The Life of José Capablanca
Chess is a very logical game and it is the man who can reason most logically and profoundly in it that ought to win.
— José Raúl Capablanca
At the start of the roaring 1920’s, Emanuel Lasker was the world champion. He was a seemingly “undefeatable” player, holding the title for twenty-seven long years! However, a brilliant prodigy from Cuba, would rise to dethrone him of his title, and end his long reign.
This blog tells the story of José Raul Capablanca, the third world chess champion. He wasn’t any ordinary player. After having an eight-year tournament winning streak, one of the longest in history, he did not even think chess was complicated enough, so he made his own variant. We will be looking at his chess style, his achievements, and his life.
Enjoy!
World Chess Champion from 1920 to 1927
- His Beginnings
- Life As World Champion
- Personal Life
- Capablanca's Chess Style
- Capablanca Chess
- Legacy
- Conclusion
Left: Capablanca as a kid with his Father | Right: A street in Havana Cuba
An hour's history of two minds is well told in a game of chess.
— José Raúl Capablanca
Jose Raul Capablanca was born on November 19, 1888, in Havana, Cuba. Capablanca learned how to play chess at an early age, learning the rules by just watching his father and his friend play each other. After pointing out an illegal move, he played against his father and ended up winning.
Four years later, he joined the Havana Chess Club, which will present Capablanca with many opportunities to play many notable tournaments. Unfortunately, he did not get to play in any of them, because his doctor told his parents that he shouldn’t play chess often. This did not stop him from improving at chess, and by the time he was 13, he won against the Cuban chess campion, Juan Corzo.
In 1905, Capablanca went to Columbia University to study Chemical Engineering, and to join their baseball team, becoming their shortstop. He also joined the Manhattan Chess Club, became their strongest player, and represented Columbia in chess. He ended up leaving his university in 1908 to focus on chess.
The Beginning Of Many Matches
In 1909, Capablanca went on a tour to play many simultaneous exhibitions, winning an incredibly high number of games. In all of 602 games, he won around 578, which was 96%, much more than other masters like Frank Marshall (86%) or Geza Maroczy (88%). He earned a reputation for being a very strong player, and was sponsored a match against the US champion, Frank Marshall.
Capablanca won 15-8 against Marshall and became the world’s third best chess player. But that won’t be enough for Capablanca. He played in more tournaments, winning first place in the 1910 New York State Championship, and won second place in the 1911 one. In the same year, Capablanca was invited to the tournament in San Sebastian Spain, where the strongest players in the world compete.
He brilliantly won first place, ahead of some of the best chess players of that time, such as Aron Nimzowitsch, Frank Marshall, Carl Schlecter, and Siegbert Tarrasch. He was now ready to challenge the world champion, Emanuel Lasker.
Except it wasn’t time yet. He challenged Lasker in 1911, but Capablanca didn’t agree to the conditions of the match, so it didn’t happen. He continued to play more tournaments, and got hired at the Cuban Foreign Office, which means he will be funded to continue his chess career. The office wanted to make Capablanca a person who can represent Cuba and "Put it on the map" wherever he plays as Cuba was not a well-known nation.
His job was to go play in important chess events, which is what he does well. He played exhibitions in Berlin, Paris, and London, played a tournament in St Petersburg, won matches against Jacques Mieses, Richard Teichmann, and in the tournament, won against Alexander Alekhine, the man who much later will take his title.
He finally played Lasker in the St Petersburg tournament of 1914. Even though Capablanca made a strong start, he lost his second game, and was placed second, half a point before Lasker. Sadly, Capablanca won’t have another chance for a while to play Lasker, because of World War One. This terrible war stopped international tournaments for almost five years. During that time, Capablanca continued to play tournaments in New York City until the end of the war.
After the war ended, Capablanca and Lasker agreed to play a world champion match next year in 1921. But because Lasker didn’t want to wait another year to defend his title and wanted to retire from competitive chess. On June 27, 1920, Lasker gave his title to Capablanca ending 27 years of Lasker holding the title. Jose Capablanca officially became the World Chess Champion.
Capablanca playing against Lasker | Credit to ChessBase.com for the picture above
When you sit down to play a game you should think only about the position, but not about the opponent. Whether chess is regarded as a science, or an art, or a sport, all the same psychology bears no relation to it and only stands in the way of real chess.
— José Raúl Capablanca
Although Capablanca had the title, chess players started fundraising $20,000 for a match for him to play Lasker, who agreed to play in August, in Havana but not for the title. The match was simple; the first player to win six games wins the match.
