[blind-chess] Annotated Game #101: Alexander Alekhine - Jose Raul Capablanca, Buenos Aires 1927
- From: "Roderick Macdonald" <rjmacdonald@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Blind-Chess Mailing List" <blind-chess@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 21:28:41 -1000
Annotated Game #101:
Alexander Alekhine - Jose Raul Capablanca, Buenos Aires 1927
Adapted and Condensed from
Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
Contents:
++1. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
++1.A Biography
++1.A1 Early life
++1.A2 Early chess career (1902-1914)
++1.A3 Top-level grandmaster (1914-1927)
++1.A3a World War I and post-revolutionary Russia
++1.A3b 1920-1927
++1.B World Chess Champion, first reign (1927-35)
++1.B1 1927 title match
++1.B2 Rematch offered, never finalized
++1.B3 Defeats Bogolyubov twice in title matches
++1.B4 Anti-Bolshevik statements, controversy
++1.B5 Dominates rivals
++1.C Loss of the World title (1935-1937)
++1.D World Chess Champion, second reign (1937-46)
++1.D1 1937-1939
++1.D2 World War II (1939-1945)
++1.D3 His final year
++1.E Assessment
++1.E1 Playing strength and style
++1.E2 Influence on the game
++1.E3 Accusations of "improving" games
++1.E4 Accusations of anti-Semitism
++1.F Notable chess games
++1.G Writings
++1.H Summary of results in competitions
++1.H1 Tournament results
++1.H2 Match results
++1.H3 Chess Olympiad results
++2. Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera
++2.A Biography and career
++2.A1 Childhood
++2.A2 Early adult career
++2.A3 World title contender
++2.A4 During World War I
++2.A5 World Champion
++2.A6 Losing the title
++2.A7 Post-championship and partial retirement
++2.A8 Return to competitive chess
++2.A9 Final years
++2.B Assessment
++2.B1 Playing strength and style
++2.B2 Influence on the game
++2.B3 Personality
++2.C Capablanca chess
++2.D Notable chess games
++2.E Writings
++2.F Tournament results
++2.G Match results
++3. Alexander Alekhine - Jose Raul Capablanca, Buenos Aires
1927
++1. Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine
World Champion 1927-1935 & 1937-1946
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine (October 31, 1892 - March 24,
1946) was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered
one of the greatest chess players ever.
By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess
players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the
tournaments in which he played. In 1927, he became the fourth World
Chess Champion by defeating Capablanca, widely considered
invincible, in what would stand as the longest chess championship
match held until 1985.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine dominated tournament play and won two
top-class tournaments by large margins. He also played first board
for France in five Chess Olympiads, winning individual prizes in
each (four medals and a brillancy prize). His tournament record
became more erratic from the mid-1930s onwards, and alcoholism is
often blamed for his decline. Alekhine offered Capablanca a rematch
on the same demanding terms that Capablanca had set for him, and
negotiations dragged on for years without making much progress.
Meanwhile, Alekhine defended his title with ease against Bogoljubov
in 1929 and 1934. He was defeated by Euwe in 1935, but regained his
crown in the 1937 rematch. His tournament record, however, remained
uneven, and rising young stars like Keres, Fine, and Botvinnik
threatened his title. Negotiations for a title match with Keres or
Botvinnik were halted by the outbreak of World War II in Europe in
1939.
Alekhine stayed in Nazi-occupied Europe during the war, where he
played in tournaments which were organized by the Nazis. Anti-
Semitic articles appeared under his name, although he later claimed
they were forged by the Nazis. Alekhine had good relationships with
several Jewish chess players, and his fourth wife was Jewish. After
the war, Alekhine was ostracized by players and tournament
organizers because of the anti-Semitic articles. Negotiations with
Mikhail Botvinnik for a world title match were proceeding in 1946
when Alekhine died in Portugal, in unclear circumstances.
Alekhine is known for his fierce and imaginative attacking style,
combined with great positional and endgame skill. He produced
innovations in a wide range of chess openings. Statistical rating
systems differ about his strength relative to other players, giving
him rankings between fourth and eighteenth in their "all-time"
lists. Although Alekhine was declared an "enemy of the Soviet
Union" after making anti-Bolshevik statements in 1927, in the 1950s
he was posthumously rehabilitated and acclaimed as one of the
founders of the "Soviet School of Chess", which dominated the game
after World War II. He is highly regarded as a chess writer and
theoretician, giving his name to Alekhine's Defense and several
other opening variations, and also composed a few endgame studies.
There is strong evidense that Alekhine "improved" the published
scores of some of his games, although in one case he may not have
been responsible for the misrepresentation.
++1.A Biography
++1.A1 Early life
Alekhine was born into a wealthy family in Moscow, Russia on
October 31, 1892. His father Alexander Ivanovich Alekhine was a
landowner and Privy Councilor to the conservative legislative
Fourth Duma. His mother, Anisya Ivanovna Alekhina (born
Prokhorova), was the daughter of a rich industrialist. Alekhine was
first introduced to chess by his mother, an older brother, Alexei,
and an older sister, Varvara
(Barbara).
++1.A2 Early chess career (1902-1914)
The tables at the end of this article give details of Alekhine's
results.
Alekhine in 1909
Alekhine's first known game was from a correspondense chess
tournament that began on December 3, 1902, when he was ten years
old. He participated in several correspondense tournaments,
sponsored by the chess magazine Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie, in
1902-1911. In 1907, Alexander played his first over-the-board
tournament, the Moscow chess club's Spring Tournament. Later that
year, Alexander tied for 11th-13th in the club's Autumn Tournament;
his older brother, Alexei, tied for 4th-6th place. In 1908,
Alexander won the club's Spring Tournament, at the age of fifteen.
In 1909, he won All-Russian Amateur Tournament in Saint Petersburg.
For the next few years, he played in increasingly stronger
tournaments, some of them outside Russia. At first he had mixed
results, but by the age of sixteen he had established himself as
one of Russia's top players. He played first board in two friendly
team matches: St. Petersburg Chess Club vs. Moscow Chess Club in
1911 and Moscow vs. St. Petersburg in 1912 (both drew with Eugene
Znosko-Borovsky). By the end of 1911, Alekhine moved to St.
Petersburg, where he entered the Imperial Law School for Nobles. By
1912, he was the strongest chess player in the St. Petersburg Chess
Society. In March 1912, he won the St. Petersburg Chess Club Winter
Tournament. In April 1912, he won the 1st Category Tournament of
the St. Petersburg Chess Club. In January 1914, Alekhine won his
first major Russian tournament, when he tied for first place with
Aron Nimzowitsch in the All-Russian Masters Tournament at St.
Petersburg. Afterwards, they drew in a mini-match for first prize
(they both won a game). Alekhine also played several matches in
this period, and his results showed the same pattern: mixed at
first but later consistently good.
++1.A3 Top-level grandmaster (1914-1927)
In April-May 1914, another major St. Petersburg 1914 chess
tournament was held in the capital of the Russian Empire, in which
Alekhine took third place behind Emanuel Lasker and Jose Raul
Capablanca. By some accounts, Tsar Nicholas II conferred the title
of "Grandmaster of Chess" on each of the five finalists (Lasker,
Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall). Chess historian
Edward Winter has questioned this, stating that the earliest known
sources that support this story are an article by Robert Lewis
Taylor in the June 15, 1940 issue of The New Yorker and Marshall's
autobiography My 50 Years of Chess
(1942). Alekhine's surprising success made him a serious contender
for the World Chess
Championship. Whether or not the title was formally awarded to him,
"Thanks to this performance, Alekhine became a grandmaster in his
own right and in the eyes of the audiense." In July 1914, Alekhine
tied for first with Marshall in Paris.
++1.A3a World War I and post-revolutionary Russia
In July-August 1914, Alekhine was leading an international Mannheim
tournament, the 19th DSB Congress (German Chess Federation
Congress) in Mannheim, Germany, with nine wins, one draw and one
loss, when World War I broke out. Alekhine's prize was 1,100 marks
(worth about 11,000 euros in terms of purchasing power today).
After the declaration of war against Russia, eleven "Russian"
players (Alekhine, Bogoljubov, Bogatyrchuk, Flamberg, Koppelman,
Maliutin, Rabinovich, Romanovsky, Saburov, Selezniev, Weinstein)
were interned in Rastatt, Germany. In September 14, 17, and 29,
1914, four of them (Alekhine, Bogatyrchuk, Saburov, and Koppelman)
were freed and allowed to return home. Alekhine made his way back
to Russia (via Switzerland, Italy, London, Stockholm, and Finland)
by the end of October 1914. A fifth player, Peter Romanovsky, was
released in 1915, and a sixth, Flamberg, was allowed to return to
Warsaw in 1916.
When Alekhine returned to Russia, he helped raise money to aid the
Russian chess players who remained interned in Germany by giving
simultaneous exhibitions. In December 1915, he won the Moscow Chess
Club Championship. In April 1916 Alekhine won a mini-match against
Alexander Evensohn with two wins and one loss at Kiev, and in
summer he served in the Union of Cities (Red Cross) on the Austrian
front. In September, he played five people in a blindfold display
at a Russian military hospital at Tarnopol. In 1918, Alekhine won
a "Triangular tournament" in Moscow. In June of the following year,
Alekhine was briefly imprisoned in Odessa's death cell by the
Odessa Cheka, suspected of being a spy. He was charged with links
with White counter-intelligense, after the Russians liberated the
Ukraine from German occupation. Rumors appeared in the West that
Alekhine had been killed by the Bolsheviks.
++1.A3b 1920-1927
The table at the foot of this article gives details of Alekhine's
results.
When conditions in Russia became more settled, Alekhine proved he
was among Russia's strongest players. For example, in January 1920,
he swept the Moscow City Chess Championship (11/11), but was not
declared Moscow Champion because he was not a resident of the city.
Also in October 1920, he won the All-Russian Championship in Moscow
(+9 -0 =6); this tournament was retroactively defined as the first
USSR Championship. His brother Alexei took third place in the
tournament for amateurs.
In March 1920, Alekhine married Alexandra Batayeva. They divorced
the next year. For a short time in 1920-1921, he worked as an
interpreter for the Communist International (Comintern) and was
appointed secretary to the Education Department. In this capacity,
he met a Swiss journalist and Comintern delegate, Anneliese Rueegg
(Annalisa Ruegg), who was thirteen years older than him, and they
married on March 15, 1921. Shortly after, Alekhine was given
permission to leave Russia for a visit to the West with his wife,
from which he never returned. In June 1921, Alekhine abandoned his
second wife in Paris and went to Berlin.
