Chess Writing GOATs: José Raúl Capablanca
Poor Capablanca! Thou wert a brilliant technician, but no philosopher. Thou wert not capable of believing that in chess, another style could be victorious than the absolutely correct one. - Max Euwe Chess quotes by and about Capablanca
This is my take on the greatest chess authors of all time...and some who didn't quite check the box. Today I present the third in this new series, presented one at a time and in alphabetical order...mostly...unless I add someone midway through or just felt like mixing things up.
The Author - José Raúl Capablanca
So, who are the chess writing GOATs? Who didn't quite make the cut, but certainly merited consideration? Do you have an opinion? What about those who wrote prolifically, but not necessarily great stuff? Or perhaps their subject matter just didn't appeal to me or thee, or at least to peers of mine when I was a rising teen.
Hey, it's no problem if you haven't considered the issue! I'm more than willing to fill that particular void in your thoughts with my own opinions!! An opinion informed by decades of chess and a (diminished) chess library that takes up multiple shelves in my library. And if you don't fully agree with my opinions (though I can hardly imagine such a contumacious state of mind) then chess.com generously provided a comments section so you can express your agreements, disagreements, quibbles, corrections, expansions, nominations, and questions. Some of which I will respond to!
Heads up! Some of these authors are NOT the nicest or most ethical people. Over the course of this series, you'll encounter a multiple plagiarizer and at least one famous player who altered history to present brilliant analytic lines as though they were played in the game. Furthermore, it cannot be known which ancient authors made up games out of whole cloth. They certainly didn't adhere to modern considerations about plagiarism, as those notions didn't have much if any moral traction at the time those individuals wrote.
The Author - José Raúl Capablanca
José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban master, the third World CC, and notable chess author. He defeated Lasker in 1921 to claim the title, then lost it in 1927 to Alekhine despite entering the match as a heavy favorite.
Capablanca placed first in many world-class tournaments including San Sebastián 1911, St. Petersburg 1914, London 1922, and New York 1927. ChessMetrics estimates his highest rating at 2877 in May 1921 and placed him at #1 globally for 85 different months.
I will not be providing a list of all the works written by most of the authors. Some of them penned nigh on a hundred books, and I find myself disinclined to fit that many images together in a single page, or to bore the casual reader with a bulleted list.
Why is he a chess author GOAT? Well, let's start with his the 100 Best Chess Books of All Time (Updated for 2025). At #19 we find Chess Fundamentals. Fairly elite company! Second, Botvinnik considered Capa’s Chess Fundamentals to be the best chess book ever. Third, it was one of the first chess books I ever owned and made an indelible impression on my young chess soul. Unlike authors such as Alekhine who presented detailed analysis, Capablanca focused on what he deemed the critical moments in the game. Sufficient rationale to place him in the pantheon, imo.
Capablanca's A Primer of Chess provided an introduction to the game for beginners, but I never encountered that one. He also provided perhaps the most insightful accounting of the Capablanca – Lasker World CC match. It excelled because it relied on the new world champion’s analyses of every game.
That's a wrap!! I'm intending to keep these relatively short. Hope you enjoyed it! If you'd like to read more about Capablanca, I've provided a few links below. Well, more than a "few" if you're going to be pedantic about my not infrequent abuses of the King's English (not the opening, the language).
It's an alphabetic list...who do you think will be next? Another GOAT? Or someone who didn't quite fit onto my list of the greatest?
Care for a journey down memory lane? Just pick your path! The whole purpose of this section is to address some obvious questions that might pop into your head. How come Kevin didn't talk about this? Or that? Not to mention the other thing! Well, just call me lazy! Or you could appreciate the fact I'm limiting the word count that is imposed on you😏.
Nonetheless, in the series I'll be using this little section to provide links to more fulsome discussions that revolve around some well-known and lesser-known facets of the featured chess giant. That might range from videos to links to other chess.com articles and blogs, usually by Top Bloggers. Enjoy or skip, it's your call, as always.
- GM @BryanSmith Alekhine vs Capablanca | World Chess Championship 1927 Bryan brings home the reasons and the games that wrested the crown from Capablanca.
- GM @Julio_Becerra opens his post, A Passage in Capablanca's Life, in San Sebastian, 1911, Capa's coming out party, if you will, and a period of invincibility that ended in 1924 with a loss to Reti, playing a hypermodern opening.
- GM @Julio_Becerra The Best of All Time (Part 1) offers some standard biographical data, but is focused on puzzles.
- GM @DanielNaroditsky delves deeply into Capa's positional supremacy in José Raúl Capablanca's Greatest Positional Wins.
- GM @Gserper presents two lesser-known games, Have You Seen These 2 Amazing Capablanca Games? The first one it may have been " the worst game Capablanca ever played!" (Then again, it was in a simul.) In the second game, against the same player though seven years later, Capa blunders a pawn early, but then demonstrates how impeccable technique can defeat a "mere" master of the game.
- IM @MatBobula, a truly personable guy and insightful coach, discusses Capablanca's Beautiful Endgame Technique with a puzzle and a link to a video by Mat.
- Top Blogger @kahns A Century of Chess: José Raúl Capablanca (from 1910-19) offers some interesting images of Capa that I had not seen before, particularly the image from 1909, dapper and with a suitcase in hand, ready to travel.
- Top Blogger and chess.com Staff @NathanielGreen covers the 1921 match between Lasker and Capa that reordered the throne room. There are some tidbits I found quite amusing, such as a weather report for the first day of the match. 100 Years Ago Today: Capablanca Vs Lasker 1921!
- In terse sentences, and an occasional paragraph, @billwall chronologically lists every notable moment in Capa's life. Capablanca. No images, no Table of Contents, but it's a way to quickly scan for "things that happened"...if you're so inclined.
- Articles about José Raúl Capablanca by Edward Winter
- The Best Chess Games of Jose Raul Capablanca - Chess.com
- Jose Raul Capablanca | Top Chess Players - Chess.com
- 100 Best Chess Books of All Time (Updated for 2025)
- The 20 Chess Books That Helped Me To Become a Grandmaster | Rafael Leitão
- The Very Best Chess Books (list by Edward Winter)
- The Best Chess Books Ever - Chess.com IM Jeremy Silman
- Five chess books that have helped me become a Grandmaster - Chess.com Ginger_GM
- 40 Best Chess Books [Your Ultimate Guide to Chess Mastery]
- 25 Books Guaranteed to Improve Your Chess - Chess.com NM Sam Copeland
- Chess Writing GOATs: Alexander Alekhine
- Chess Writing GOATs: David Bronstein
SOURCES:
Data on the authors was compiled from sources in Wikipedia, my chess library, chess.com, chessable.com, Chess Notes by Edward Winter, archived news articles, individual's websites, FIDE, and my faulty memories. Any and all errors should be deemed the fault of gremlins in the system or glitches in the matrix.