Notes by Capablanca
Lasker ended up resigning the whole match after 14 games. Capablanca won four games, and drew ten, not even losing a single game. Capablanca’s solid style made so many draws, and Lasker put up a good fight until he blundered a game and eventually lost three other games.
Players speculated why Lasker lost the match, for reasons like depression from the war, or Cuba’s hot weather, but Lasker’s biggest disadvantage was his lack of prep. Because he didn’t have much time to prepare, but he badly needed the money, Lasker played without studying Capablanca’s games or openings.
Note: USD $10,000 back in 1922 adjusted for inflation is around $280,000 today
Capablanca continued to play tournaments and exhibitions, winning the 1922 London tournament without losing a single game. He also made up the “London Rules” which dictate how world championship matches would be played. Many of the top players signed them. Three of them wanted to challenge the world champion, Aron Nimzowitsch, Akiba Rubinstein, and Alexander Alekhine.
Later that year, Capablanca had an exhibition in Cleveland with a record-breaking 103 opponents, with him winning 100%, winning 102, and drawing one. He finally lost a tournament, in eight years, by losing against Richard Reti in the 1924 New York Tournament and had another bad tournament in Moscow, in 1925, being placed third.
Losing the Title
In 1927, someone out of the three finally got the funds for a world championship. Alexander Alekhine, funded by Argentinian businessmen, challenged Capablanca for the title. The match takes place in September of 1927, in Buenos Ares, Argentina.
Three example games, out of 34
After Capablanca crushed everyone at the 1927 New York Tournament, people thought that Alekhine didn’t have a chance to beat the world champion. Capablanca never even lost a game against Alekhine! However, the match surprised everyone.
Unlike Capablanca, or Lasker, Alekhine studied Capablanca’s games, to exploit weaknesses, and to study his style, and how to use it against him. He won, with six wins, three losses, and 25 draws. After six years, Jose Capablanca lost the world championship title.
Capablanca wanted a rematch, but they couldn’t agree on the terms of the match. Their relationship became very bitter. The Great Depression started by the time they could agree on the terms, so they couldn’t raise the money.
He played more tournaments. He won six tournaments, and won a match against future world champion, Max Euwe. For a few years, he retired from serious chess. After coming out of retirement, he played a few more serious tournaments and won a gold medal representing Cuba in the Chess Olympiad. During these tournaments, Capablanca had trouble concentrating, due to his high blood pressure, which will soon be a major problem for him.
Capablanca challenged Alekhine one final time but World War Two started, and international chess came to another stop.
Chess is more than a game or a mental training. It is a distinct attainment. I have always regarded the playing of chess and the accomplishment of a good game as an art, and something to be admired no less than an artist's canvas or the product of a sculptor's chisel. Chess is a mental diversion rather than a game. It is both artistic and scientific.
— José Raúl Capablanca
Throughout his life, Capablanca had two marriages. In 1921, he married his first wife, Gloria Betancourt, and had two children together. However, his marriage was an uneasy one and led to divorce. He remarried in 1938, to Olga Clark. According to Clark, he lost motivation to play competitive chess after losing the title, but thanks to his marriage, he gained motivation and continued to compete.
He published two books. His first one was an autobiography, titled, “My Chess Career”. There was some criticism from jealous British men that he only wrote about his “exaggerated” accomplishments, and including only games he won. To the surprise of his critics or haters, he published another book, “Chess Fundamentals”, which included all his tournaments he played, winning or losing.
Reader may therefore go over the contents of the book with the assurance that there is in it everything he needs. Conceit I consider a foolish thing, but more foolish still is the false modesty that vainly attempts to conceal which all facts tend to prove.
— Preface to Chess Fundamentals
The two other books he published, are “A Primer of Chess”, a fundamental’s book for beginners and “Last Lectures”, which are twelve lectures on more fundamentals in the game.
Capablanca was not only interested in chess. He said that he used to be more interested in baseball than chess, and that its “not a difficult game to learn, and it is an enjoyable game to play.” He also wished that he could do something in life other than chess, like having a career in music or medicine.
Around the end of his life, World War Two erupted, and Capablanca, along with everyone else, stopped playing competitive chess, with many players serving their country in the war.
Left: Mount Sinai Hospital | Right: Capablanca's Gravesite in Havana, Cuba
Sadly, he never saw the war end. Capablanca continued to struggle with fatal blood pressure, and on 8 March 1942, Capablanca passed away in New York City due to a stroke. He died at the Mt Sinai Hospital; the same hospital Lasker died a year before. Only a day before his death, his doctor told him to relax because it is a matter of life or death, because of his blood pressure. But because of his family problems, he couldn’t.