In 1921-1923 Alekhine played seven mini-matches. In 1921, he won
against Nikolay Grigoriev (+2 -0 =5) in Moscow, drew with Richard
Teichmann (+2 -2 =2) and won against Friedrich Saemisch (+2 -0 =0),
both in Berlin. In 1922, he won against Ossip Bernstein (+1 -0 =1)
and Arnold Aurbach (+1 -0 =1), both in Paris, and Manuel Golmayo
(+1 -0 =1) in Madrid. In 1923, he won against Andri Muffang (+2 -0
=0) in Paris.
From 1921 to 1927, Alekhine won or shared first prize in about two-
thirds of the many tournaments in which he played. His least
successful efforts were: a tie for third place at Vienna 1922
behind Akiba Rubinstein and Richard Reti; and third place at the
New York 1924 chess tournament behind ex-champion Emanuel Lasker
and world champion Jose Raul Capablanca (but ahead of Frank James
Marshall, Richard Reti, Giza Marsczy, Efim Bogoljubov, Savielly
Tartakower, Frederick Yates, Edward Lasker and Dawid Janowski).
Technically, Alekhine's play was mostly better than his
competitors', even Capablanca's, but he lacked confidense when
playing his major rivals.
Alekhine's major goal throughout this period was to arrange a match
with Capablanca. He thought the greatest obstacle was not
Capablanca's play, but the requirement under the 1922 "London
rules" (at Capablanca's insistense) that the challenger raise a
purse of US $10,000, of which the defending champion would receive
over half even if defeated (US $10,000 in 1927 would be worth about
$391,000 in 2006 Alekhine in November 1921 and Rubinstein and Aaron
Nimzowitsch in 1923 challenged Capablanca, but were unable to raise
the $10,000. Raising the money was Alekhine's preliminary
objective; he even went on tour, playing simultaneous exhibitions
for modest fees day after day. In New York on April 27, 1924,
Alekhine broke the world record for blindfold play when he played
twenty-six opponents (the previous record was twenty-five, set by
Gyula Breyer), winning sixteen games, losing five, and drawing five
after twelve hours of play. He broke his own world record on
February 1, 1925 by playing twenty-eight games blindfold
simultaneously in Paris, winning twenty-two, drawing three, and
losing three.
In 1925, he became a French citizen and entered the Sorbonne
Faculty of law. Although sources differ about whether he completed
his studies there, he was known as "Dr. Alekhine" in the 1930s. His
thesis was on the Chinese prison system. "He received a degree in
law in Saint Petersburg in 1914 but never practiced."
In October 1926, he won in Buenos Aires. From December 1926 to
January 1927, Alekhine beat Max Euwe 5.5-4.5 in a match. In 1927,
he married his third wife, Nadiezda Vasiliev (nee Fabritzky)
(Nadejda Fabritzky, Nadezhda Vasilieff), another older woman, the
widow of the Russian general V. Vasiliev (Vassilieff).
++1.B World Chess Champion, first reign (1927-35)
++1.B1 1927 title match
Capablanca, from whom Alekhine won the World Chess Championship in
1927. Prolonged negotiations for a return match came to nothing.
In 1927, Alekhine's challenge to Capablanca was backed by a group
of Argentinian businessmen and the president of Argentina, who
guaranteed the funds, and organized by the Club Argentino de
Ajedrez (Argentine Chess Club) in Buenos Aires. In the World Chess
Championship match played from September to November 1927 at Buenos
Aires, Alekhine won the title, scoring +6 -3 =25. This was the
longest formal World Championship match until the contest in 1984
between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. Alekhine's victory
surprised almost the entire chess world, since he had never
previously won a single game from Capablanca. After Capablanca's
death Alekhine expressed surprise at his own victory, since in 1927
he did not think he was superior to Capablanca, and he suggested
that Capablanca had been over-confident. Capablanca entered the
match with no technical or physical preparation, while Alekhine got
himself into good physical condition, 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.
++1.B2 Rematch offered, never finalized
Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was
willing to give Capablanca a return match, 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. After Capablanca's
death, Alekhine wrote that Capablanca's demand for a $10,000 stake
was an attempt to avoid challenges. Negotiations dragged on for
several years, often breaking down when agreement seemed in sight.
Their relationship became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher
appearance fees for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.
Grandmaster Robert Byrne wrote that Alekhine consciously sought
lesser opponents for his subsequent championship matches, rather
than giving Capablanca another chance.
++1.B3 Defeats Bogolyubov twice in title matches
Although he never agreed terms for a rematch against Capablanca,
Alekhine played two world title matches with Bogoljubow, an
official "Challenger of FIDE", in 1929 and 1934, winning handily
both times. The first was held at Wiesbaden, Heidelberg, Berlin,
The Hague, and Amsterdam from September through November 1929.
Alekhine retained his title, scoring +11 -5 =9. From April to June
1934, Alekhine faced Bogoljubow again in a title match held in
twelve German cities, defeating him by five games (+8 -3 =15). In
1929, Bogoljubow was forty years old and perhaps already past his
peak.
++1.B4 Anti-Bolshevik statements, controversy
After the world championship match, Alekhine returned to Paris and
spoke against Bolshevism. Afterwards, Nikolai Krylenko, president
of the Soviet Chess Federation, published an official memorandum
stating that Alekhine should be regarded as an enemy of the
Soviets. The Soviet Chess Federation broke all contact with
Alexander Alekhine until the end of the 1930s. His older brother
Alexei, with whom Alexander Alekhine had had a very close
relationship, publicly repudiated him and his anti-Soviet
utterances shortly after, but Alexei may have had little choice
about this decision. In August 1939, Alexei Alekhine was murdered
in Russia.
++1.B5 Dominates rivals
Alexander Alekhine dominated chess into the mid-1930s. His most
famous tournament victories were at the San Remo 1930 chess
tournament (+13 =2, 3= points ahead of Nimzowitsch) and the Bled
1931 chess tournament (+15 =11, 5= points ahead of Bogoljubov). He
won most of his other tournaments outright, shared first place in
two, and the first tournament in which he placed lower was Hastings
1933-34 (shared second place, .5 point behind Salo Flohr). In 1933,
Alekhine also swept an exhibition match against Rafael Cintron in
San Juan (+4 -0 =0), but only managed to draw another match with
Ossip Bernstein in Paris (+1 -1 =2).
From 1930 to 1935, Alekhine played on board one for France at four
Chess Olympiads, winning: the first brilliancy prize at Hamburg in
1930; gold medals for board one at Prague in 1931 and Folkestone in
1933; and the silver medal for board one at Warsaw in 1935. His
loss to Latvian master Hermanis Matisons at Prague in 1931 was his
first loss in a serious chess event since winning the world
championship.
In the early 1930s, Alekhine travelled the world giving
simultaneous exhibitions, including Hawaii, Tokyo, Manila,
Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and the Dutch East Indies. In July
1933, Alekhine played thirty-two people blindfold simultaneously (a
new world record) in Chicago, winning nineteen, drawing nine and
losing four games.
In 1934 Alekhine married his fourth wife, Grace Freeman (nie
Wishard), sixteen years his senior. She was the American-born widow
of a British tea-planter in Ceylon, who retained her British
citizenship to the end of her life and remained Alekhine's wife
until his death.
++1.C Loss of the World title (1935-1937)
Max Euwe took Alekhine's world title in 1935 but lost it in their
1937 return match.
In 1933, Alekhine challenged Max Euwe to a championship match.
Euwe, in the early 1930s, was regarded as one of three credible
challengers (the others were Capablanca and Salo Flohr). On October
3, 1935 the world championship match began in Zandvoort, the
Netherlands. Although Alekhine took an early lead, from game
thirteen onwards Euwe won twice as many games as Alekhine. The
challenger became the new champion on December 15, 1935 with nine
wins, thirteen draws, and eight losses. This was the first world
championship match that officially had seconds: Alekhine had the
services of Salo Landau, and Euwe had Giza Maroczy. Euwe's win was
a major upset and is sometimes attributed to Alekhine's alcoholism.
Flohr, who also assisted Euwe during the match, thought
overconfidense caused more problems than alcohol for Alekhine in
this match, and Alekhine himself had previously said he would win
easily. Later World Champions Vasily Smyslov, Boris Spassky,
Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov analyzed the match for their own
benefit and concluded that Euwe deserved to win and that the
standard of play was worthy of a world championship.
In the eighteen months after losing the title, Alekhine played in
ten tournaments, with uneven results: tied for first with Paul
Keres at Bad Nauheim in May 1936; first place at Dresden in June
1936; second to Flohr at Podebrady in July 1936; sixth, behind
Capablanca, Mikhail Botvinnik, Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky, and
Euwe at Nottingham in August 1936; third, behind Euwe and Fine, at
Amsterdam in October 1936; tied for first with Salo Landau at
Amsterdam (Quadrangular), also in October 1936; in 1936/37 he won
at the Hastings New Year tournament, ahead of Fine and Erich
Eliskases; first place at Nice (Quadrangular) in March 1937; third,
behind Keres and Fine, at Margate in April 1937; tied for fourth
with Keres, behind Flohr, Reshevsky and Vladimir Petrov, at Kemeri
in June-July 1937; tied for second with Bogoljubow, behind Euwe, at
Bad Nauheim (Quadrangular) in July 1937.
++1.D World Chess Champion, second reign (1937-46)
Alekhine around 1945
++1.D1 1937-1939
Max Euwe was quick to arrange a return match with Alekhine,
something Jose Raul Capablanca had been unable to obtain after
Alekhine won the world title in 1927. Alekhine regained the title
from Euwe in December 1937 by a large margin (+10 -4 =11). In this
match, held in the Netherlands, Euwe was seconded by Reuben Fine,
and Alekhine by Erich Eliskases. The match was a real contest
initially, but Euwe collapsed near the end, losing four of the last
five games. Fine attributed the collapse to nervous tension,
possibly aggravated by Euwe's attempts to maintain a calm
appearance. Alekhine played no more title matches, and thus held
the title until his death.
1938 began well for Alekhine, who won the Montevideo 1938 chess
tournament at Carrasco (in March) and at Margate (in April), and
tied for first with Sir George Alan Thomas at Plymouth (in
September). In November, however, he only tied for 4th-6th with
Euwe and Samuel Reshevsky, behind Paul Keres, Reuben Fine, and
Mikhail Botvinnik, ahead of Capablanca and Flohr, at the AVRO
tournament in the Netherlands. This tournament was played in each
of several Dutch cities for a few days at a time; it was therefore
perhaps not surprising that rising stars took the first three
places, as the older players found the travel very tiring.
