Capablanca's Surprise

This is an interesting game played in Moscow between Ukranian Grandmaster Ossip Bernstein (1882-1962) and Cuban chess legend Jose Raoul Capablanca (1888-1942). The heat of the fight suddenly concentrates around Black's far advanced c-Pawn; on move 26 White attacks the c-Pawn three times while it is defended twice. As far as simple math is concerned, the Pawn is doomed. But more than math is involved here, and White owes to himself to check the position for hidden possibilities.

White decides to capture the Pawn not only because math is in his favor, but also because he has prepared an extremely subtle trap for Black. Unfortunately for White, his opponent's trap is the better of the two. Capablanca is not called "invincible" for nothing.