Every year at the city he was buried, Havana, the Capablanca Memorial Tournament been hosted since 1962.
Most players ... do not like losing, and consider defeat as something shameful. This is a wrong attitude. Those who wish to perfect themselves must regard their losses as lessons and learn from them what sorts of things to avoid in the future.
— José Raúl Capablanca
Capablanca was nicknamed the Chess Machine, for good reason. He was known for being a master of endgames and simple positions. A positional player, Capablanca, is an excellent defender, defending against well-known aggressive players like Frank Marshall or David Janowski. However, in complicated positions, he did not perform so well…
In this section, we will see the brilliance of Capablanca’s skill, how he won games, and his lesser-known weaknesses.
Capablanca's Positional Play
Capablanca is a positional player. He defends positions and slowly takes over space.
Here we see a game between Capablanca and Frank Marshall, a player known for his aggressive tactics. He opens with the queen’s gambit and quickly tries to expand. But Capablanca holds his ground, and when Marshall makes a mistake on move twenty-four, Capablanca takes advantage, and closes his pieces on Marshall’s kingside, with Marshall resigning at the end.
In this second game, we see Capablanca playing against Vera Menchik. This is a splendid example of Capablanca’s positional play, as he takes up space on both sides. As the sides close in the middle, Capablanca makes a brilliant sacrifice with his knight. Menchik knows that if she takes, then Capablanca can gain more space on the kingside, so she doesn’t accept the sacrifice.
Then a few moves later, Capablanca brilliantly again sacrifices his bishop, and Menchik resigns.
Capablanca's Endgame Brilliance
Credit to this article, on Game Six.
Capablanca was nicknamed the “Human Chess Machine” for his impressive endgame abilities. He could turn a small advantage at the end of the game, to a big one, move by move.
Even at the start, this is an exciting game. Capablanca prepares to a queenside attack, however, Lasker trades most of his pieces, and we are left with a long endgame, and a quick middlegame…
However, this is not just any boring endgame. Capablanca brilliantly sacrifices the rook, on move 44. However, Lasker does not take, and for 20 moves, Capablanca maneuvers his pieces around the board. Finally, after creating a passed pawn, Lasker knew he was losing badly, and resigned the game.
More Here!
If you like seeing Capablanca's games, or you like to study his style, I recommend watching these videos from Agadmator's Chess Channel.
I played many test games with Capablanca, and they rarely lasted more than twenty or twenty-five moves. We tried boards of 10×10 squares and 10×8 squares, and we concluded that the latter was preferable because hand-to-hand fights start earlier on it.
— Emanuel Lasker
In the 1920’s, Capablanca noticed that chess could be too simple. He thought that in the near future, chess would be a solved game. In the future, top players would always play to a draw, because both players could use a strategy that could guarantee a win, but because both players are using it, it will just result in a draw.
A hundred years later, we know that is quite the opposite.
Capablanca invented a more complex form of chess. He invented two different kinds of pieces and made the board bigger.
Left: Chancellor | Right: Archbishop
His two pieces are the archbishop, and chancellor. The archbishop plays the same moves as a knight and a bishop, and the chancellor plays the same moves as a knight and a rook. There was usually one of each on each side, between the rook and the knight.
Capablanca also experimented with different sizes of boards, but what he used the most is the 8x10 or 10x10 board.
10x8 Board Style.
He did not entirely invent a new variant. Even earlier back in the 1600s, Pietro Carrera wrote a book showcasing the idea of this variant. Later on in 1874, Henry Bird also thought of a variant similar to Capablanca Chess. There were many future variants of Capablanca Chess, most notably, Gothic Chess, where you can even play on this site here.
Capablanca was snatched from the chess world much too soon. With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we shall never see again.
— Alexander Alekhine, The Fourth World Chess Champion
I have known many chess players, but only one chess genius, Capablanca.
— Emanuel Lasker, The Second World Chess Champion
Capablanca had a lasting impact on the chess world. People consider him to be in the top five best chess players of all time. He had an influence on many Chess Champions and Masters, and his style of play influenced the modern chess we play today. He played many exciting games and is one of the most studied chess players today. He clearly impacted the chess world for the better…
Thanks for reading! After finally one year, I got back into blogging. This was six months in the making! I wrote my draft for this blog back in June. After finding the draft, it motivated me to finally get back into blogging. I’m trying to improve my formatting and game analysis, which takes time.
I will definitely be making more blogs in the near future, as I already am working on another blog by the time this is published.
Comment your thoughts on this blog, and I will see you soon. I hope you enjoyed this blog. : D
