Jose Raul Capablanca: Third World Chess Champion (Chesscafe World Chess Champions Series) (The World Chess Champions Seri

By Isaak Linder

The name of Jose Raul Capablanca (1888-1942), the third world champion, is indelibly inscribed in the annals of chess history. Capablanca s technique, intuition, remarkably quick calculation, and sense for elegant combinations made him the paragon of grandmasters during his lifetime. At the peak of his career Capablanca was almost invincible; each of his losses was regarded as a sensation. His books, articles, and lucid annotations became instant classics. As a star of the first magnitude, Capablanca continues to influence the world of chess. All the world champions of the late 20th century Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, and Kasparov have been influenced by Capablanca s original ideas. Join Russian chess historians Isaak and Vladimir Linder as they take you on a journey exploring the life and games of the great Cuban world chess champion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Russell Enterprises, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781888690828

Book preview

José Raúl Capablanca

Third World Chess Champion

by

Isaak and Vladimir Linder

The World Chess Champion Series

2010

Russell Enterprises, Inc.

Milford, CT USA

José Raúl Capablanca

Third World Chess Champion

by Isaak and Vladimir Linder

© Copyright 2010

Russell Enterprises, Inc.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-888690-56-9

Published by:

Russell Enterprises, Inc.

PO Box 5460

Milford, CT 06460 USA

http://www.russell-enterprises.com

[e-mail]

Translated from the Russian by Boris Belitsky Editing and Proofreading by Angelo DePalma, Hanon Russell Production by Mark Donlan, Hanon Russell Cover design by Janel Lowrance

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter One: Viva Capablanca!

The Havana Marvel

Champion at Thirteen

America Applauds

Highly Dynamic Chess

San Sebastian Repercussions

At the Foot of Mt. Olympus

Chapter Two: Challenger Number One

European Tour

St. Petersburg, 1914

A Worthy Opponent

Honing His Skill

My Chess Career

Chapter Three: On Mt. Olympus

A Style Beyond Reproach

Three Cheers

The Golden Rampart

New York, 1924

The Champion Goes Over Big

A Brilliant Victory

Chapter Four: Match of the Titans

The Optimism of Genius

A Surprise at the Start

The Champion’s Best Game

The Challenger Turns the Tide

A Drama in Thirty-four Acts

Chapter Five: In the Hope of Recovering the Title

His Ambition Aroused

Carlsbad Themes

The Correspondence Match

An Unusual Rivalry

Is a Reform Necessary?

Chapter Six: Regaining His Former Strength

An Excellent Result

Again a Challenger

His Last Years

Chapter Seven: Capablanca’s Place in Chess History

His Chess Heritage

His Contribution to Theory

Chess for All

Capablanca’s Match Record

Capablanca’s Tournament Record

Tournament Crosstables

Player Index

Opening Index

Bibliography

Notes

List of Other eBooks

Preface

I have known many chessplayers, but only one genius among them – Capablanca! Young players can learn a great deal from him. – Emanuel Lasker

Capablanca was snatched from the chess world much too soon. With his death, we lost a very great chess genius, whose like we shall never see again. – Alexander Alekhine

The name of José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942), the third world champion, is indelibly inscribed in the annals of chess history. Capablanca’s technique, intuition, remarkably quick calculation, and sense for elegant combinations made him the paragon of grandmasters during his lifetime. At the peak of his career Capablanca was invincible; each of his losses was regarded as a sensation. His books, articles, and lucid annotations became instant classics.

Capablanca was a man of many interests and gifts, ranging from the arts, sciences, and sport. As sincere as he was noble, the great Cuban could not fail but make a powerful impression.

As a star of the first magnitude, Capablanca continues to influence the world of chess. All the world champions of the latter twentieth century – Botvinnik, Smyslov, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Fischer, Karpov, and Kasparov – have been influenced by Capablanca’s original ideas.

At his news conference after winning the world title in 1960, Mikhail Tal was asked, It is said you have adopted all that was best in the chess heritage of the past world champions. What, specifically, has this given you?

