José Raúl Capablanca

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play.

Capablanca was born in 1888 in the Castillo del Príncipe, Havana. He beat Cuban champion Juan Corzo in a match on 17 November 1901, two days before his 13th birthday. His victory over Frank Marshall in a 1909 match earned him an invitation to the 1911 San Sebastián tournament, which he won ahead of players such as Akiba Rubinstein, Aron Nimzowitsch and Siegbert Tarrasch. Over the next several years, Capablanca had a strong series of tournament results. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match with then world champion Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca finally won the world chess champion title from Lasker in 1921. Capablanca was undefeated from February 10, 1916, to March 21, 1924, a period that included the world championship match with Lasker.

Capablanca lost the title in 1927 to Alexander Alekhine, who had never beaten Capablanca before the match. Following unsuccessful attempts to arrange a rematch over many years, relations between them became bitter. Capablanca continued his excellent tournament results in this period but withdrew from serious chess in 1931. He made a comeback in 1934, with good results, but also showed symptoms of high blood pressure. He died in 1942 of a brain hemorrhage.

Capablanca excelled in simple positions and endgames; Bobby Fischer described him as possessing a "real light touch". He could play tactical chess when necessary, and had good defensive technique. He wrote several chess books during his career, of which Chess Fundamentals was regarded by Mikhail Botvinnik as the best chess book ever written. Capablanca preferred not to present detailed analysis but focused on critical moments in a game. His style of chess influenced the play of future world champions Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov.

Biography and career

Childhood

thumb|left|Capablanca playing chess with his father, José María Capablanca, in 1892

José Raúl Capablanca, the second surviving son of a Spanish army officer, José María Capablanca, and a Spanish woman from Catalonia, Matilde María Graupera y Marín, was born in Havana on 19 November 1888. According to Capablanca, he learned to play chess at the age of four by watching his father play with friends, pointed out an illegal move by his father, and then beat his father. At the age of eight he was taken to Havana Chess Club, which had hosted many important contests, but on the advice of a doctor he was not allowed to play frequently. Between November and December 1901, he narrowly beat the Cuban Chess Champion, Juan Corzo, in a match. However, in April 1902 he came in fourth out of six in the National Championship, losing both his games with Corzo. In 1908 he left the university to concentrate on chess.

According to Columbia University, Capablanca enrolled at Columbia's School of Mines, Engineering and Chemistry in September 1910, to study chemical engineering. Later, his financial support was withdrawn because he preferred playing chess to studying engineering. He left Columbia after one semester to devote himself to chess full-time.

Early adult career

thumb|Capablanca in 1915

Capablanca's skill in rapid chess lent itself to simultaneous exhibitions, and his increasing reputation in these events led to a US-wide tour in 1909. Playing 602 games in 27 cities, he scored 96.4%—a much higher percentage than, for example, Géza Maróczy's 88% and Frank Marshall's 86% in 1906. This performance gained him sponsorship for an exhibition match that year against Marshall, the US champion, who had won the 1904 Cambridge Springs tournament ahead of World Champion Emanuel Lasker and Dawid Janowski, and whom Chessmetrics ranks as one of the world's top three players at his peak. Capablanca beat Marshall, 15–8 (8 wins, 1 loss, 14 draws)—a margin comparable to what Lasker achieved against Marshall (8 wins, no losses, 7 draws) in winning his 1907 World Championship match. After the match, Capablanca said that he had never opened a book on chess openings. Following this match, Chessmetrics rates Capablanca the world's third strongest player for most of the period from 1909 through 1912.

Capablanca won six games and drew one in the 1910 New York State Championship. Both Capablanca and Charles Jaffe won their four games in the knock-out preliminaries and met in a match to decide the winner, who would be the first to win two games. The first game was drawn and Capablanca won the second and third games. After another grueling series of simultaneous exhibitions, Marshall, invited to play in a tournament at San Sebastián, Spain, in 1911, insisted that Capablanca also be allowed to play.