Immediately after the AVRO tournament, Botvinnik, who had finished
in third place, challenged Alekhine to a match for the world
championship. They agreed on a prize fund of US $10,000 with two-
thirds going to the winner, and that if the match were to take
place in Moscow, Alekhine would be invited at least three months in
advance so that he could play in a tournament to get ready for the
match. Other details had not been agreed when World War II
interrupted negotiations, which the two players resumed after the
war.
Keres, who had won the AVRO tournament on tiebreak over Fine, also
challenged Alekhine to a world championship match. Negotiations
were proceeding in 1939 when they were disrupted by World War II.
During the war Keres' home country, Estonia, was invaded first by
the USSR, then by Germany, then again by the USSR. At the end of
the war, the Soviet government prevented Keres from continuing the
negotiations, on the grounds that he had collaborated with the
Germans during their occupation of Estonia.
Alekhine was representing France at first board in the 8th Chess
Olympiad at Buenos Aires 1939 when World War II broke out in
Europe. The assembly of all team captains, with leading roles
played by Alekhine (France), Savielly Tartakower (Poland), and
Albert Becker (Germany), plus the president of the Argentine Chess
Federation, Augusto de Muro, decided to go on with the Olympiad.
Alekhine won the individual silver medal (nine wins, no losses,
seven draws), behind Capablanca (only results from finals A and B -
separately for both sections - counted for best individual
scores). Shortly after the Olympiad, Alekhine swept tournaments in
Montevideo (7/7) and Caracas (10/10).
At the end of August 1939, both Alekhine and Capablanca wrote to
Augusto de Muro regarding a possible world championship rematch.
Whereas the former spoke of a rematch as a virtual certainty, even
stating that the Cuban was remaining in Buenos Aires until it came
about, the latter referred at length to the financial burden in the
aftermath of the Olympiad. Supported by Latin-American financial
pledges, Jose R. Capablanca challenged Alexander Alekhine to a
world title match in November. Tentative plans not, however,
actually backed by a deposit of the required purse ($10,000 in
gold), led to a virtual agreement to play at Buenos Aires,
Argentina beginning April 14, 1940.
++1.D2 World War II (1939-1945)
Unlike many participants in the 1939 Chess Olympiad, Alekhine
returned to Europe in January 1940. After a short stay in Portugal
, he enlisted in the French army as a sanitation officer.
After the fall of France (June 1940), he fled to Marseille.
Alekhine tried to go to America by traveling to Lisbon and applying
for an American visa. In October 1940, he sought permission to
enter Cuba, promising to play a match with Capablanca. This request
was denied. To protect his wife, Grace Alekhine, an American Jew,
and her French assets (a castle at Saint Aubin-le-Cauf, near
Dieppe, which the Nazis looted), he agreed to cooperate with the
Nazis. Alekhine took part in chess tournaments in Munich, Salzburg,
Krakow/Warsaw, and Prague, organized by Ehrhardt Post, the Chief
Executive of the Nazi-controlled Grossdeutscher Schachbund
("Greater Germany Chess Federation") - Keres, Bogoljubov, Gosta
Stoltz, and several other strong masters in Nazi-occupied Europe
also played in such events. In 1941, he tied for second-third with
Erik Lundin in the Munich 1941 chess tournament (Europaturnier in
September, won by Stoltz), shared first with Paul Felix Schmidt at
Krakow/Warsaw (the 2nd General Government-ch, in
October) and won in Madrid (in December). The following year he won
in the Salzburg 1942 chess tournament (June 1942) and in Munich
(September 1942; the Nazis named this the
Europameisterschaft, which means "European
Championship"). Later in 1942 he won at Warsaw/Lublin/Krakow (the
3rd GG-ch; October 1942) and tied for first with Klaus Junge in
Prague (Duras Jubilei; December 1942). In 1943, he drew a mini-
match (+1 -1) with Bogoljubov in Warsaw (March 1943), he won in
Prague (April 1943) and tied for first with Keres in Salzburg (June
1943).
By late 1943, Alekhine was spending all his time in Spain and
Portugal, as the German representative to chess events. This also
allowed him to get away from the onrushing Soviet invasion into
eastern Europe. In 1944, he narrowly won a match against Ramon Rey
Ardid in Zaragoza (+1 -0 =3; April 1944) and won in Gijon (July
1944). The following year, he won at Madrid (March 1945), tied for
second place with Antonio Medina at Gijon (July 1945; the event was
won by Antonio Rico), won at Sabadell (August 1945), he tied for
first with F. Lspez Nzqez in Almeria (August 1945), won in Melilla
(September 1945) and took second in Caceres, behind Francisco Lupe
(Autumn 1945). Alekhine's last match was with Lupe at Estoril near
Lisbon, Portugal, in January 1946. Alekhine won two games, lost
one, and drew one.
Alekhine took an interest in the development of the chess prodigy
Arturo Pomar and devoted a section of his last book (!Legado! 1946)
to him. They played at Gijon 1944, when Pomar, aged twelve,
achieved a creditable draw with the champion.
++1.D3 His final year
Grave of Alexander Alekhine in Paris, France
After World War II, Alekhine was not invited to chess tournaments
outside the Iberian Peninsula, because of his alleged Nazi
affiliation. His original invitation to the London 1946 tournament
was withdrawn when the other competitors protested. While planning
for a World championship match against Botvinnik, he died in his
hotel room in Estoril, Portugal on March 24, 1946. The
circumstances of his death are still a matter of debate. It is
usually attributed to a heart attack, but a letter in Chess Life
magazine from a witness to the autopsy stated that choking on meat
was the actual cause of death. Some have speculated that he was
murdered by a French "Death Squad". A few years later, Alekhine's
son, Alexander Alekhine Junior, said that "the hand of Moscow
reached his father". Canadian Grandmaster Kevin Spraggett, who has
lived in Portugal since the late 1980s, and who has thoroughly
investigated Alekhine's death, favors this possibility. Spraggett
makes a case for the manipulation of the crime scene and the
autopsy by the Portuguese secret police PIDE. He believes that
Alekhine was murdered outside his hotel room, probably by the
Soviets.
Alekhine's burial was sponsored by FIDE, and the remains were
transferred to the Cimetihre du Montparnasse, Paris, France in
1956.
++1.E Assessment
++1.E1 Playing strength and style
Statistical ranking systems differ sharply in their views of
Alekhine. "Warriors of the Mind" rates him only the 18th strongest
player of all time and comments that victories over players such as
Bogoljubov and Euwe are not a strong basis for an "all time"
ranking. But the website "Chessmetrics" ranks him between the
fourth and eighth best of all time, depending on the lengths of the
peak periods being compared, and concludes that at his absolute
peak he was a little stronger than Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca,
although a little weaker than Botvinnik. Jeff Sonas, the author of
the website "Chessmetrics", rates Alekhine as the sixth best player
of all-time on the basis of comparable ratings. He also assesses
Alekhine's victory at the tournament of San Remo in 1930 as the
sixth best performance ever in tournaments. 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 Alekhine
was the joint fifth strongest player of those surveyed (tied with
Paul Morphy and Vasily Smyslov), behind Capablanca, Botvinnik,
Emanuel Lasker and Mikhail Tal.
Alekhine's peak period was in the early 1930s, when he won almost
every tournament he played, sometimes by huge margins. Afterward,
his play declined, and he never won a top-class tournament after
1934. After Alekhine regained his world title in 1937, there were
several new contenders, all of whom would have been serious
challengers.
Diagram #1.E1:
White: King at h2, Rooks at c1 and d2, Bishop at h1, Knights at b7
and f3, Pawns at f2 and g3.
Black: King at h8, Rooks at a8 and e3, Bishop at g4, Knights at f6
and e2, Pawns at f7 and g7.
Reti-Alekine, Baden-Baden 1925 is one of Alekhine's most famous and
complicated wins - 31. ... Ne4 forces the win of White's Knight at
b7 in 12 moves.
Alekhine was one of the greatest attacking players and could
apparently produce combinations at will. What set him apart from
most other attacking players was his ability to see the potential
for an attack and prepare for it in positions where others saw
nothing. Rudolf Spielmann, a master tactician who produced many
brilliancies, said, "I can see the combinations as well as
Alekhine, but I cannot get to the same positions." Dr. Max Euwe
said, "Alekhine is a poet who creates a work of art out of
something that would hardly inspire another man to send home a
picture post-card." An explanation offered by Reti was, "he beats
his opponents by analysing simple and apparently harmless sequenses
of moves in order to see whether at some time or another at the end
of it an original possibility, and therefore one difficult to see,
might be hidden." John Nunn commented that "Alekhine had a special
ability to provoke complications without taking excessive risks",
and Edward Winter called him "the supreme genius of the complicated
position." Some of Alekhine's combinations are so complex that even
modern champions and contenders disagree in their analyses of them.
Nevertheless, Garry Kasparov said that Alekhine's attacking play
was based on solid positional foundations, and Harry Golombek went
further, saying that "Alekhine was the most versatile of all chess
geniuses, being equally at home in every style of play and in all
phases of the game." Fine, a serious contender for the world
championship in the late 1930s, wrote in the 1950s that Alekhine's
collection of best games was one of the three most beautiful that
he knew, and Golombek was equally impressed.
Alekhine's games have a higher percentage of wins than those of any
other World Champion, and his drawn games are on average among the
longest of all champions'. His desire to win extended beyond formal
chess competition. When Fine beat him in some casual games in 1933,
Alekhine demanded a match for a small stake. And in table tennis,
which Alekhine played enthusiastically but badly, he would often
crush the ball when he lost.
Bobby Fischer, in a 1964 article, ranked Alekhine as one of the ten
greatest players in history. Fischer, who was famous for the
clarity of his play, wrote of Alekhine, "Alekhine has never been a
hero of mine, and I've never cared for his style of play. There's
nothing light or breezy about it; it worked for him, but it could
scarcely work for anyone else. He played gigantic conceptions, full
of outrageous and unprecedented ideas. ... He had great
imagination; he could see more deeply into a situation than any
other player in chess history. ... It was in the most complicated
positions that Alekhine found his grandest concepts."
Alekhine's style had a profound influence on Kasparov, who said:
"Alexander Alekhine is the first luminary among the others who are
still having the greatest influence on me. I like his universality,
his approach to the game, his chess ideas. I am sure that the
future belongs to Alekhine chess."
++1.E2 Influence on the game
Several openings and opening variations are named after Alekhine.
