.Qh8+ Kf7 24.Ne5+ Ke6 25.Qxa8 1-0
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1267108
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ra%C3%BAl_Capablanca