According to David Hooper and Ken Whyld, San Sebastián 1911 was "one of the strongest five tournaments held up to that time", as all the world's leading players competed except the World Champion, Lasker. Some European critics grumbled that Capablanca's style was rather cautious, though he conceded fewer draws than any of the next six finishers in the event. Capablanca was now recognized as a serious contender for the world championship.

left|thumb|First Match game between [[Alexander Alekhine|Alekhine and Capablanca on 14 December 1913 in an exhibition in St. Petersburg ]]

In 1913, Capablanca won a tournament in New York with 11/13, half a point ahead of Marshall. Capablanca then finished second to Marshall in Havana, scoring 10 out of 14 and losing one of their individual games. The 600 spectators naturally favored their native hero, but sportingly gave Marshall "thunderous applause". In a tournament in New York in 1913, at the Rice Chess Club, Capablanca won all 13 games. His first instructions were to go to Saint Petersburg, where he was due to play in a major tournament.

Alekhine commented:

<blockquote>His real, incomparable gifts first began to make themselves known at the time of St. Petersburg, 1914, when I too came to know him personally. Neither before nor afterwards have I seen—and I cannot imagine as well—such a flabbergasting quickness of chess comprehension as that possessed by the Capablanca of that epoch. Enough to say that he gave all the St. Petersburg masters the odds of 5–1 in quick games—and won! With all this he was always good-humoured, the darling of the ladies, and enjoyed wonderful good health—really a dazzling appearance. That he came second to Lasker must be entirely ascribed to his youthful levity—he was already playing as well as Lasker.</blockquote>

After the breakdown of his attempt to negotiate a title match in 1911, Capablanca drafted rules for the conduct of future challenges, which were agreed to by the other top players at the 1914 Saint Petersburg tournament, including Lasker, and approved at the Mannheim Congress later that year. The main points were: the champion must be prepared to defend his title once a year; the match should be won by the first player to win six or eight games, whichever the champion preferred; and the stake should be at least £1,000 (worth about £26,000 or $44,000 in 2013 terms). however, Edward Winter discovered several games between 1910 and 1918 where Marshall passed up opportunities to use the Marshall Attack against Capablanca; and an 1893 game that used a similar line. This gambit is so complex that Garry Kasparov used to avoid it, and Marshall had the advantage of using a . Nevertheless, Capablanca found a way through the complications and won. Capablanca was challenged to a match in 1919 by Borislav Kostić, who had come through the 1918 tournament undefeated to take second place. The match was to go to the first player to win eight games, but Kostić resigned the match after losing the first five. Capablanca considered that he was at his strongest around this time. Lasker then resigned the title to Capablanca on 27 June 1920, saying, "You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." When Cuban enthusiasts raised $20,000 to fund the match provided it was played in Havana, Lasker agreed in August 1920 to play there, but insisted that he was the challenger as Capablanca was now the champion. Capablanca signed an agreement that accepted this point, and soon afterwards published a letter confirming it. Fred Reinfeld mentioned speculations that Havana's humid climate weakened Lasker and that he was depressed about the outcome of World War I, especially as he had lost his life savings.

Edward Winter, after a lengthy summary of the facts, concludes, "The press was dismissive of Lasker's wish to confer the title on Capablanca, even questioning the legality of such an initiative, and in 1921 it regarded the Cuban as having become world champion by dint of defeating Lasker over the board."

thumb|left|upright|The score sheet of Capablanca's defeat by Richard Réti in the New York 1924 chess tournament, his first loss in eight years

Capablanca won the London tournament of 1922 with 13 points in 15 games with no losses, ahead of Alekhine with 11½, Milan Vidmar (11), and Akiba Rubinstein (10½).); 20% of the purse was to be paid to the title holder and the remainder divided, 60% to the winner of the match, and 40% to the loser; the highest purse bid must be accepted. Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubow, Géza Maróczy, Richard Réti, Rubinstein, Tartakower and Vidmar promptly signed them. Between 1921 and 1923 Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch all challenged Capablanca, but only Alekhine could raise the money, in 1927.

