Jose Capablanca - History part 1a (1 of Top 3 Chess Players of all Time?)

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 – March 8, 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. He is often referred to as a candidate for the greatest chess player of all time.

Childhood                                         

Referred to by many chess historians as the Mozart of chess, Capablanca was a chess prodigy whose brilliance was noted at an early age. Richard Réti said about him "Chess was his mother tongue".

According to Capablanca, he learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play. He said he noticed his father make an illegal move with his knight, accused him of cheating, and then demonstrated what he had done. Capablanca was taken to the Havana Chess Club when he was four. He was given queen odds and defeated a leading player, but his level of play was astonishing for a four year old, even given the queen odds.[1] In December 1901, just turned 13, he defeated the leading Cuban player, Juan Corzo, by the score of four wins, three losses, and six draws. But later in April 1902 he only came fourth in the National Championship. Capablanca later began a semester as an undergraduate student of chemical engineering at Columbia University in New York City, but did not complete it, and chess became his profession.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Ra%C3%BAl_Capablanca