In his reply Tal expressed his admiration for Capablanca’s technical expertise. The summits of chess cannot be scaled without technique, and for that reason we all seek to emulate Capablanca’s wonderful and subtle technique.

It is no wonder that the playing styles of three world champions (Petrosian, Karpov, and Fischer) have been compared to Capablanca’s.

According to GM Robert Byrne, ...The basic concept in Fischer’s strategy has as its source the clear-cut classicism of Capablanca. Byrne arrived at this conclusion by carefully analyzing Fischer’s games. When going over his exciting games with him, I was always astonished at the way he evaluated the situation in terms of extremely simple positional categories and from the standpoint of the contours of the coming endgame, and this strongly related him to Capablanca.¹

The centenary of Capablanca’s birth was commemorated by the entire chess world, furnishing fresh evidence of universal admiration for the Cuban’s chess legacy. During the past half-century chess has changed dramatically. The game has become more dynamic, vastly more information-intensive, and interest in world title contests has greatly increased. Yet many of Capablanca’s maxims have proved consonant with contemporary play, continuing to inspire generations of chessplayers.

Numerous problems confront modern authors interested in chronicling Capablanca’s life and career. One is uncovering new sources of information on the third world champion’s games, writings, interviews, and reminiscences by and about him. There is also a great need to provide an impartial appraisal of Capablanca’s contribution to chess since during his lifetime stereotypes arose that tend, to this day, to obscure his contributions to the game. For example, it was said that Capablanca scorned opening theory, that he was a chess machine, that he predicted an imminent death by draw for the game, and that chess for Capablanca was merely a hobby.

The reader may judge the extent to which we have succeeded in our task of providing a broad, impartial, yet thorough profile of the third world champion’s role in the development of world chess.

Two points deserve mention in this context. In addition to collections of games and their annotations by eminent chess players, and several general works on Capablanca’s life and chess career, we have drawn upon little-known articles by Capablanca himself. We are, furthermore, publishing for the first time some of his letters that were in our possession, including his remarkable testament to his son, and reminiscences of Capablanca by his contemporaries. At the same time the abundance of documents at our disposal about Capablanca’s friendly contacts with Russia, which he visited on four occasions to play in major international tournaments, provides an excuse for our somewhat more detailed coverage of these events, each of which was something of a milestone in his chess career.

In his Last Chess Lectures, broadcast from New York in 1941 to listeners in Latin America, Capablanca mentioned, among the many merits of chess, the fact that it is also a means of knitting together more firmly social and intellectual bonds... among the various peoples. We would be happy if this purpose were also in some measure served by the present book about that chess genius José Raúl Capablanca.

Isaak and Vladimir Linder

Moscow

April 2010

Chapter One

Viva Capablanca!

Lt. Jorge Capablanca and his four-year-old son José Raúl.

The Havana Marvel

In 1892 two notable events occurred in Havana’s chess community. One of them received publicity throughout Cuba, indeed, throughout the world: Havana became the venue of the world title match between the first ever world champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, and the champion of Russia, Mikhail Chigorin. The other event was known only to the relatives and friends of Don Jorge Capablanca y Graupera.

One day just before sunset at the La Cabana Fort, not far from Morro Castle, Lieutenant Don Jorge was playing a game of chess with the commander of the fort, General Lono.

For several evenings their play had been watched in silence by the Lieutenant’s four-year-old son Raúl. The boy was dressed in a skirt, and his long, wavy hair reached down to his shoulders. Raúl’s mother had very much wanted a daughter, so when another boy was born, she for a long time would call him niña (Spanish for girl), dress him as a girl, and not cut his hair.¹

See that you don’t bother us, Don Jorge would usually say to his son before the game, as he placed a little bench alongside their massive table. Little Raúl would clamber on that bench and watch the movement of the pieces in fascination.

On one occasion he suddenly broke his silence and exclaimed, Daddy, Daddy, you made a wrong move! A wrong move with your knight. The players glanced at the boy in silence, smiled, and went on with the game.