In 1922, Capablanca had also given a simultaneous exhibition in Cleveland against 103 opponents, the largest in history up to that time, winning 102 and drawing one—setting a record for the best winning percentage ever in a large simultaneous exhibition.

After beginning with four draws, followed by a loss, Since Nimzowitsch had challenged before Alekhine, Capablanca gave Nimzowitsch until 1 January 1927, to provide a deposit in order to arrange a match. When this did not materialize, a Capablanca–Alekhine match was agreed, to begin in September 1927.

In the New York 1927 chess tournament, held from 19 February to 23 March 1927, six of the world's strongest masters played a quadruple round-robin, with the others being Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Milan Vidmar, Nimzowitsch and Marshall, According to Capablanca's second wife, Olga, his first marriage broke down fairly soon, and he and Gloria had affairs. Both his parents died during his reign, his father in 1923 and mother in 1926. won the first brilliancy prize against Rudolf Spielmann, and won two games against Nimzowitsch.

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The only match played under those rules was Capablanca vs. Alekhine in 1927, although there has been speculation that the actual contract might have included a "two-game lead" clause. Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch had all challenged Capablanca in the early 1920s, but only Alekhine could raise the US $10,000 Capablanca demanded and only in 1927.

Losing the title

right|thumb|Alekhine vs. Capablanca

Since Capablanca had won the New York 1927 chess tournament overwhelmingly and had never lost a game to Alekhine, most pundits regarded the Cuban as the clear favorite in their World Chess Championship 1927 match. Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess world. and had thoroughly studied Capablanca's play. According to Kasparov, Alekhine's research uncovered many small inaccuracies, which occurred because Capablanca was unwilling to concentrate intensely. Vladimir Kramnik commented that this was the first contest in which Capablanca had no easy wins. The match became somewhat notorious for its extremely lopsided use of the Queen's Gambit Declined; all games after the first two used this opening, and Capablanca's defeat has been partially attributed to his unwillingness to attempt any other openings.

Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was willing to give Capablanca a rematch, on the same terms that Capablanca had required as champion—the challenger must provide a stake of US$10,000, of which more than half would go to the defending champion even if he was defeated. Alekhine had challenged Capablanca in the early 1920s, but Alekhine could not raise the money until 1927.

Post-championship and partial retirement

thumb|Giving a simultaneous display on thirty boards in Berlin, June 1929|left

After losing the World Championship in late 1927, Capablanca played more often in tournaments, hoping to strengthen his claim for a rematch. But by the early 1930s there were other players looking more likely to challenge Alekhine, including Salo Flohr, Max Euwe and Isaac Kashdan.

Despite these excellent results, Capablanca's play showed signs of decline: his play slowed from the speed of his youth, with occasional time trouble;

It is from this period that the only surviving voiced film footage survives. He is with Euwe and Dutch radio sports journalist Han Hollander. Hollander asks Capablanca for his views on the upcoming world Championship match between Euwe and Alekhine in October of that year (1935). Capablanca replies: "Dr. Alekhine's game is 20% bluff. Dr. Euwe's game is clear and straightforward. Dr. Euwe's game—not so strong as Alekhine's in some respects—is more evenly balanced." Then Euwe gives his assessment in Dutch.

Return to competitive chess

At first Capablanca did not divorce his first wife, as he had not intended to remarry. Olga, Capablanca's second wife, wrote that she met him in the late spring of 1934; by late October the pair were deeply in love, and Capablanca recovered his ambition to prove he was the world's best player.