In addition to the well-known Alekhine's Defense (1.e4 Nf6) and the
Albin-Chatard-Alekhine Attack in the "orthodox" Paulsen variation
of the French Defense, there are Alekhine Variations in: the
Budapest Gambit, the Vienna Game, the Exchange Variation of the Ruy
Lopez, the Winawer Variation of the French Defense; the Dragon
Variation of the Sicilian Defense, the Queen's Gambit Accepted, the
Slav Defense, the Queen's Pawn Game, the Catalan Opening and the
Dutch Defense (where three different lines bear his name). Irving
Chernev commented, "The openings consist of Alekhine's games, with
a few variations."
Composition by Alekhine
Diagram #++1.E2
White: King at d4, Pawns at d6, g4.
Black: King at b7, Pawns at f7, g6, h7.
White to move and win.
1. g5! Kc6
2. Ke5 Kd7
3. Kd5!
(3. Kf6? Kxd6 4. Kxf7 Ke5)
3. ... Kd8
4. Kc6
And White wins.
Alekhine also composed a few endgame studies, one of which is shown
on the right, a miniature (a study with a maximum of seven pieces).
Alekhine wrote over twenty books on chess, mostly annotated
editions of the games in a major match or tournament, plus
collections of his best games between 1908 and 1937. Unlike Wilhelm
Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca and Euwe, he wrote no books
that explained his ideas about the game or showed beginners how to
improve their play. His books appeal to expert players rather than
beginners: they contain many long analyses of variations in
critical positions, and "singularities and exceptions were his
forte, not rules and simplifications".
Although Alekhine was declared an enemy of the Soviet Union after
his anti-Bolshevik statement in 1928, he was gradually
rehabilitated by the Soviet chess elite following his death in
1946. Alexander Kotov's research on Alekhine's games and career,
culminating in a biography, led to a Soviet series of Alekhine
Memorial tournaments. The first of these, at Moscow 1956, was won
jointly by Botvinnik and Vasily Smyslov. In their book The Soviet
School of Chess Kotov and Yudovich devoted a chapter to Alekhine,
called him "Russia's greatest player" and praised his capacity for
seizing the initiative by concrete tactical play in the opening.
Botvinnik wrote that the Soviet School of chess learned from
Alekhine's fighting qualities, capacity for self-criticism and
combinative vision. Alekhine had written that success in chess
required "Firstly, self-knowledge; secondly, a firm comprehension
of my opponent's strength and weakness; thirdly, a higher aim - ...
artistic and scientific accomplishments which accord our chess
equal rank with other arts."
++1.E3 Accusations of "improving" games
Diagram #1.E3
White: King at f3, Queens at e3, f4 and g8, Rook at h1, Bishop at
f1, Knight at g1, Pawn at f2.
Black: King at b6, Queens at b1 and c2, Rook at a8, Bishops at c5
and c8, Pawns at a7, b7, d5
Famous and much-analyzed position from the "5 Queens" game
Samuel Reshevsky wrote that Alekhine "allegedly made up games
against fictitious opponents in which he came out the victor and
had these games published in various chess magazines." In a recent
book Andy Soltis lists "Alekhine's 15
Improvements". The most famous example is his game with five queens
in Moscow in 1915. In the actual game, Alekhine, playing as Black,
beat Grigoriev in the Moscow 1915 tournament; but in one of his
books he presented the "five Queens" variation (starting with a
move he rejected as Black in the original game) as an actual game
won by the White player in Moscow in 1915 (he did not say in who
was who in this version, nor that it was in the tournament).
In the position of the diagram at right, which never arose in real
play, Alekhine claimed that White wins by 24.Rh6, as after some
complicated play Black is mated or goes into an endgame a Queen
down. Some recent analyses suggest that this is not the case: if
White plays 24.Rh6, black can play 24...Bg4+! and White has no
mating attack. A later computer-assisted analysis concludes that
White can force a win, but only by diverging from Alekhine's move
sequense at move 20, while there are only three Queens.
Chess historian Edward Winter investigated a game Alekhine
allegedly won in fifteen moves via a Queen sacrifice at Sabadell in
1945. Some photos of the game in progress were discovered that
showed the players during the game and their chessboard. Based on
the position that the chess pieces had taken on the chessboard in
this photo, the game could never have taken the course that was
stated in the published version. This raised suspicions that the
published version was made up. Even if the published version is a
fake, however, there is no doubt that Alekhine did defeat his
opponent in the actual game, and there is no evidense that Alekhine
was the source of the spectacular fifteen-move win whose
authenticity is doubted.
++1.E4 Accusations of anti-Semitism
During World War II, Alekhine played in several tournaments held in
Germany or German-occupied territory, as did many strong players in
occupied and neutral countries. In March 1941, a series of articles
appeared under Alekhine's name in the Pariser Zeitung, a German-
language newspaper published in Paris by the occupying German
forces. Among other things, these articles said that Jews had a
great talent for exploiting chess but showed no signs of chess
artistry; described the hypermodern theories of Nimzowitsch and
Reti as "this cheap bluff, this shameless self-publicity", hyped by
"the majority of Anglo-Jewish pseudo-intellectuals"; and described
his 1937 match with Euwe as "a triumph against the Jewish
conspiracy". Alekhine was reported as making further anti-Semitic
statements in interviews for two Spanish newspapers in September
1941; in one of these it was said that "Aryan chess was aggressive
chess ... on the other hand, the Semitic concept admitted the idea
of pure defense."
Almost immediately after the liberation of Paris, Alekhine publicly
stated that "he had to write two chess articles for the Pariser
Zeitung before the Germans granted him his exit visa ... Articles
which Alekhine claims were purely scientific were rewritten by the
Germans, published and made to treat chess from a racial
viewpoint." He wrote at least two further disavowals, in an open
letter to the organizer of the 1946 London tournament (W. Hatton-
Ward) and in his posthumous book !Legado!. These three denials are
phrased differently.
Extensive investigations by Ken Whyld have not yielded conclusive
evidense of the authenticity of the articles. Chess writer Jacques
Le Monnier claimed in a 1986 issue of Europe Ichecs that in 1958 he
saw some of Alekhine's notebooks and found, in Alekhine's own
handwriting, the exact text of the first anti-Semitic article,
which appeared in Pariser Zeitung on March 18, 1941. In his 1973
book 75 parties d'Alekhine ("75 of Alekhine's games"), however, Le
Monnier had written "It will never be known whether Alekhine was
behind these articles or whether they were manipulated by the
editor of the Pariser Zeitung."
British chess historian Edward G. Winter notes that the articles in
the Pariser Zeitung mis-spelled the names of several famous chess
masters, which could be interpreted as evidense of forgery or as
attempts by Alekhine to signal that he was being forced to write
things that he did not believe; but these could simply have been
typesetting errors, as Alekhine's handwriting was not easy to read.
The articles contained (probably) incorrect claims that Lionel
Kieseritzky (Kieseritsky in English, Kizierycki in Polish) was a
Polish Jew, although (probably) Kieseritzky was neither Polish nor
Jewish. Winter concludes: "Although, as things stand, it is
difficult to construct much of a defense for Alekhine, only the
discovery of the articles in his own handwriting will settle the
matter beyond all doubt." Under current French copyright law,
Alekhine's notebooks will not enter the public domain until January
1, 2017.
There is evidense that Alekhine was not anti-Semitic in his
personal or chess relationships with Jews. In June 1919, he was
arrested by the Cheka, imprisoned in Odessa and sentensed to death.
Yakov Vilner, a Jewish master, saved him by sending a telegram to
the chairman of the Ukrainian Council of People's Commissars, who
knew of Alekhine and ordered his release. Alekhine accepted and
apparently used chess analysis from Charles Jaffe in his World
Championship match against Capablanca. Jaffe was a Jewish master
who lived in New York, where Alekhine often visited, and upon his
return to New York after defeating Capablanca, Alekhine played a
short match as a favor to Jaffe, without financial remuneration.
Alekhine's second for the 1935 match with Max Euwe was the master
Salo Landau, a Dutch Jew. The American Jewish grandmaster Arnold
Denker wrote that he found Alekhine very friendly in chess
settings, taking part in consultation games and productive analysis
sessions. Denker also wrote that Alekhine treated the younger and
(at that time) virtually unproven Denker to dinner on many
occasions in New York during the 1930s, when the economy was very
weak because of the Great Depression. Denker added that Alekhine,
during the early 1930s, opined that the American Jewish grandmaster
Isaac Kashdan might be his next challenger (this did not in fact
occur). He gave chess lessons to 14-year-old prodigy Gerardo
Budowski, a German Jew, in Paris in Spring 1940. Alekhine also
married an American Jew, Grace Wishard, as his fourth wife. Mrs.
Grace Alekhine was the women's champion of Paris in 1944.
++1.F Notable chess games
Diagram #1.F
White: King at f4, Rooks at c7 and f7, Knight at f6, Pawns at a3,
b2, d4, e3, f3, g3, h5
Black: King at h8, Rooks at a8 and f8, Bishop at a6, Pawns at a4,
b3, d5, e6, f5, g7, h6
"Alekhine-Yates
London 1922".
1. Rxg7 Rxf6
2. Ke5
And Yates resigned: if either Black Rook moves to f8, White
checkmates by 3. Rh7+ Kg8 4. Rcg7#
* Alekhine-Yates, London 1922, Queen's Gambit Declined:
Orthodox Defense. Main Line (D64) 1-0 Alekhine conjures up
an attack in the endgame, and his King joins the fray.
* Efim Bogolyubov vs Alexander Alekhine, Hastings 1922, Dutch
Defense, Classical Variation (A91), 0-1 This has been
called one of the greatest games ever played, with some
incredibly deep variations as Black prepares to queen a
pawn.
* Ernst Gruenfeld vs Alexander Alekhine, Karlsbad 1923,
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Rubinstein
Attack (D64), 0-1 Gruenfeld makes no obvious mistakes but
his slow build-up lets Alekhine take the initiative and
start squeezing him off the board. Gruenfeld desperately
tries to free his position and is crushed by a series of
sacrifices that forces the win of a piece or checkmate.
* Richard Reti vs Alexander Alekhine, Baden Baden 1925,
Hungarian Opening: Reversed Alekhine (A00), 0-1 A
tactically complex game in which Alekhine unleashes a 12-
move combination that wins a Knight.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Alexander Alekhine, World
Championship match, Buenos Aires 1927, Queen's Gambit
Declined (D52), 0-1 The game ends in an interesting
position with four queens on the board.
