José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942)
Capablanca learned chess at age 4 by watching his father playing a friend. Capablanca told his father at one point that he had seen him move a chess piece wrong. To prove to his father that he knew how to play chess, young José played his father and beat him twice!
The Cuban Capablanca studied in the United States, and then entered the Cuban Foreign Office. He spent a great deal of spare time at the Manhattan Chess Club, where he played hundreds of friendly games against leading players. There he also played games against Lasker, the then world champion. A mutual admiration later developed between Lasker and Capablanca. Meanwhile, Capablanca’s skills progressed. An interesting thing though, is that Capablanca was a natural. During his later years, the study of chess openings was becoming of greater consequence in the chess world, but it is well known that is was not Capablanca’s practice. Sometimes he attended tournaments when out of practice, but he was very much the non-studious chess type. Though one can imagine how he may have faired or not against the likes of Fischer, Karpov, or Kasparov, the fact of his outstanding yet unmatched career (see later below) gives room for thought.
He traveled abroad and in 1909 he amazed the chess world by decisively winning a match against F. J. Marshall. Eventually in 1921 Capablanca won the world championship title from Lasker without loosing a game during the match (no small feat considering Lasker’s immense stature). He reined world chess champion from 1921-1927. A young and immaculately dressed Capablanca, his reputation skyrocketed. His passport describes him as 5 ft. 8 in., of dark complexion, blue-eyed, clean-shaven, with black hair. He has been described as having a natural reserve, a sense of honor and duty, and as both courteous and charming. Although he was admired abroad, Capablanca reputedly had no close friends among other chess players whom he seemed to distance himself. Unlike Lasker or Alekhine might have done, he would often depart after games without stopping to talk to other players. When not playing chess, he preferred reading, tennis, bridge, or the life of a playboy. Some have said that he expressed candor and honesty in his autobiography which was taken for conceit. Who knows?
Capablanca was also gifted with the ability to play simultaneous chess (playing multiple games at the same time). From October 1913 to March 1914, he went to London, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Riga, Leningrad, Moscow, Kiev, and Vienna. In these and other cities he played simultaneous chess before record breaking crowds of spectators, and he played twenty-four games against some of the greatest masters of Europe such as Alekhine, Bernstein, Bogoljubow, Bohatirchuk, Levenfish, Duz Hotimirsky, Mieses, Nimzowitsch, Reti, Salwe, and Tartakower. His score was 19+ 1- 4= . Amazing! Never before had there been such an event, and there very well may never be again.
In 1925 during the Great Moscow Tournament, two interesting events occurred. In a simultaneous exhibition, Capablanca won every game except he drew against a bespectacled 12 year old boy. The boy was Mikhail Botvinnik. Botvinnik beat Capablanca at AVRO 13 years later, and eventually became World Champion. At one point during the tournament, Capablanca's beautiful wife entered the tournament hall and he was apparently so enamored that he left his knight en prise. He lost the knight and the game.
A complete list of Capablanca’s simultaneous displays does not seem to exist. What about before he was well known? Regardless, the recorded scores from his simultaneous games make a total of 13,545 games, with a score of 11,912 wins, 570 losses, and 1,063 draws, or 92%! In even more serious chess, his total score for tournaments, team matches, and individual matches, from October 1906 until his death (some count as from 1909 to 1939) is 318+ 34- 249=. He holds a ratio of losses at 5.7% being defined as "the best achievement by any master in the history of chess" The Unknown Capablanca, by David Hooper and Dale Brandreth. The Oxford Companion To Chess, by David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld remarks "No other master sustained so few losses."
In 1927 the non-studying chess genius, Capablanca, lost his world championship title to the studious chess genius Alekhine. With 25 draws, Alekhine won 6-4. It is the longest world championship match in the history of chess.
Unfortunately, in those days the world champion had a say-so about who he would play for the title. Although Capablanca was the challenger to the world championship, Alekhine refused to accept his challenge and instead played Bogoljubov and Euwe for the title.
About Capablanca’s style. There are many chess masters who can be studied and there is much to learn. Capablanca seems especially suited for a wide audience of chess players, including those new to the game. With all the differing styles and schools of chess thought, Capablanca appears as a nice balance. Raymond Keene remarked “Capablanca’s hallmark was his liking for clear, simple positions.” His style was direct, placing things under control and steering his way through complications to bring about clear positions, retaining that which could be used to maintain advantages or lead to advantages. He had unrivaled endgame skill, and legendary rapid judgment, and he was able to give thorough analysis’s of positions.
Capablanca did not lose a single game from 1916 to 1924 and he didn’t even have a chess set at home. He suffered from high blood pressure. Halfway through the great ARVO tournament in 1938 he suffered a slight stroke. In 1942, he died of a stroke in New York. General Batista, President of Cuba, took personal charge of the funeral arrangements.