Starting his comeback at the Hastings tournament of 1934–35, Capablanca finished fourth, although coming ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik and Andor Lilienthal. The following year, Capablanca won an even stronger tournament in Moscow, one point ahead of Botvinnik and 3½ ahead of Salo Flohr, who took third place; Alekhine placed sixth, only one point behind the joint winners. and the only ones in which Capablanca finished ahead of Lasker, now 67. During these triumphs Capablanca began to suffer symptoms of high blood pressure. He tied for second place at Semmering in 1937, then could only finish seventh of the eight players at the 1938 AVRO tournament,

Capablanca's high blood pressure was not correctly diagnosed and treated until after the AVRO tournament, and caused him to lose his train of thought towards the end of playing sessions.

After winning at Paris in 1938 and placing second in a slightly stronger tournament at Margate in 1939, Capablanca played for Cuba in the 8th Chess Olympiad, in Buenos Aires, and won the gold medal for the best performance on the . While Capablanca and Alekhine were both representing their countries in Buenos Aires, Capablanca made a final attempt to arrange a World Championship match. Alekhine declined, saying he was obliged to be available to defend his adopted homeland, France, as World War II had just broken out. Capablanca announced in advance that he would not play Alekhine if their teams met.

Death

thumb|right|Capablanca's grave at [[Colon Cemetery|Colón Cemetery]]

Not long before his death, his familial hypertension had shot up to the hazardous 200–240/160+. The day before his fatal stroke, his vascular specialist Dr. Schwarzer strongly advised him that his life was endangered unless he totally relaxed, but Capablanca said that he could not because his ex-wife and children had started court proceedings against him. The doctor blamed his death on "his troubles and aggravation".

On 7 March 1942, Capablanca was observing a game and chatting with friends at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York City, when he asked for help removing his coat, and collapsed shortly afterward. Eminent physician Eli Moschcowitz administered first aid and then arranged an ambulance. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at 6:00a.m. the next day. Emanuel Lasker had died in the same hospital only a year earlier. The cause of death was given as "a cerebral hemorrhage provoked by hypertension", in particular a hypertensive thalamic hemorrhage. The hospital admissions report stated:

<blockquote>When admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital, the examination showed: Patient critically ill in deep coma, unreceptive to nocioceptive stimuli, unequal pupils with the left one dilated (fixed and unresponsive to light), left facial palsy, left hemiplegia, globally depressed tendinous reflexes and arterial tension 280/140. A lumbar puncture was performed which showed hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with a pressure of 500 mm of water.</blockquote>

The full autopsy, by Drs. Moschcowitz, Prill, and Levin, showed that the right thalamus was almost totally destroyed, and in its place was a hematoma 2 inches wide and 2 inches high. The whole ventricular system and cisterna magna were flooded with blood. The gyri were flattened and sulci narrowed, consistent with years of extreme hypertension. He also had severe cardiomegaly or enlarged heart, in his case 575 g instead of the normal 300–350 g, including left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH): 3 cm [hypertrophy] of the left ventricle wall. This wall had a number of subendiocardial hemorrhages, which was later proved to be common in patients with severe intercranial hypertension. This caused the release of a large amount of vasoactive substances into the bloodstream, including acetylcholine and noradrenaline that caused these hemorrhages.

The lumbar puncture was a bad idea, as intracranial hypertension is now a well-known contraindication because it releases the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid counteracting the herniating force of the hypertension. But neurosurgeon Orlando Hernández-Meilán has said that it made no difference, as Capablanca could not have been revived even if the best modern medicine had been available.

An annual Capablanca Memorial tournament has been held in Cuba, most often in Havana, since 1962.

Assessment

Playing strength and style

As an adult, Capablanca lost only 34 serious games. In fact, only Marshall, Lasker, Alekhine and Rudolf Spielmann won two or more serious games from the mature Capablanca, though in each case, their overall lifetime scores were minus (Capablanca beat Marshall +20−2=28, Lasker +6−2=16, Alekhine +9−7=33), except for Spielmann who was level (+2−2=8). Of top players, only Keres had a narrow plus score against him (+1−0=5). Keres's win was at the AVRO 1938 chess tournament, during which tournament Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was 22.