* Alexander Alekhine vs Aron Nimzowitsch, San Remo 1930,
French Defense, Winawer Variation (C17), 1-0 One of the
shortest games ending in a zugzwang -- by the 26th move,
Black is already strategically lost and has no good moves.
This game also spawned the term 'Alekhine's gun' for the
formation where the queen lines up behind the two rooks.
* Gideon Stahlberg vs Alexander Alekhine, Hamburg 1930, 3rd
Olympiad, Nimzo-Indian Defense, Spielmann Variation (E23),
0-1 1st best game prize.
* Alexander Alekhine vs Emanuel Lasker, Zurich 1934, Queen's
Gambit Declined, Orthodox Defense, Bd3 line (D67), 1-0 A
short game ending with a queen sacrifice. After the
tournament Lasker said: "Alekhine's attacking genius has no
equal in the history of the game".
* Max Euwe vs Alexander Alekhine, World Championship Match,
game 4, The Hague 1935, Grunfeld Defense, Russian Variation
(D81), 0-1 Alekhine sacrifices two rooks, but traps Euwe's
King in the centre, wins the queen, then finishes
elegantly.
++1.G Writings
Alekine wrote over twenty books on chess. Some of the best-known
are:
* Alekhine, Alexander (1985). My Best Games of Chess
1908-1937. Dover. ISBN 0-486-24941-7. Originally published
in two volumes as My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923 and My
Best Games of Chess 1924-1937
* Alekhine, Alexander (1968). The Book of the Hastings
International Masters' Chess Tournament 1922. Dover. ISBN
0-486-21960-7.
* Alekhine, Alexander (1961). The Book of the New York
International Chess Tournament 1924. Dover. ISBN
0-486-20752-8.
* Alekhine, Alexander (1962). The Book of the Nottingham
International Chess Tournament. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20189-9.
* Alekhine, Alexander (1973). The World's Chess Championship,
1937. Dover. ISBN 0-486-20455-3.
Games analysis published after 1938 were edited by Edward Winter
and published in 1980 in the book :
* Alekhine, Alexander & Edward Winter (1992). 107 Great Chess
Battles 1939-1945. Dover. ISBN 0-486-27104-8.
++1.H Summary of results in competitions
++1.H1 Tournament results
Here are Alekhine's placings and scores in tournaments:
1907 Moscow
11-13 5.5/15 +5 =1 -9 his brother Alexei Alekhine tied for
4-6th
1908 Moscow
1st Moscow Chess Club Spring Tournament.
1908 Duesseldorf
3-4 9/13 +8 =2 -3 16th DSB Congress, A Tournament
1908/09 Moscow
1st 6.5/9 +5 =3 -1 Moscow Chess Club Autumn Tournament
1909 Saint Petersburg
1st 13/16 +12 =2 -2 All-Russian Amateur Tournament
1910 Hamburg
7-8 8.5/16 +5 =7 -4 17th DSB Congress, Schlechter won
1911 Cologne
1st 3/3 +3 =0 -0 Quadrangular
1911 Carlsbad
8-9 13.5/25 +11 =5 -9 Teichmann won
1912 Saint Petersburg
1-2 8/9 +8 =0 -1 First Winter Tournament, lost a game to
Vasily Osipovich Smyslov
1912 Saint Petersburg
1st 7/9 +6 =2 -1 Second Winter Tournament, lost a game to
Boris Koyalovich
1912 Stockholm
1st 8.5/10 +8 =1 -1 8th Nordic Championship, ahead of
Spielmann
1912 Vilnius
6-7 8.5/18 +7 =3 -8 7th Russian Championship (All-Russian
Masters' Tournament), Rubinstein won
1913 Saint Petersburg
1-2 2/3 +2 =0 -1 Quadrangular, tied with Levenfish
1913 Scheveningen
1st 11.5/13 +11 =1 -1 ahead of Janowski
1913/14 Saint Petersburg
1-2 13.5/17 +13 =1 -3 8th Russian Championship (All-Russian
Masters' Tournament), tied with Nimzowitsch
1914 Saint Petersburg
3rd 10/18 +6 =8 -4 Lasker 13.5, Capablanca 13, Alekhine 10,
Tarrasch 8.5, Marshall 8
1914 Paris
1-2 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Cafe Continental Quadrangular, tied with
Marshall, third Muffang, fourth Hallegua
1914 Mannheim
leading 9.5/11 +9 =1 -1 19th DSB Congress, interrupted by
the start of World War I
1915 Moscow
1st 10.5/11 +10 =1 -0 Moscow Chess Club Championship
1919/20 Moscow
1st 11/11 +11 =0 -0 Moscow City Championship, not declared
Moscow Champion because he was not a resident of Moscow
1920 Moscow
1st 12/15 +9 =6 -0 later recognized as the 1st USSR
Championship
1921 Triberg
1st 7/8 +6 =2 -0 ahead of Bogoljubov
1921 Budapest
1st 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 ahead of Gruenfeld
1921 The Hague
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1922 Pistyan
2-3 14.5/18 +12 =5 -1 tied with Spielmann, behind
Bogoljubov
1922 London
2nd 11.5/15 +8 =7 -0 Capablanca 13, Alekhine 11.5, Vidmar
11, Rubinstein 10.5
1922 Hastings
1st 7.5/10 +6 =3 -1 Rubinstein 7, Bogoljubov and Thomas
4.5, Tarrasch 4, Yates 2.5
1922 Vienna
3-6 9/14 +7 =4 -3 Rubinstein won
1923 Margate
2-5 4.5/7 +3 =3 -1 Gruenfeld won
1923 Carlsbad
1-3 11.5/17 +9 =5 -3 tied with Bogoljubov and Marsczy
1923 Portsmouth
1st 11.5/12 +11 =1 -0 ahead of Vajda
1924 New York
3rd 12/20 +6 =12 -2 Lasker 16, Capablanca 14.5, Alekhine
12, Marshall 11, Reti 10.5. Marsczy 10, Bogoljubov 9.5
1925 Paris
1st 6.5/8 +5 =3 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1925 Bern
1st 4/6 +3 =2 -1 Quadrangular
1925 Baden-Baden
1st 16/20 +12 =8 -0 ahead of Rubinstein
1925/26 Hastings
1-2 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 tied with Vidmar
1926 Semmering
2nd 12.5/17 +11 =3 -3 Spielmann won
1926 Dresden
2nd 7/9 +5 =4 -0 Nimzowitsch won
1926 Scarborough
1st 5.5/6 +5 =1 -0 Alekhine won a play-off match against
Colle 2-0
1926 Birmingham
1st 5/5 +5 =0 -0 ahead of Znosko-Borovsky
1926 Buenos Aires
1st 10/10 +10 =0 -0 ahead of Villegas and Illa
1927 New York
2nd 11.5/20 +5 =13 -2 Capablanca 14, Alekhine 11.5,
Nimzowitsch 10.5, Vidmar 10, Spielmann 8, Marshall 6
1927 Kecskemit
1st 12/16 +8 =8 -0 ahead of Nimzowitsch and Steiner
1929 Bradley Beach
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 ahead of Lajos Steiner
1930 San Remo
1st 14/15 +13 =2 -0 Nimzowitsch 10.5; Rubinstein 10;
Bogoljubov 9.5; Yates 9
1931 Nice
1st 6/8 +4 =4 -0 consultation tournament
1931 Bled
1st 20.5/26 +15 =11 -0 Bogoljubov 15; Nimzowitsch 14;
Flohr, Kashdan, Stoltz and Vidmar 13.5
1932 Bern
1-3 2/3 +2 =0 -1 Quadrangular, tied with Voellmy and
Naegeli
1932 Bern
1st 12.5/15 +11 =3 -1 Swiss Championship (title awarded to
Hans Johner and Paul Johner)
1932 London
1st 9/11 +7 =4 -0 ahead of Flohr
1932 Pasadena
1st 8.5/11 +7 =3 -1 ahead of Kashdan
1932 Mexico City
1-2 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 tied with Kashdan
1933 Paris
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 ahead of Tartakower
1933/34 Hastings
2nd 6.5/9 +4 =5 -0 Flohr 7, Alekhine and Andor Lilienthal
6.5, C.H.O'D. Alexander and Eliskases 5
1934 Rotterdam
1st 3/3 +3 =0 -0 Quadrangular
1934 Zurich
1st 13/15 +12 =2 -1 Swiss Championship (title awarded to
Hans Johner)
1935 Vrebro
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0 ahead of Lundin
1936 Bad Nauheim
1-2 6.5/9 +4 =5 -0 tied with Keres
1936 Dresden
1st 6.5/9 +5 =3 -1 ahead of Engels
1936 Podebrady
2nd 12.5/17 +8 =9 -0 Flohr won
1936 Nottingham
6th 9/14 +6 =6 -2 Botvinnik and Capablanca 10; Euwe, Fine
and Reshevsky 9.5
1936 Amsterdam
3rd 4.5/7 +3 =3 -1 Euwe and Fine won
1936 Amsterdam
1-2 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Quadrangular, tied with Landau
1936/37 Hastings
1st 8/9 +7 =2 -0 Fine 7.5, Eliskases 5.5, Vidmar and
Feigins 4.5
1937 Margate
3rd 6/9 +6 =0 -3 tied for 1-2 were Keres and Fine
1937 Kemeri
4-5 11.5/17 +7 =9 -1 tied for 1-3 were Flohr, Petrov and
Reshevsky
1937 Bad Nauheim
2-3 3.5/6 +3 =1 -2 Quadrangular, Euwe won, the other
players were Bogoljubov and Saemisch
1937 Nice
1st 2.5/3 +2 =1 -0 Quadrangular
1938 Montevideo
1st 13/15 +11 =4 -0 ahead of Guimard
1938 Margate
1st 7/9 +6 =2 -1 ahead of Spielmann
1938 Netherlands (ten cities)
4-6 7/14 +3 =8 -3 AVRO tournament, Keres and Fine 8.5;
Botvinnik 7.5; Alekhine, Euwe and Reshevsky 7; Capablanca
6
1939 Montevideo
1st 7/7 +7 =0 -0 ahead of Golombek
1939 Caracas
1st 10/10 +10 =0 -0
1941 Munich
2-3 10.5/15 +8 =5 -2 tied with Lundin, behind Stoltz
1941 Krakow, Warsaw
1-2 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 tied with Schmidt
1941 Madrid
1st 5/5 +5 =0 -0
1942 Salzburg
1st 7./10 +7 =1 -2 ahead of Keres
1942 Munich
1st 8.5/11 +7 =3 -1 1st European Championship, ahead of
Keres
1942 Warsaw, Lublin, Krakow
1st 7.5/11 +6 =3 -1 ahead of Junge
1942 Prague
1-2 8.5/11 +6 =5 -0 tied with Junge
1943 Prague
1st 17/19 +15 =4 -0 ahead of Keres
1943 Salzburg
1-2 7.5/10 +5 =5 -0 tied with Keres
1944 Gijon
1st 7.5/8 +7 =1 -0
1945 Madrid
1st 8.5/9 +8 =1 -0
1945 Gijon
2-3 6.5/9 +6 =1 -2 tied with Medina, behind Rico
1945 Sabadell
1st 7.5/9 +6 =3 -0
1945 Almeria
1-2 5.5/8 +4 =3 -1 tied with Lopez Nunez
1945 Melilla
1st 6.5/7 +6 =1 -0
1945 Caceres
2nd 3.5/5 +3 =1 -1 Lupe won
++1.H2 Match results
Here are Alekhine's results in matches:
1908 Curt von Bardeleben
Won Duesseldorf 4.5/5 +4 =1 -0
1908 Hans Fahrni
Drew Munich 1.5/3 +1 =1 -1
1908 Benjamin Blumenfeld
Won Moscow 4.5/5 +4 =1 -0
1908 Vladimir Nenarokov
Lost Moscow 0/3 +0 =0 -3
1913 Stepan Levitsky
Won Saint Petersburg 7/10 +7 =0 -3
1913 Edward Lasker
Won Paris, London 3/3 +3 =0 -0
1913 Jose Raul Capablanca
Lost Saint Petersburg 0/2 +0 =0 -2 exhibition match
1914 Aron Nimzowitsch
Drew Saint Petersburg 1/2 +1 =1 -0 play-off match
1916 Alexander Evensohn
Won Kiev 2/3 +2 =0 -1
1918 Abram Rabinovich
Won Moscow 3.5/4 +3 =1 -0
1918 Boris Verlinsky
Won Odessa 6/6 +6 =0 -0
1920 Nikolay Pavlov-Pianov
Drew Moscow 1/2 +1 =0 -1
1921 Nikolay Grigoriev
Won Moscow 4.5/7 +2 =5 -0
1921 Efim Bogoljubow
Drew Triberg 2/4 +1 =2 -1 "secret match"