Afterwards, when the general had left, Raúl’s father asked the boy why he thought that a move had been wrong. The boy quickly set up the position on the chessboard and pointed out the mistake.

Caramba! said the astonished father. Do you mean to say you know how to play chess?!

The boy proudly challenged his father to a game. They sat down at the table, and – Don Jorge lost.

Señor Capablanca, hoisting Raúl onto his shoulder, ran out into the street, shouting, Ave Maria! A miracle! A miracle has happened! My four-year-old son has beaten me at chess!

Don Jorge was, of course, convinced that his son José Raúl had been born (on November 19, 1888) under a lucky star. But he could not dream that the child’s remarkable talents would become apparent at such an early age, moreover in chess, which was in high regard in Havana. So the proud father took the boy to the Havana Chess Club.

There was always something going on at the club, and it was there that two world championship matches had been played. Steinitz called the club the Eldorado del Ajedrez (El Dorado of chess, a reference to the mythical South American city of gold).

The world champion had a good reason to describe the club in this manner. Cuba’s chess tradition goes back to around the end of the fifteenth century, soon after Christopher Columbus discovered the island and the first Spanish conquistadors appeared. When setting out from Spain on their distant voyages, Spanish soldiers took their chess sets along. Subsequent interest in chess on the island remained high. In the nineteenth century Cuba became one of the chess centers of the New World. It was there, in the early 1860s, that the first Latin American chess journal, Revista Mensual de Ajedrez, came into being.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century few cities in the world welcomed celebrated chessplayers so warmly, indeed, as enthusiastically, as Havana. The names of such distinguished visitors as Morphy, Steinitz, Chigorin, Gunsberg, Lasker, and Blackburne were pronounced at the Havana Chess Club with reverence. Twice in Havana, in 1862 and in 1864, Morphy astounded the locals with his blindfold play, and in 1889 and in 1892 the Havana Club hosted matches between Steinitz and Chigorin.

There was always a multitude of spectators, said Chigorin in and interview after the first contest, and our match was definitely the topic of the day in Havana – even the cabbies took an interest in the outcome of our games. There was nowhere I could go – either for a stroll or shopping – without being surrounded by people showering me with questions.

Raúl, now with a haircut and dressed like a typical boy of Havana, visited the club during the world title match in 1892, which left a deep impression on him.

Later he would write: One’s proclivities in any direction are often indicated in early childhood, and are as often the result of some special event which has attracted the interest of the child beyond common boundaries. In my case it was one of the historic Steinitz-Chigorin encounters, extensively discussed in Havana at the time. I was then four years old.²

Little Raúl’s appearance invariably evoked a warm welcome from the Havana Club’s habitués, who early on would offer him queen odds. Raúl won game after game at these odds.

Here is such a game he played at the club with Ramon Iglesias.

(1) Iglesias – Capablanca

Havana, 1893

Petroff Defense [C42]

(remove White’s queen)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.N×e5 N×e4 4.d4 d6 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.c4 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.a3 a6 10.Bd2 b6 11.0-0-0 Bd7 12.Kb1 Na5 13.Rc1 Nb3 14.Rc2 c5 15.d5 Re8 16.h4 b5 17.g4 Nd4 18.N×d4 c×d4 19.Ne4 b×c4 20.N×f6+ B×f6 21.B×c4 B×g4 22.Bd3 Bf3 23.Rh3 B×d5 24.h5 Be6 25.Rg3 g6 26.f4 Bh4 27.Rg1 Kh8

28.f5 B×f5 29.B×f5 g×f5 30.Bh6 Rg8 31.Rcg2 R×g2 32.R×g2 Qf6 33.Bg7+ Q×g7 34.R×g7 K×g7 35.Kc2 Kf6 36.Kd3 Ke5 37.h6 f4 38.Ke2 Ke4 0-1

On returning home, Raúl would brood over his chessboard battles and had trouble falling asleep. At his doctor’s advice, Don Jorge stopped taking his son to the club. Raúl began to play chess with his neighbors, and later, with his school friends.