Statistical ranking systems place Capablanca high among the greatest players of all time. Nathan Divinsky and Raymond Keene's book Warriors of the Mind (1989) ranks him fifth, behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Botvinnik—and immediately ahead of Emanuel Lasker. In his 1978 book The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present, Arpad Elo gave retrospective ratings to players based on their performance over the best five-year span of their career. He concluded that Capablanca was the strongest of those surveyed, with Lasker and Botvinnik sharing second place. Chessmetrics (2005) is rather sensitive to the length of the periods being compared, and ranks Capablanca between third and fourth strongest of all time for peak periods ranging in length from one to 15 years. Its author, the statistician Jeff Sonas, concluded that Capablanca had more years in the top three than anyone except Lasker, Karpov and Kasparov—though Alekhine had more years in the top two positions. A 2006 study found that Capablanca was the most accurate of all the World Champions when compared with computer analysis of World Championship match games. This analysis was criticized for using a second-rank chess program, Crafty, modified to limit its calculations to six moves by each side, and for favoring players whose style matched that of the program; however a 2011 computer analysis by Bratko and Guid using the stronger engines Rybka 2 and Rybka 3 found similar results to the 2006 Crafty analysis for Capablanca.

Boris Spassky, World Champion from 1969 to 1972, considered Capablanca the best player of all time. Bobby Fischer, who held the title from 1972 to 1975, admired Capablanca's "light touch" and ability to see the right move very quickly. Fischer reported that in the 1950s, older members of the Manhattan Chess Club spoke of Capablanca's performances with awe.

Capablanca excelled in simple positions and endgames, and his positional judgment was outstanding, so much so that most attempts to attack him came to grief without any apparent defensive efforts on his part. But he could play great tactical chess when necessary—most famously in the 1918 Manhattan Chess Club Championship tournament, when Marshall sprang a deeply analyzed on him, which he refuted while playing under the normal time limit (although ways have since been found to strengthen the Marshall Attack). He was also capable of using aggressive tactical play to drive home a positional advantage, provided he considered it safe and the most efficient way to win, for example against Spielmann in the 1927 New York tournament.

Influence on the game

Capablanca did not found any school per se, but his style influenced world champions Fischer, Karpov, and Botvinnik. Alekhine received schooling from Capablanca in positional play before their fight for the world title made them bitter enemies.

As a chess writer, Capablanca did not present large amounts of detailed analysis, instead focusing on the critical moments in a game. His writing style was plain and easy to understand. Research is divided over Capablanca's conclusion: in 2007, Glenn Flear found little difference, while in 1999, Larry Kaufman, analysing a large database of games, concluded that results very slightly favored queen plus knight. John Watson wrote in 1998 that an unusually large proportion of queen and knight versus queen and bishop endings are drawn, and that most decisive games are characterized by the winning side having one or more obvious advantages in that specific game.

Personality

Early in his chess career, Capablanca received some criticism, mainly in Britain, for the allegedly conceited description of his accomplishments in his first book, My Chess Career. He therefore took the unprecedented step of including virtually all of his tournament and match defeats up to that time in Chess Fundamentals, together with an instructive group of his victories. Nevertheless, his preface to the 1934 edition of Chess Fundamentals is confident that the "reader may therefore go over the contents of the book with the assurance that there is in it everything he needs."

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"Morphy and Capablanca had enormous talent, Steinitz was very great too. Alekhine was great, but I am not a big fan of his. Maybe it's just my taste. I've studied his games a lot, but I much prefer Capablanca and Morphy. Alekhine had a rather heavy style, Capablanca was much more brilliant and talented, he had a real light touch. Everyone I've spoken to who saw Capablanca play still speak of him with awe. If you showed him any position he would instantly tell you the right move. When I used to go to the Manhattan Chess Club back in the fifties, I met a lot of old-timers there who knew Capablanca, because he used to come around to the Manhattan club in the forties – before he died in the early forties. They spoke about Capablanca with awe. I have never seen people speak about any chess player like that, before or since. Capablanca really was fantastic. But even he had his weaknesses, especially when you play over his games with his notes he would make idiotic statements like 'I played the rest of the game perfectly.' But then you play through the moves and it is not true at all. But the thing that was great about Capablanca was that he really spoke his mind, he said what he believed was true, he said what he felt." – Bobby Fischer, Icelandic Radio Interview, 2006