1921 Richard Teichmann
Drew Berlin 3/6 +2 =2 -2
1921 Friedrich Saemisch
Won Berlin 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1922 Ossip Bernstein
Won Paris 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1922 Arnold Aurbach
Won Paris 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1922 Manuel Golmayo
Won Madrid 1.5/2 +1 =1 -0
1923 Andri Muffang
Won Paris 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1926 Edgar Colle
Won Scarborough 2/2 +2 =0 -0 play-off match
1926/7 Max Euwe
Won Amsterdam 5.5/10 +3 =5 -2
1927 Jose Raul Capablanca
Won Buenos Aires 18.5/34 +6 =25 -3 Alekhine became world
champion
1927 Charles Jaffe
Won New York 2/2 +2 =0 -0 exhibition match
1929 Efim Bogoljubow
Won Wiesbaden, Berlin, Amsterdam 15.5/25 +11 =9 -5 retained
world championship
1933 Rafael Cintron
Won San Juan 4/4 +4 =0 -0 exhibition match
1933 Ossip Bernstein
Drew Paris 2/4 +1 =2 -1
1934 Efim Bogoljubow
Won Baden-Baden, Villingen, Pforzheim, Bayreuth, Kissingen,
Berlin 15.5/25 +8 =15 -3 retained world championship
1935 Max Euwe
Lost Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht 14.5/30 +8 =13 -9 lost
world championship
1937 Max Euwe
Won Rotterdam, Haarlem, Leiden, Zwolle, Amsterdam, Delft,
The Hague 15.5/25 +10 =11 -4 regained world championship
1937 Max Euwe
Lost The Hague 2/5 +1 =2 -2 exhibition match
1941 Lopez Esnaola
Won Vitoria 2/2 +2 =0 -0
1943 Efim Bogoljubow
Drew Warsaw 1/2 +1 =0 -1
1944 Ramon Rey Ardid
Won Zaragoza 2.5/4 +1 =3 -0
1946 Francisco Lupe
Won Estoril 2.5/4 +2 =1 -1
++1.H3 Chess Olympiad results
Here are Alekhine's results in Chess Olympiads. He played top board
for France in all these events:
1930 Hamburg
3 9/9 +9 =0 -0 Alekhine won the brilliancy prize for his
game against Gideon Stehlberg (Sweden). He did not win a
medal because the medallists played 17 games each.
1931 Prague
4 13.5/18 +10 =7 -1 Alekhine won the gold medal for 1st
board. His loss to Hermanis Matisons (Latvia) was his first
loss in a serious chess event since winning the world
championship.
1933 Folkestone
5 9.5/12 +8 =3 -1 Alekhine won the gold medal for 1st
board. His loss to Savielly Tartakower (Poland) was his
second and last loss in chess olympiads.
1935 Warsaw
6 12/17 +7 =10 -0 Alekhine won the silver medal for 1st
board (Salo Flohr of Czechoslovakia took the gold by
scoring 13/17).
1939 Buenos Aires
8 7.5/10 (12.5/16) +9 =7 -0 Alekhine won the silver medal
for 1st board (Jose Raul Capablanca of Cuba took the gold
by scoring 8.5/11). Only games in the final stage were
counted for awarding the medals. The first score is for the
final stage, the one in parentheses is Alekhine's total
score.
++2. Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera
Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 - March 8, 1942)
was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to
1927. One of the greatest players of all time, he was renowned for
his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Due to his
achievements in the chess world, mastery over the board and his
relatively simple style of play he was nicknamed the "Human Chess
Machine".
++2.A Biography and career
++2.A1 Childhood
Jose Raul Capablanca, the second surviving son of a Spanish army
officer, was born in Havana on November 19, 1888. According to
Capablanca, he learned the rules of the game at the age of four by
watching his father play, pointed out an illegal move by his
father, and then beat his father twice. 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 only came fourth out of six in the National Championship,
losing both his games against Corzo. In 1905 Capablanca passed with
ease the entrance examinations for Columbia University in New York
City, where he wished to play for Columbia's strong baseball team,
and soon was selected as shortstop on the freshman team. In the
same year he joined the Manhattan Chess Club, and was soon
recognized as the club's strongest player. He was particularly
dominant in rapid chess, winning a tournament ahead of the reigning
World Chess Champion, Emanuel Lasker, in 1906. 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.
++2.A2 Early adult career
Capablanca's skill in rapid chess lent itself to simultaneous
exhibitions, and his increasing reputation in these events led to
a USA-wide tour in 1909. Playing 602 games in 27 cities, he scored
96.4% - a much higher percentage than those of, for example, Giza
Marsczy's 88% and Frank Marshall's 86% in 1906. This performance
gained him sponsorship for an exhibition match that year against
Marshall, the U.S. 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 by 15-8 (8
wins, 1 loss, 14 draws) - a margin comparable to what Emanuel
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 all seven games in the 1910 New York State
Championship. After another gruelling series of simultaneous
exhibitions, Capablanca placed second, with 9.5 out of 12, in the
1911 National Tournament at New York, half a point behind Marshall,
and half a point ahead of Charles Jaffe and Oscar Chajes. Marshall,
invited to play in a tournament at San Sebastian, Spain, in 1911,
insisted that Capablanca also be allowed to play.
According to David Hooper and Ken Whyld, San Sebastian 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. At the beginning of the tournament, Ossip Bernstein and
Aron Nimzowitsch objected to Capablanca's presence because he had
not fulfilled the entry condition of winning at least third prize
in two master tournaments. Capablanca won brilliantly against
Bernstein in the very first round, more simply against Nimzowitsch,
and astounded the chess world by taking first place, with a score
of six wins, one loss and seven draws, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein,
Milan Vidmar, Marshall, Carl Schlechter and Siegbert Tarrasch, et
al. His loss, against Rubinstein, was one of the most brilliant
achievements of the latter's career. 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.
++2.A3 World title contender
In 1911, Capablanca challenged Emanuel Lasker for the World Chess
Championship. Lasker accepted his challenge while proposing
seventeen conditions for the match. Capablanca objected to some of
the conditions, which significantly favored Lasker, and the match
did not take place.
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 Capablanca's hometown, 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 further tournament in New York in 1913,
at the Rice Chess Club, Capablanca won all thirteen games.
In September 1913, Capablanca secured a job in the Cuban Foreign
Office, which made him financially secure for life. Hooper and
Whyld write that, "He had no specific duties, but was expected to
act as a kind of ambassador-at-large, a well-known figure who would
put Cuba on the map wherever he travelled." His first instructions
were to go to Saint Petersburg - where he was due to play in a
major tournament. On his way he gave simultaneous exhibitions in
London, Paris and Berlin, where he also played two-game matches
against Richard Teichmann and Jacques Mieses, winning all his
games. After arriving in Saint Petersburg, he played similar
matches against Alexander Alekhine, Eugene Znosko-Borovsky and
Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky, losing one game to Znosko-Borovsky and
winning the rest.
The St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament was the first in which
Capablanca played World Champion Emanuel Lasker under normal
tournament conditions. This event was arranged in an unusual way:
after a preliminary single round-robin tournament involving eleven
players, the top five were to play a second stage in double round-
robin format, with scores from the preliminary tournament carried
forward to the second contest. Capablanca placed first in the
preliminary tournament, 1.5 points ahead of Lasker, who was out of
practice and made a shaky start. Despite a determined effort by
Lasker, Capablanca still seemed on course for ultimate victory.
However, in their second game of the final, Lasker reduced
Capablanca to a helpless position and Capablanca was so shaken by
this that he blundered away his next game to Siegbert Tarrasch.
Lasker thus finished half a point ahead of Capablanca and 3.5 ahead
of
Alekhine. Alekhine commented:
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.
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 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 pounds Sterling (worth about 347,000 pounds or $700,000 in
2006 terms.
++2.A4 During World War I
World War I began in midsummer 1914, bringing international chess
to a virtual halt for more than four years. Capablanca won
tournaments in New York in 1914, 1915, 1916 (with preliminary and
final round-robin stages) and 1918, losing only one game in this
sequence. In the 1918 event Frank James Marshall, playing Black
against Capablanca, unleashed a complicated counter-attack, later
known as the Marshall Attack, against the Ruy Lopez opening. It is
often said that Marshall had kept this secret for use against
Capablanca since his defeat in their 1909 match; 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 prepared variation. Nevertheless,
Capablanca found a way through the complications and won.
