I really dont know what are you trying to say over here chessoholicalien. Either you're saying that Jose Raul Capablanca didn't know how to play chess or Mir Sultan Khan was a very bad player of chess (maybe youre better than him?!).You're list of players who had defeated Capablanca from an unreliable source doesn't prove anything. He is already known for losing very few games in serious matches.
You're second comment "You don't even have to be literate to be good at chess" is abolutely wrong! He was illiterate means that he was unaware of any chess theory and being at top level it is almost impossible to beat former world champion without chess theory. He probably just had a chess board at home and had no chess instructor or teacher until he came to britian.

P:S- "And best player ever....remains merely an opinion. You don't have to post such rude comments"

NM Tonydal:

I got the list from Megabase2009. It might include games that were simuls, rapid or offhand games.

One player, Sharp, beat Capa 4 times with the black pieces!

Sorry, chessoholic, but your list of Capa's victors can't possibly be right...since he only lost 34 games in his playing career.

phenomenal natural talent, yes.

Greatest player ever? no!

Best ever? NOPE. He beat Capablanca once in their only meeting when Capablanca was past his prime. Should Richard Réti claim he was the "best player ever" because he put an end to Capablanca's 8-year long unbeaten streak in 1924?

The following players have also beaten Capablanca at least once! :

Alekhine, Aurbach, Botvinnik, Adams, Atkins, Autran, Bain, Barrett, Beckman, Bermingham, Black, Blake, Bland, Bock, Brunnemer, Buela Taborda, Chambers, Clough, Cohen, Cole, Columbia Univ, Corzo, Dittrich, Erdel, Felderhof, Fox, Fridezky, Friedenberg, Fuentes, Germann, Gerwig, Grieg, Guillen, Hardy, Hellqvist, Higgins, Holbein, Howland, Hughes, Zhenevsky, Jaffe, Jayne, Kalske, Karff, Katz, Kevitz, Kofmann, Koksal, Korclan, Kunkel, Labatt, Laferriere, Lang, Larsson, Lassen, Leede, Lewis, Lipschütz, Loman, Marin, Marshall, Matisons, McGuire, Milnes, Miotkowski, Miranda, Molina, Murdock, Natali, Olson, Palacio, Panov, Pape, Park Ave CC, Parley, Paroulek, Penteado, Perkins, Piazzini, Piccardt, Pomeroy, Pratt, Prokofiev, Ramsey, Rasmussen, Reid, Rice CC, Rudnik, Schenk, Schlage, Schneck, Seguin, Selman, Selover, Sergeant, Sharp, Shutes, Siegmann, Siero, Spielmann, Spinhoven, Stearns, Steifer, Steiner, Stewart, Stuart, Szapiro, Tarrasch, Thomas, Tozer, Tuckerman, Verlinsky, Viana, Wainwright, Walker, Wamsley, Watts, Whitaker, Williams, Winkelman, Wolfe, Wolff, Wolfson, Zabinskij, Znosko Borovsky, Chajes, Coleman, Desler, Eliskases, Eliott, Euwe, Flohr, Gemzoe, Janowski, Keres, Kluxen, Lasker, Lilienthal, Llorens, Muffang, Portela, Reshevsky, Riumin, Rubinstein, Sämisch, Tolush, Tuka, Van Groningen, Vasiliev, Weiss.

Should all of these players who were not world champions or world #1s also be said to be "best in the world" because they beat Capablanca?

Khan, by the way, also lost to Vera Menchik (who never beat Capablanca over many tries) when Menchik even had the Black pieces.

Khan, in his short career, also lost to: Alekhine, Colin, Flohr, Gilfer, Maroczy, Przepiorka, Ruben, Rubenstein, Steiner, Bogoljubow, Colle, Euwe, Jackson, Michell, Mikenas, Nimzowitsch, Pirc, Ståhlberg, Tartakower, Thomas, Vidmar, Winter and Yates.

Not all of those players are household names either.

According to Chessgames.com, Khan had an overall record of 60.4%.

Players who had/have a BETTER overall record than Khan (selection):

Morphy, Lasker, Rubinstein, Keres, Capablanca, Alekhine, Euwe, Schlechter, Botvinnik, Smyslov, Adams, Anand, Korchnoi, Blackburne, Bogoljubow, Bronstein, Fine, Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Larsen, Miles, Najdorf, Nakamura, Nimzowitsch, Nunn, Paulsen, Petrosjan, Pillsbury, Shirov, Spassky, Staunton, Steinitz, Tal, Tarrasch.

According to Wiki, the highest Khan got was #6 in the world. He had a peak 5-year rating of ELO 2530. Chessmetrics gives him a highest rating of 2699, well below many other players. Khan doesn't even make it onto any of the Top 100 lists for peak ratings for 1 year, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years.

He was never world #1 and he didn't play for the World Championship.

From all of the above, it becomes clear that Khan is NOT the "best player ever".

You don't even have to be literate to be good at chess (though admittedly it doesn't hurt). Considering his background, though, his achievements are still VERY impressive.

Of course you're gonna claim he's the best, though, because he's from (what is now) Pakistan (and additionally he's Muslim ;-)

Cheers to the illiterate genius.

Definitely the best player.

What ever Mir Sultan Khans place in history, and personally I think he ranks with the best. He was a true genius of the game of kings and should be more widely known and studied. Thanks for bringing his name and talent to the fore again.

ooh well but so prolonged  game .

he really done a lot at that time.

Well frankly speaking we can never agree on best of the best in any sports let alone chess but this is one amazing game if we have the knowledge that the player who defeated Capa here is unable to read advance theories / concept of chess as he couldn't read english. But still being able to play such a game, it speaks volumes for his sheer natural talent. Check the You Tube video for details.

The following comments describe the whole thing in different words. Thanks madpawn

by madpawn - 7 days ago
London England

I'm not convinced.

The question is the same for boxing, cyciling etc. Fisher was best in his time. Kasparov was best in his time. How could someone hold a record like G. Kasparov and not be the best. Someone else will come along and top that. But it wont be Kramnik, sorry Vlad. So Anand is going to be next?  Opinions dont make us right. Just brings out opinions. So who has the best winning %, who has most wins, who has longest at # 1 etc. It still is opinions. 

I have seen that game (one of his few rare games that were recorded). Raza made me look at it.

He seems to be really good.

Not even close to the best player ever. That was a pretty boring game.

Kasparov, Fischer, Karpov etc. would have ate him for lunch..

Now this is the game of natural talent vs natural talent.Capablanca is himself being called as the most talented champion of all time in the history of chess and somebody with even less knowledge of (atleast the European Style) chess defeats him.

I don't seem to so understand what their move for....

For defence ? for attack?

I just don't understand for certain part...

Does anyone truly understand what a momentous achievement it was to defeat the great Capa in such an emphatic fashion - despite having no idea about the developments in chess theory from Steinitz onwards?

Garry Kasparov was d Best player ever.

Best player ever?

No.

wow. thx for the article. gonna check wikipedia for more info.