In 1899 the American maestro Harry Nelson Pillsbury visited Havana. Pillsbury was well known due to his victory in the Hastings Tournament of 1895, where he finished ahead of world champion Lasker, ex-world champion Steinitz, and Chigorin, Tarrasch, Gunsberg, Janowsky, and other giants, and also thanks to his phenomenal blindfold chess displays. Pillsbury’s appearances in Havana produced a deep impression on eleven-year-old Capablanca, who afterwards wrote:

The reader can well imagine the impression on a child full of imagination produced by a man who could play simultaneously sixteen or more blindfold games of chess at the same time that he played a number of blindfold games of draughts and a hand of duplicate whist ...Pillsbury’s displays... electrified me, and with the consent of my parents I began to visit the Havana Chess Club again. By leaps and bounds I reached the top class in three months.³

Champion at Thirteen

Capablanca had by now met all the leading players of his country over the board. In his first two games with the Cuban champion, Juan Corzo, Raúl came out badly. But this did not dishearten the boy. On the contrary, he tackled his chess books even more avidly. Particularly to his liking was a book on endgames, in which he soon achieved a high degree of perfection. He was barely thirteen when he played his official match with Juan Corzo. The winner would be the first player to score four wins.

The beginning of the match, with Raúl losing the first two games, discouraged his fans, but not Capablanca. At an early age he learned to analyze his defeats and identify the reasons for them. Raúl thus quickly discovered his opponent’s weak points, particularly in endgames, which enabled him to reverse the course of the struggle. Capablanca won four games and, with them, the match and the championship of Cuba. The final score was +4, –3, =6 in Capablanca’s favor.⁴

All told, thirty-nine games between the young Capablanca and leading Cuban players, played from September 1901 through March 1902, survive. They include the thirteen games of his match with Juan Corzo, played from September 17 through December 18, 1901.

Capablanca later included two of these games, which he considered the best of the match, in his book, My Chess Career (London, 1920). The first of these games vividly characterizes the originality of his thinking in a theoretical dispute, which the boy won.

(2) Corzo – Capablanca

Havana m (8), 1901

Vienna Opening [C25]

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e×f4 4.Nf3 g5 5.h4 g4 6.Ng5 h6 7.N×f7 K×f7 8.d4 d5

Corzo often played gambits, assuming that in the resulting complications he would have less difficulty in overcoming his less experienced adversary who, moreover, was less conversant with opening theory. After this game he told Capablanca that the book recommended 8...d6. It is also the more noteworthy that Raúl’s move is now considered the strongest reply.

9.e×d5

Present-day theory recommends 9.B×f4 Bb4 10.Be2 B×c3+ 11.b×c Nf6 12.0-0 Kg7, with better chances for White.

9...Qe7+ 10.Kf2

Corzo played 10.Be2 in one of the previous match games, which ended in a draw. He decided here to move his king on the assumption that this would give him better attacking chances. But his opponent, who had likewise analyzed this line of play, came up with a surprise.

10...g3+! 11.Kg1

11...N×d4! 12.Q×d4 Qc5

Unbelievably, Whites next eight moves are all forced! One gets the impression that Black’s pieces are commanded not by a 13-year-old boy but by an experienced master.

13.Ne2 Qb6

Not 13...Bg4 because of 14.Be3 f×e3 15.Q×g4.

14.Q×b6

14.Be3?? is now a blunder because of 14...f×e3 15.Q×h8 Bg7 16.Qh7 Q×b2 17.Rd1 Qf6 18.Rh3 Bf5.

14...a×b6 15.Nd4 Bc5 16.c3 Ra4 17.Be2 B×d4+ 18.c×d4 R×d4 19.b3 Nf6 20.Bb2 Rd2 21.Bh5+ N×h5!

The knight, biding its time on g8, now springs to life.

22.B×h8 f3

Vacating f4 for the knight, which is destined to bring the game to a spectacular end.

23.g×f3

Not 23.Bc3, because 23...f2+ 24.Kf1 Bf5 forces mate.