Capablanca was challenged to a match in 1919 by Borislav Kostic,
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 Kostic resigned the match after losing five straight games.
Capablanca considered that he was at his strongest around this
time.
++2.A5 World Champion
The Hastings Victory tournament of 1919 was the first international
competition on Allied soil since 1914. The field was not strong,
and Capablanca won with 10.5 points out of 11, one point ahead of
Kostic.
In January 1920, Emanuel Lasker and Capablanca signed an agreement
to play a World Championship match in 1921, noting that Capablanca
was not free to play in 1920. Because of the delay, Lasker insisted
that if he resigned the title, then Capablanca should become World
Champion. Lasker had previously included in his agreement before
World War I to play Akiba Rubinstein for the title a similar clause
that if he resigned the title, it should become Rubinstein's.
Lasker then resigned the title to Capablanca on June 27, 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.
The match was played in March-April 1921; Lasker resigned it after
just fourteen games, having lost four games and won none. Reuben
Fine and Harry Golombek attributed the one-sided result to Lasker's
being in mysteriously poor form. 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. On the other hand, Vladimir Kramnik
thought that Lasker played quite well and the match was an "even
and fascinating fight" until Lasker blundered in the last game.
Kramnik explained that Capablanca was twenty years younger, a
slightly stronger player, and had more recent competitive practice.
Edward Winter, after a lengthy summary of the facts, concludes
that, "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."
Reference works invariably give Capablanca's reign as titleholder
as beginning in 1921, not 1920. The only challenger besides
Capablanca to win the title without losing a game is Kramnik, in
the Classical World Chess Championship 2000 against Garry Kasparov.
The score sheet of Capablanca's defeat by Richard Riti in the New
York 1924 chess tournament, his first loss in eight years
Capablanca won the London tournament of 1922 with 13 points from 15
games with no losses, ahead of Alexander Alekhine on 11.5, Milan
Vidmar (11), and Akiba Rubinstein (10.5). During this event,
Capablanca proposed the "London Rules" to regulate future World
Championship negotiations: the first player to win six games would
win the match; playing sessions would be limited to 5 hours; the
time limit would be 40 moves in 2.5 hours; the champion must defend
his title within one year of receiving a challenge from a
recognized master; the champion would decide the date of the match;
the champion was not obliged to accept a challenge for a purse of
less than US $10,000 (worth about $349,000 in 2006 terms; 20% of
the purse was to be paid to the title holder and the remainder
divided, 60% going to the winner of the match, and 40% to the
loser; the highest purse bid must be accepted. Alekhine, Efim
Bogoljubow, Giza Maroczy, Richard Reti, 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 also gave 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, Capablanca
placed second at the New York 1924 chess tournament with the score
of 14/20 (+10 -1 =9), 1.5 points behind Emanuel Lasker, and 2 ahead
of third-placed Alekhine. Capablanca's defeat at the hands of
Richard Reti in the fifth round was his first in serious
competition in eight years. He made another bad start at the Moscow
1925 chess tournament, and could only fight back to third place,
two points behind Bogoljubow and .5 point behind Emanuel Lasker.
Capablanca won at Lake Hopatcong, 1926 with 6 points out of 8,
ahead of Abraham Kupchik (5) and Maroczy (4.5).
A group of Argentinian businessmen, backed by a guarantee from the
president of Argentina, promised the funds for a World Championship
match between Capablanca and Alekhine in 1927. Since Nimzowitsch
had challenged before Alekhine, Capablanca gave Nimzowitsch until
January 1, 1927 to deposit a forfeit in order 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, played from February 19 to
March 23, 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, with Bogoljubow
and Emanuel Lasker not present. Before the tournament, Capablanca
wrote that he had "more experience but less power" than in 1911,
that he had peaked in 1919 and that some of his competitors had
become stronger in the meantime; however, he finished undefeated,
winning the mini-matches with each of his rivals, 2.5 points ahead
of second-place Alekhine, and won the "best game" prize for a win
over
Spielmann.
In December 1921, shortly after becoming World Champion, Capablanca
married Gloria Simoni Betancourt. They had a son, Jose Raul Jr., in
1923 and a daughter, Gloria, in 1925. 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.
++2.A6 Losing the title
Alekhine vs. Capablanca
Since Capablanca had won the New York 1927 chess tournament
overwhelmingly and had never lost a game to Alekhine, the Cuban was
regarded by most pundits as the clear favorite in their World Chess
Championship 1927 match. However, Alekhine won the match, played
from September to November 1927 at Buenos Aires, by 6 wins, 3
losses, and 25 draws - the longest formal World Championship match
until the contest in 1984-85 between Anatoly Karpov and Garry
Kasparov. Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess
world. After Capablanca's death, Alekhine expressed surprise at his
own victory, since in 1927 he had not thought he was superior to
Capablanca, and he suggested that Capablanca had been over-
confident. Capablanca entered the match with no technical or
physical
preparation, while Alekhine got himself into good physical
condition, 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. Ludek Pachman
suggested that Capablanca, who was unused to losing games or to any
other type of setback, became depressed over his unnecessary loss
of the eleventh game, a long, gruelling endgame, featuring errors
by both
players.
Immediately after winning the match, Alekhine announced that he was
willing to give Capablanca a return match, 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. After Capablanca's death, Alekhine wrote that
Capablanca's demand for a $10,000 stake was an attempt to avoid
challenges. Negotiations dragged on for several years, often
breaking down when agreement seemed in sight. Their relationship
became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher appearance fees
for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.
++2.A7 Post-championship and partial retirement
Giving a simultaneous display on thirty boards in Berlin, June 1929
After losing the World Championship in late 1927, Capablanca played
more often in tournaments, hoping to strengthen his claim for a
rematch. From 1928 through 1931, he won six first prizes, also
finishing second twice and one joint second. His competitors
included rising stars such as Max Euwe and Isaac Kashdan, as well
as players who had been established in the 1920s, but Capablanca
and Alekhine never played in the same tournament during this
period, and would next meet only at the Nottingham, 1936
tournament, after Alekhine had lost the world title to Euwe the
preceding year. In late 1931, Capablanca also won a match (+2 -0
=8) against Euwe, whom Chessmetrics ranks sixth in the world at the
time.
Despite these excellent results, Capablanca's play showed signs of
decline: his play slowed from the speed of his youth, with
occasional time trouble; although he continued to produce many
superb games, he also made some gross
blunders. Chessmetrics nonetheless ranks Capablanca as the second
strongest player in the world (after Alekhine) from his loss of the
title through to autumn 1932, except for a brief appearance in the
top place.
After winning an event at New York in 1931, he withdrew from
serious chess, perhaps disheartened by his inability to secure a
return match against Alekhine, and played only less serious games
at the Manhattan Chess Club and simultaneous displays. On 6
December 1933, Capablanca won all 9 of his games in one of the
club's weekly rapid chess tournaments, finishing 2 points ahead of
Samuel Reshevsky, Reuben Fine and Milton Hanauer.
++2.A8 Return to competitive chess
At first Capablanca did not divorce his first wife, as he had not
intended to re-marry. 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. In 1938 he divorced his first wife
and then married Olga on October 20, 1938, about a month before the
AVRO tournament.
Starting his comeback at the Hastings tournament of 1934-35,
Capablanca finished fourth, although coming ahead of Mikhail
Botvinnik and Andor Lilienthal. He placed second by .5 point in the
Margate tournaments of 1935 and 1936. At Moscow in 1935 Capablanca
finished fourth, 1 point behind the joint winners, while Emanuel
Lasker's third place at the age of 66 was hailed as "a biological
miracle." The following year, Capablanca won an even stronger
tournament in Moscow, one point ahead of Botvinnik and 3.5 ahead of
Salo Flohr, who took third place; A month later, he shared first
place with Botvinnik at Nottingham, with a score of (+5 -1 =8),
losing only to Flohr; Alekhine placed sixth, only one point behind
the joint winners. These tournaments of 1936 were the last two that
Lasker played, 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, an ilite contest designed to
select a challenger for Alekhine's world title. 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, held in Buenos Aires, and won the gold
medal for the best performance on the top board. 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. Alekhine also sat out the match when the teams
from Cuba and France faced each other in the Buenos Aires Olympiad,
thus declining an opportunity to play Capablanca once more.
++2.A9 Final years
On March 7, 1942, Capablanca was observing a skittles 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
afterwards. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at
6 a.m. the next morning. The cause of death was given as "a
cerebral haemorrhage provoked by hypertension". Capablanca's great
rival Emanuel Lasker had died in the same hospital only a year
earlier. Capablanca's body was given a public funeral in Havana's
Colon Cemetery on March 15, 1942.
His bitter rival Alekhine wrote in a tribute to Capablanca:
... 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.
Emanuel Lasker once said: "I have known many chess players, but
only one chess genius: Capablanca."
An annual Capablanca Memorial tournament has been held in Cuba,
most often in Havana, since 1962.
++2.B Assessment
++2.B1 Playing strength and style
As an adult, Capablanca lost only 34 serious games. He was
undefeated from February 10, 1916, when he lost to Oscar Chajes in
the New York 1916 tournament, to March 21, 1924, when he lost to
Richard Reti in the New York International tournament. During this
streak, which included his 1921 World Championship match against
Lasker, Capablanca played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing 23. 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' 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 (2006) 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 fifteen years. Its author, the statistician Jeff Sonas,
concluded that Capablanca had more years in the top three than
anyone except Lasker, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov - although
Alexander Alekhine had more years in the top two positions. A 2006
study claimed to show that Capablanca was the most accurate of all
the World Champions when compared with computer analysis of World
Championship match games. However, 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.
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. However, he could play great tactical chess when
necessary - most famously in the 1918 Manhattan Chess Club
Championship tournament (in New York) where Marshall sprang a
deeply-analyzed prepared variation 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.
++2.B2 Influence on the game
Capablanca founded no school per se, but his style was very
influential in the games of two world champions: Fischer and
Anatoly Karpov. Botvinnik also wrote how much he learned from
Capablanca, and pointed out that Alekhine had received much
schooling from him 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. Botvinnik
regarded Capablanca's book Chess Fundamentals as the best chess
book ever written. Capablanca in a lecture and in his book A Primer
of Chess pointed out that while the bishop was usually stronger
than the knight, queen and knight was usually better than queen and
bishop, especially in endings -- the bishop merely mimics the
queen's diagonal move, while the knight can immediately reach
squares the queen cannot. 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.