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Despite his achievements Capablanca appeared more interested in baseball than in chess, which he described as "not a difficult game to learn and it is an enjoyable game to play." His second wife, Olga, thought he resented that chess had dominated his life, and wished he could have studied music or medicine.

Capablanca and Edward Lasker experimented with 10×10 and 10×8 boards, using the same expanded set of pieces. They preferred the 8- version as it encouraged combat to start earlier, and their games typically lasted 20 to 25 moves. Contrary to the claims of some critics, Capablanca proposed this variant while he was world champion, not as sour grapes after losing his title.

Similar 10×8 variants had previously been described in 1617 by Pietro Carrera and in 1874 by Henry Bird, differing only in how the new pieces were placed in each side's back row. Subsequent variants inspired by Capablanca's experimentation have been proposed, including Grand Chess (a 10×10 board with pawns on the third rank) and Embassy Chess (the Grand Chess setup on a 10×8 board).

Capablanca's writings

Havana 1913. This is the only tournament book he wrote. Originally published in Spanish in 1913 in Havana, . Edward Winter translated it into English, and appeared as a British Chess Magazine reprint, Quarterly No. 18, in 1976.
My Chess Career. Originally published by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd. of London, and The Macmillan Company in New York in 1920. Republished by Dover in 1966. Republished by Hardinge Simpole Limited, 2003, .
Chess Fundamentals. Originally published in 1921. Republished by Everyman Chess, 1994, . Revised and updated by Nick de Firmian in 2006, .
The World's Championship Chess Match Played at Havana Between Jose Raul Capablanca and Dr. Emanuel Lasker: With an Introduction, the Scores of All the Games Annotated by the Champion, Together with Statistical Matter and the Biographies of the Two Masters. Originally published in 1921 by American Chess Bulletin. Republished in 1977 by Dover, together with a book on the 1927 match with annotations by Frederick Yates and William Winter, as World's Championship Matches, 1921 and 1927, .
A Primer of Chess, with preface by Benjamin Anderson. Originally published by Harcourt, Brace and Company in 1935. Republished in 2002 by Harvest Books, .
Last Lectures. Simon and Schuster, January 1966, ASIN B0007DZW6W, .

Tournament results

The following table gives Capablanca's placings and scores in tournaments. The first "Score" column gives the number of points out of the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

{| ! class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; margin:1em auto 1em auto"

! Date !! width="15%"| Location !! Place !! class="unsortable" colspan="2" |Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes

| 1910 || New York State || 1st || 6½/7 || +6−0=1 || Capablanca won six games and drew one in the 1910 New York State Championship. Both Capablanca and Charles Jaffe won their four games in the knock-out preliminaries and met in a match to decide the winner, who would be the first to win two games. The first game was drawn and Capablanca won the second and third games.

|rowspan="2"| 1911 || align=left| New York || 2nd || 9½/12 || +8−1=3 || align=left | Marshall was 1st ahead of Capablanca.

|| San Sebastián (Spain) || 1st || 9½/14 || +6−1=7 || align=left | Ahead of Akiba Rubinstein and Milan Vidmar (9), Frank James Marshall (8½)

| 1930–31 || align=left| Hastings || 2nd || 6½/9 || +5−1=3 || align=left | Behind Euwe (7); ahead of eight others *** --> The first "Score" column gives the number of points on the total possible. In the second "Score" column, "+" indicates the number of won games, "−" the number of losses, and "=" the number of draws.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto"