23...Nf4 24.Be5

24.Re1 invites 24...Rg2+ 25.Kf1 Rf2+ 26.Kg1 Bh3, followed by ...Ne2+ and ...Rf1#, while 27.R×h3 is anwered by 27...N×h3+ 28.Kh1 Rh2#.

24...Rg2+ 25.Kf1 Rf2+ 26.Ke1 Nd3+ 0–1

Capablanca’s next game vividly illustrates not just his enterprising style, but a mature strategy in what appears to be a simple ending.

(3) Capablanca – Corzo

Havana, m (11), 1901

Queen’s Pawn Game [D02]

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 c5 3.e3 Nc6 4.b3

Capablanca shows he is aware of a line played by Johannes Zukertort.

4...e6 5.Bb2 Nf6 6.Nbd2 c×d4

The preferred move now is 6.Be7 or Bd6.

7.e×d4 Bd6 8.Bd3 0-0 9.0-0 Nh5 10.g3 f5

This weakens e6. But then, Black’s plan for achieving vigorous counter-chances on the kingside proves positionally flawed, as Capablanca strikingly demonstrates.

11.Ne5 Nf6 12.f4 B×e5 13.f×e5 Ng4 14.Qe2 Qb6

A better move may have been 14.Nb4, to exchange the queen’s bishop. Or, in the event of 15.Ba3 Qa5, the king’s bishop, which plays a crucial part in Black’s fate.

15.Nf3 Bd7 16.a3 Kh8 17.h3 Nh6 18.Qf2 Nf7 19.Kg2 g5 20.g4 Ne7 21.Qe3 Rg8 22.Rae1 Ng6

Better was 22.Bb5.

23.g×f5 Nf4+ 24.Kh2 N×d3

Learning the hard way. This could have been accomplished by the same knight ten moves earlier, but better late than never!

25.Q×d3 e×f5 26.c4 Qe6

25...Bb5 is futile because of 26.c4! Qe6.

Capablanca believed that 26...Qa6 would have been better, but even so Black could not have prevented the combined attack along the e-file, and the a1-h6 diagonal.

27.c×d5 Q×d5 28.e6 Bb5

Naturally, not 28...B×e6?? 29.R×e6 Q×e6 30.d5+.

29.Q×b5

Capablanca concedes that 20 years later he would simply have played 29.Qd2 B×f1 30.e×f7 Q×f7 31.d5+ Rg7 32.N×g5 Qg6. 33.Re7, etc. but at the time I could not resist the temptation of sacrificing the queen.

29...Q×b5 30.d5+ Rg7 31.e×f7 h6

31...Rf8 did not save the day either, because of 32Nd4! Q×d5 33.Re8 Q×f7 34.R×f8+ and 35.N×f5.

32.Nd4 Q×f1

Now, in response to 32...Q×d5, White would have played 33.Re8. Against 32...Qd7 Capablanca planned 33.N×f5 with a crushing attack. He cited the following brilliant finale: 33...Q×f5 34.B×g7+ Kh7 35.Re7 Q×d5 36.Be5+ Kg6 37.Rg7+ Kh5 38.Ng3+ Kh4 39.Rf4+ g×f 40.Rg4+#.

33.R×f1 R×f7 34.R×f5 R×f5 35.N×f5+ Kh7 36.Ne7 Rf8 37.Kg2 h5 38.d6 g4 39.h×g4 h×g4 40.Be5 Kh6 41.d7 Rd8 42.Ng8+ R×g8 43.Bf6 Kg6 44.d8Q R×d8 45.B×d8

Black still hopes for a draw, which is theoretically possible here only if White is left with a bishop and the a-pawn. For this reason White had to display a certain precision in this seemingly won ending.

45...b5 46.Kf2 Kf5 47.Ke3 Ke5 48.Kd3 Kd5 49.Kc3 g3 50.Bh4 g2 51.Bf2 a5 52.b4 Ke4

53.Bb6!

The position is drawn after 53.b×a5 Kd5.

