Capablanca should have the title for more than 20 years
Sort:
Back to Capablanca... I wonder what would happen if he'd survived past Alekhine's death. Would he demand the title be given back to him or, at least, grant him a World Championship match/right to take part in the World Championship Match Tournament?
RetGuvvie98 wrote:
Logically, after Alekhine died, he should have had some claim to at least his half of a new match for championship, as the last preceeding champion.
After Alekhine's death it was Euwe who was the most recent preceeding champion ..... Euwe should have played a match with someone to fill the vacant throne , a challenger should have been determined to decide who would play Euwe but instead they held a tournament.... Botvinnik's influence at work.
Easy mistake to make Ret as Euwe is often forgotten, he had the title briefly and soundly lost the rematch to Alekhine.
Still, Capablanca in his sixties against the new generation of Soviet and European masters such as Bronstein, Szabo or Gligoric... that would have been an interesting sight. Bogoljubow and Tartakower did have some success in the post-war tournaments, and Capablanca was far stronger than they both.
Jan 28, 2009
0
#49
Reb wrote:
Easy mistake to make Ret as Euwe is often forgotten, he had the title briefly and soundly lost the rematch to Alekhine.
True,i think he is forgotten from many people as he had the titled for only one year..In contrast with Tal (who had also the title for one year) but he is remarkable from everyone!! (ok,he is also and more recent.. )
Jan 28, 2009
0
#50
Interesting statistics of who was the best player can be found at Chessmetrics. Here is a list of top players by year (I picked January of each year).
1910: Lasker, Rubinstein, Capablanca
1911: Lasker, Rubinstein, Schlechter, Capablanca
1912: Lasker, Rubinstein, Schlechter, Capablanca
1913: Rubinstein, Lasker, Nimzovich (Capa was listed at number 9)
1914: Rubinstein, Capablanca, Marshall, Alekhine
1915: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine
1916: Capablanca, Lasker, Alekhine
1917: Lasker, Capablanca
1918: Lasker, Capablanca
1919: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine
1920: Capablanca, Lasker, Alekhine
1921: Capablanca, Rubinstein
1922: Capablanca, Alekhine
1923: Capablanca, Alekhine
1924: Alekhine, Capablanca, Lasker
1925: Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine
1926: Lasker, Alekhine, Bogoljubow, Capablanca
1927: Bogoljubow, Lasker, Alekhine, Capablanca
1928: Alekhine, Capablanca
1929: Capablanca, Alekhine
1930: Alekhine, Capablanca
1931: Alekhine, Capablanca
1932: Alekhine, Capablanca
1933: Alekhine, Kashdan, Capablanca
1934: Alekhine, Kashdnad (Capablanca was # 7)
1935: Alekhine, Euwe (Capa was #18)
1936: Euwe, Alekhine (Capa was #8)
1937: Botvinnik, Capablanca, Euwe, Alekhine
1938: Alekhine, Euwe, Botvinnik, Capablanca
1939: Botvinnik, Fine, Alekhine (Capa was #6)
1940: Botvinnik, Fine, Alekhine (Capa was #8)
1941: Fine, Botvinnik, Reshevsky, Keres, Alekhine (Capa was # 11)
So in this list, Capablanca was only ranked number 1 in the world in 6 of the years from 1910 to 1941 (1916, 1920-1923, 1929). In the same period, Lasker and Alekhine were ranked number one in the world in 9 of the years between 1910 and 1941.
aristeidis9 wrote:
Spektrowski wrote:
Funny how the topic migrated from Capablanca to Fischer :)
But the chess "alternate realities" are really a very interesting field to explore.
I was thinking the same now!Fischer took over Capablanca,but every fact about these players is interesting so no problem!
It could be argued that Fischer was what Capablanca could have been.
Interesting about Euwe, though. He was world champ, but it seems his playing career was only a slight diversion from the Alekhine-Capablanca-FIDE battle. His biggest contribution to chess may have been through FIDE as its president
Euwe was a chess amateur, never taking up chess as his main profession. He was a math teacher and then a professor.
Jan 28, 2009
0
#54
RetGuvvie98 wrote:
Nice chart bill, if I counted right, Capa was in the top 4 for 24 of those years from 1910 through 1941. 18 of those years, he was either number 1 or number 2 in the world.
A case could easily be made that no one else performed for so long at such a high level since 1910.
I think Kasparov was in the top 4 from 1985-2005. You can probably stretch it to 1984 or maybe a tiny bit earlier, and maybe a bit on the back end as well.
Smyslov is an opera singer and Taimanov is a piano player, but it wasn't their main occupation. Neither Smyslov nor Taimanov pursued serious musical career, though both occasionally gave performances.
I think there are several world champions that , imo, often are forgotten or dont receive their due, besides Euwe there is also Steinitz and Spassky that come to mind. Others ?
Jan 28, 2009
0
#58
Well my impression is that Euwe kind of got lucky to win his title. That's probably why he's underrated. I don't know about Spassky, but I might have said Smyslov?
You are right, Smyslov doesnt get much attention either. I think Smyslov is reputed to be one of the best rook ending players ever though......along with Capablanca and Rubenstein....
Jan 28, 2009
0
#60
Spektrowski wrote:
Smyslov is an opera singer and Taimanov is a piano player, but it wasn't their main occupation. Neither Smyslov nor Taimanov pursued serious musical career, though both occasionally gave performances.
Botvinnik really was primarily an engineer, though, wasn't he?
Funny how the topic migrated from Capablanca to Fischer :)
But the chess "alternate realities" are really a very interesting field to explore.
I was thinking the same now!Fischer took over Capablanca,but every fact about these players is interesting so no problem!