! Date !! Opponent !! Result !! class="unsortable" | Location !! class="unsortable" colspan="2"|Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes

| 1901 || Juan Corzo || Won || Havana || 7–6 || +4−3=6 || Corzo was the reigning champion of Cuba.

| 1909 || Frank James Marshall || Won || New York || 15–8 || +8−1=14 ||  

| 1912 || Charles Jaffe || Won || New York || 2½–½ || +2−0=1 ||  

| 1912 || Oscar Chajes || Won || New York || 1–0 || +1−0=0 ||  

| 1913 || Richard Teichmann || Won || Berlin || 2–0 || +2−0=0 ||  

| 1913 || Jacques Mieses || Won || Berlin || 2–0 || +2−0=0 ||  

| 1913 || Eugene Znosko-Borovsky || Drawn || St. Petersburg || 1–1 || +1−1=0

| rowspan="3" | The three matches against Russian masters were played for stakes.<br /> Besides the stake-money there was a gold cup to be awarded for the series,<br /> either to Capablanca if he won all his games,<br /> or to the player who made the best score against him.<br /> The cup went to Znosko-Borovsky.

| 1913 || Alexander Alekhine || Won || St. Petersburg || 2–0 || +2−0=0

| 1913 || Fedor Duz-Khotimirsky || Won || St. Petersburg || 2–0 || +2−0=0

| 1914 || Ossip Bernstein || Won || Moscow ||1½–½ || +1−0=1 ||  

| 1914 || Savielly Tartakower || Won || Vienna || 1½–½ || +1−0=1 ||  

| 1914 || Arnold Aurbach || Won || Paris || 2–0 || +2−0=0 ||  

| 1919 || Boris Kostić || Won || Havana || 5–0 || +5−0=0 ||  

| 1921 || Emanuel Lasker || Won || Havana || 9–5 || +4−0=10 || Won World Chess Championship.

| 1927 || Alexander Alekhine || Lost || Buenos Aires || 15½–18½ || +3−6=25 || Lost World Chess Championship.

| 1931 || Max Euwe || Won || Netherlands || 6–4 || +2−0=8 || Euwe became World Champion 1935–1937.

Notable games

Capablanca vs. L Molina, Buenos Aires 1911, Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern. Knight Defense (D52), This game features a Greek gift sacrifice.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Frank James Marshall, ch Manhattan CC, New York 1918, Spanish Game: Marshall Attack. Original Marshall Attack (C89), 1–0 One of the most famous games of Capablanca. That Marshall unveiled this attack after having kept it secret for years is a myth. Capablanca defends against an extremely aggressive attack.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Professor Marc Fonaroff, New York 1918, Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Hedgehog Variation (C62), 1–0 Capablanca wins quickly with some precise play.
Emanuel Lasker vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Lasker–Capablanca World Championship Match, Havana 1921. Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Rubinstein Variation (D61), 0–1
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Savielly Tartakower, New York 1924, Dutch Defense, Horwitz Variation: General (A80), 1–0 This game concludes with one of the most revered endgames in chess history.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Rudolf Spielmann, New York 1927, Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation (D37), 1–0 A tactical game that earned the for Capablanca.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Andor Lilienthal, Moscow 1936, Reti Opening: Anglo-Slav. Bogoljubow Variation (A12), 1–0 Pawn play utilizing against advantage.
Ilia Abramovich Kan vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Moscow 1936, Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense (C25), 0–1 This game contains one of Capablanca's most famous endgames.

References

External links

Biography on Chesscorner.com
Lasker's Chess Magazine (Feb 1905) recognizes Capablanca at age 16
Capablanca biography
Capablanca's Chess – a program implementation.
The Genius and the Princess by Edward Winter (1999), with considerable input by Capablanca's widow Olga on his life.
Edward Winter, List of Books About Capablanca and Alekhine
Chess Fundamentals available at Gutenberg.org in multiple formats
Chess Fundamentals work in progress transcription with animated diagrams