53...Kd5 54.Kd3 Kc6 55.Bg1 Kd5 56.Bh2

Depriving the black king access to e5.

56...Kc6 57.Kd4 a4 58.Ke5 Kb6 59.Kd5 Ka6!

Hoping for 60.Kc6?? g1Q! 61.B×g1 stalemate!

60.Kc5! 1-0

Around this time Capablanca’s combinative powers and endgame technique grew more sophisticated. Typical of his style at this period was the tactical surprise he sprang on Corzo in one of their unofficial games.

(4) Corzo – Capablanca

Havana, 1902

French Defense [C10]

29...Bf2! 30.Rd7+

Nor would White have found salvation in 30.R×f2 R×f2 31.Rd7+ Kh6 32.f5+ Kh5 33.Rh7+ Kg4 34.B×f2 K×f3 35.Bg3 Rd8 36.Be1 Rd1 37.h4 R×e1+ 38.Kh2 Kf2 39.Kh3 e×f5 and 40...Rh1#.

30...Kh6 31.Rd5 B×e3 32.Ng5 R2×g5 33.f×g5+ R×g5 34.Rf6+ Kh5 35.R×e6 B×d5+ 36.c×d5 Rg1# 0-1

Cuba’s youthful champion became its hope. He received publicity in the national press, and other countries in the Americas also learned about him.

In 1904 the costs of José Raúl’s education were assumed by Don Ramon Pelayo, a relative and close friend of the Capablancas. José Raúl’s parents had no objection to having their son go to New York to complete his education – they had their hands full with their other children. José Raúl had to promise just one thing: not to play chess.

At first this promise seemed easy enough to keep, as Raúl’s interests included mathematics, history, philosophy, and medicine. He also good at sports and aspired to learn to play the violin. At one time Capablanca considered becoming a professional baseball player, but abandoned this idea because of a shoulder injury.

After completing his studies at the private Woodycliff School in New Jersey, Capablanca went on to study chemical engineering at Columbia University. He passed his entrance examinations brilliantly, taking just over an hour to solve algebra problems for which three hours were allotted.

But his chosen specialty did not hold Capablanca’s interest for long. His overriding interest was clearly chess. He began to frequent the famous Manhattan Chess Club, where he quickly won recognition. Many features of his play had by that time become attractive: the purposeful character of his actions on the board, his rejection of stereotypes, his unflagging efforts to hold the initiative, and the astonishing speed with which he generated clever schemes and elegant combinations. In one of his games from that period, against Robert Raubitschek, Capablanca sacrificed two minor pieces en route to a brilliant mating finish.

(5) Raubitschek – Capablanca

New York, 1906

King’s Gambit [C38]

21...Nf6 22.Qh8+ Rd8 23.Q×f6 Rdg8 24.Rf2

24.Q×e7 R×g2+ 25.Kh1 Bd5 and mate is inevitable.

24...R×g2+! 25.Kf1 Bc4+ 26.N×c4 Rg1# 0-1

In 1906 José Raúl took first place in a lightning chess tournament. The field included world champion Emanuel Lasker, who was in New York on tour. The young Cuban’s reputation at the club was now sufficiently high, and on one occasion Dr. Lasker invited him to analyze a position with him.

Capablanca was naturally flattered by the world champion’s wish to consult him. At the time Capablanca believed the endgame was his forte. His openings, as he later recalled, were much weaker than they should have been, as there is too much slow moving, elaborate plans which cannot be carried out against strong opponents. As for the middle game, the combinations are surer and more profound, and there begins to loom forward playing for position. (My Chess Career).

Incidentally, Capablanca’s interest in analyzing unusual endings is evidenced by a study he composed. The theme is complicated, involving a struggle by a rook and knight against a rook and seven pawns. The study was first published in Lasker’s Chess Magazine (August 1908).

(6) Capablanca, 1908

Study – White wins

1.Kc4 Ka5

1...Ka3 2.Nd1 Rh2 3.Nc3 Rb2 4.Ra1+ Ra2 5.R×a2#.

2.K×c5 Ka6

2...Ka4 3.Nc4 Rb7 4.R×b7 g2 5.Ra7+.

3.K×c6 Ka7

3...Ka5 4.Nc2 Ka4 5.Kb6 Rb7+ 6.K×b7 Ka5 7.Kc6 Ka4 8.Kb6 g2 9.Rb4#.

4.Nd5 Rh2 5.Nc3 f5

5...g2 6.Nb5+ Kb8 7.Nd6+ Ka8 8.Ne8 Rh7 9.Nc7+ R×c7+ 10.K×c7 g1Q 11.R×g1 g3 12.Ra1#; 5...Rc2 6.Rb3 Rc1 7.Kc7 Ra1 8.Rb7+ Ka6 9.Rb8 Ka7 10.Nb5+ Ka6 11.Nd4 Rc1+ 12.Nc6 R×c6+ 13.K×c6.

6.Rb7+ Ka6

6...Ka8 7.Re7 Rh8?? (7...Rb2 draws) 8.Nd5 Rc8+ 9.Kb6 Kb8 10.Nb4 Rc1 (10...g2 11.Na6+ Ka8 12.Ra7#) 11.Re8+ Rc8 12.Na6+ Ka8 13.R×c8#.

7.Rb6+ Ka5 8.Rb5+ Ka6 9.Rb4 Ka7 10.Nb5+ Kb8 11.Nd6+ Ka8 12.Nc4 Ra2 13.Kc7 Ra7+ 14.Kc8 Ra6 15.Rb8+ Ka7 16.Rb7+ Ka8 17.Nb6+ R×b6 18.R×b6 Ka7 19.Rb2 f4 20.Kc7 Ka6 21.Kc6 Ka5 22.Kc5 Ka4 23.Kc4 Ka3 24.Rg2 and White wins.

In the opinion of the composition editors of Lasker’s Chess Magazine, Dr. Herman Keidanz and Samuel Loyd, Capablanca’s ending is an original contribution and a very interesting stratagem.

In 1965 the Soviet study composer Genrikh Kasparyan found that Black could improve his play sufficiently in the 6....Ka6 variation to draw. In the 1970s Capablanca’s study was the topic of a debate in the journal Shakhmaty v SSSR. In the view of international master Nikolai Novotelny and grandmaster Yuri Averbakh, Black can defend by retreating 6...Ka8. Averbakh proposed 7.Re7 Rb2 8.Re8 Ka7 9.Nd5 R×b5 10.K×b5 f4 11.Kc6 g2 12.Re7+ Kb8! 13.Re1 f3 14.Rb1+ Kc8 15.Ra1 Kb8, etc.

America Applauds

Capablanca’s popularity in the United States rose sharply in the winter of 1909, when he undertook his first U.S. tour.

Astonishing! Fantastic! Beyond All Expectations! were some of the newspaper headlines. In his first ten simultaneous displays he did not lose a single game. In a display in Hoboken, New Jersey, José Raúl used only 1 hour 40 minutes to complete 28 games, drawing three and losing only one (after declining a draw). His overall tour scorecard was phenomenal: Out of more than six hundred games he lost only twelve and drew seventeen.

The United States was prepared to accept Capablanca as its darling. But first he had to prove equal to the national champion, Frank J. Marshall.

Marshall was considered one of the leading players in the world after his impressive victories at international tournaments. At Cambridge Springs (1904) Marshall finished two points ahead of Lasker, five and a half points ahead of Chigorin and Schlechter, and six points ahead of Pillsbury. He also took first prizes at Nuremberg (1906) and Dusseldorf (1908). In these three tournaments he did not lose a single game, winning many encounters by spectacular combinations and showing equal proficiency in attack and counterattack.

Lt. Jorge Capablanca and José Raúl Capablanca

Capablanca at Columbia University

Capablanca’s simultaneous display in Moscow 1913.

The Bernstein-Capablanca exhibition game in Moscow 1914.

Despite these brilliant victories, Marshall had difficulties with adherents of the positional school, particularly in match play. A great