++2.B3 Personality
Early in his chess career, Capablanca had 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."
However Julius du Mont wrote that he knew Capablanca well and could
vouch that he was not conceited. In du Mont's opinion critics
should understand the difference between the merely gifted and the
towering genius of Capablanca, and the contrast between the British
tendency towards false modesty and the Latin and American tendency
to say "I played this game as well as it could be played" if he
honestly thought that it was correct. Fischer also admired this
frankness. Du Mont also said that Capablanca was rather sensitive
to
criticism, and chess historian Edward Winter documented a number of
examples of self-criticism in My Chess Career.
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 the way in which chess had dominated his
life, and wished he could have studied music or medicine.
++2.C Capablanca chess
In an interview in 1925 Capablanca denied reports that he thought
chess had already currently reached its limit because it was easy
for top players to obtain a draw. However he was concerned that the
accelerating development of chess technique and opening knowledge
might cause such stagnation in 50 years' time. Hence he suggested
the adoption of a 10x8 board with 2 extra pieces per side:
* Chancellor - a chancellor that moves as both a rook and a
knight;
* Archbishop - an archbishop that moves as both a bishop and
a knight. This piece would be able to deliver checkmate on
its own, which none of the conventional pieces can do.
He thought this would prevent technical knowledge from becoming
such a dominant factor, at least for a few centuries.
Capablanca and Edward Lasker experimented with 10x10 and 10x8
boards, using the same expanded set of pieces. They preferred the
8-rank 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 10x8 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 (which uses a 10x10 board and has pawns on
the third rank), Gothic Chess (which used to be patented), and
Embassy Chess (the Grand chess setup on a 10x8 board).
++2.D Notable chess games
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs L. Molina, Buenos Aires 1911,
Queen's Gambit Declined: Modern. Knight Defense (D52), 1-0
An impressive Greco's sacrifice along with deceptive
simplicity and effortless endgame.
* 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. It is on record that Marshall unveiled this
attack after careful preparation. Perfect example of
defending against an extremely aggressive attack.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Professor Marc Fonaroff, New York
1918, Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Hedgehog Variation
(C62), 1-0 A freaky ending with amazing accuracy.
* Emanuel Lasker vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Lasker-Capablanca
World Championship Match, Havana 1921. Queen's Gambit
Declined: Orthodox Defense. Rubinstein Variation (D61), 0-1
A strategic masterpiece and instructive endgame which
should be on everybody's list. Capablanca out-playing the
great Lasker in the endgame with simple and perfect
maneuvering of pieces. A must-see game for chess endgame
fans.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Savielly Tartakower, New York 1924,
Dutch Defense, Horwitz Variation: General (A80), 1-0 A
brilliant endgame from the natural genius. Dubbed as "Rook
Before you Leap". Demonstrates the exceptional endgame
skills of Capablanca with flawless artistry.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Rudolf Spielmann, New York 1927,
Queen's Gambit Declined: Barmen Variation (D37), 1-0 A
remarkable tactical game which earned the "Brilliancy
Price" for Capablanca. This is a showcase of Capablanca's
tactical skills complementing positional supremacy.
* Jose Raul Capablanca vs Andor Lilienthal, Moscow 1936, Reti
Opening: Anglo-Slav. Bogoljubow Variation (A12), 1-0 A
perfect endgame and pawn play utilizing the space against
material advantage.
* Ilia Abramovich Kan vs Jose Raul Capablanca, Moscow 1936,
Vienna Game: Anderssen Defense (C25), 0-1 Another
demonstration of Caplabanca's endgame supremacy. This game
seems a drawn game, but witness how Capablanca ekes out a
win using his positional mastery.
++2.E Writings
* Havana 1913, by Jose Raul Capablanca. This is the only
tournament book he wrote. It was originally published in
Spanish in 1913 in Havana. Edward Winter translated it into
English, and it appeared as a British Chess Magazine
reprint, Quarterly #18, in 1976.
* A Primer of Chess by Jose Raul Capablanca (preface by
Benjamin Anderson). Originally published in 1935.
Republished in 2002 by Harvest Books, ISBN 0156028077.
* Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca (Originally
published in 1921. Republished by Everyman Chess, 1994,
ISBN 1857440730. Revised and updated by Nick de Firmian in
2006, ISBN 0-8129-3681-7.)
* My Chess Career by Jose Raul Capablanca (Originally
published by Macmillan in 1921. Republished by Dover in
1966. Republished by Hardinge Simpole Limited, 2003, ISBN
1843820919.)
* The World's Championship Chess Match 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, 1921 by Jose Raul Capablanca. (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 by Jose Raul
Capablanca. ISBN 0486231895.)
* Last Lectures by Jose Raul Capablanca (Simon and Schuster,
January 1966, ASIN B0007DZW6W)
++2.F Tournament results
The following table gives Capablanca's placings and scores in
tournaments.
1910 New York State
1st 20/20 +20 -0 =0.
1911 New York
2nd 9.5/12 +8 -1 =3.
1911 San Sebastian (Spain)
1st 9.5/14 +6 -1 =7 Ahead of Akiba Rubinstein and Milan
Vidmar (9), Frank James Marshall (8.5) and 11 other world-
class players. His only loss was to Rubinstein, and his win
against Ossip Bernstein was awarded the brilliancy prize.
1913 New York
1st 11/13 +10 -1 =2 Ahead of Marshall (10.5), Charles Jaffe
(9.5) and Dawid Janowski (9).
1913 Havana
2nd 10/14 +8 -2 =4 Behind Marshall (10.5); ahead of
Janowski (9) and five others.
1913 New York
1st 13/13 +13 -0 =0 Ahead of Oldrich Duras.
1914 St. Petersburg
2nd 13/18 +10 -2 =6 Behind Emanuel Lasker (13.5); ahead of
Alexander Alekhine (10), Siegbert Tarrasch (8.5) and
Marshall (8). This tournament had an unusual structure:
there was a preliminary tournament in which eleven players
played each other player once; the top five players then
played a separate final tournament in which each player who
made the "cut" played the other finalists twice; but their
scores from the preliminary tournament were carried
forward. Even the preliminary tournament would now be
considered a "super-tournament". Capablanca "won" the
preliminary tournament by 1= points without losing a game,
but Lasker achieved a plus score against all his opponents
in the final tournament and finished with a combined score
= point ahead of Capablanca's.
1915 New York
1st 13/14 +12 -0 =2 Ahead of Marshall (12) and six others.
1916 New York
1st 14/17 +12 -1 =4 Ahead of Janowski (11) and 11 others.
The structure was similar to that of St. Petersburg 1914.
1918 New York
1st 10.5/12 +9 -0 =3 Ahead of Boris Kostic (9), Marshall
(7), and four others.
1919 Hastings
1st 10.5/11 +10 -0 =1 Ahead of Kostic (9.5), Sir George
Thomas (7), Frederick Yates (7) and eight others.
1922 London
1st 13/15 +11 -0 =4 Ahead of Alekhine (11.5), Vidmar (11),
Rubinstein (10.5), Efim Bogoljubow (9), and 11 other
players, mostly very strong.
1924 New York
2nd 14.5/20 +10 -1 =9 Behind Lasker (16); ahead of Alekhine
(12), Marshall (11), Richard Riti (10.5) and six others,
mostly very strong.
1925 Moscow
3rd 13.5/20 +9 -2 =9 Behind Bogojubow (15.5) and Lasker
(14); ahead of Marshall (12.5) and a mixture of strong
international players and rising Soviet players.
1926 Lake Hopatcong
1st 6/8 +4 -0 =4 Ahead of Abraham Kupchik (5), Giza Maroczy
(4.5), Marshall (3) and Edward Lasker (1.5).
1927 New York
1st 14/20 +8 -0 =12 Ahead of Alekhine (11.5), Aron
Nimzowitsch (10.5), Vidmar (10), Rudolf Spielmann (8) and
Marshall (6).
1928 Berlin
1st 8.5/12 +5 -0 =7 Ahead of Nimzowitsch (7), Spielmann
(6.5) and four other very strong players.
1928 Bad Kissingen
2nd 7/11 +4 -1 =6 Behind Bogojubow (8); ahead of Max Euwe
(6.5), Rubinstein (6.5), Nimzowitsch (6) and seven other
strong masters.
1928 Budapest
1st 7/9 +5 -0 =4 Ahead of Marshall (6), Hans Kmoch (5),
Spielmann (5) and six others.
1929 Ramsgate
1st 5.5/7 +4 -0 =3 Ahead of Vera Menchik (5), Rubinstein
(5), and four others.
1929 Carlsbad
2nd= 14.5/21 +10 -2 =9 Behind Nimzowitsch (15); tied with
Spielmann; ahead of Rubinstein (13.5) and 18 others, mostly
very strong.
1929 Budapest
1st 10.5/13 +8 -0 =5 Ahead of Rubinstein (9.5), Savielly
Tartakower (8) and 11 others.
1929 Barcelona
1st 13.5/14 +13 -0 =1 Ahead of Tartakower (11.5) and 13
others.
1929-30 Hastings
1st 6.5/9 +4 -0 =5.
1930-31 Hastings
2nd 6.5/9 +5 -1 =3 Behind Euwe (7); ahead of eight others.
1931 New York
1st 10/11 +9 -0 =2 Ahead of Isaac Kashdan (8.5) and 10
others.
1934-35 Hastings
4th 5.5/9 +4 -2 =3 Behind Thomas, (6.5), Euwe (6.5) and
Salo Flohr (6.5); ahead Mikhail Botvinnik (5), Andor
Lilienthal (5) and four others.
1935 Moscow
4th 12/19 +7 -2 =10 Behind Botvinnik (13), Flohr (13) and
Lasker (12.5); ahead of Spielmann (11) and 15 others,
mainly Soviet players.
1935 Margate
2nd 7/9 +6 -1 =2 Behind Samuel Reshevsky (7.5); ahead of
eight others.
1936 Margate
2nd 7/9 +5 -0 =4 Behind Flohr (7.5); ahead of Gideon
Stehlberg and eight others.
1936 Moscow
1st 13/18 +8 -0 =10 Ahead of Botvinnik (12), Flohr (9.5),
Lilienthal (9), Viacheslav Ragozin (8.5), Lasker (8) and
four others.
1936 Nottingham
1st= 10/14 +7 -1 =6 Tied with Botvinnik; ahead of Euwe
(9.5), Reuben Fine (9.5), Reshevsky (9.5), Alekhine (9),
Flohr (8.5), Lasker (8.5) and seven other strong opponents.
1937 Semmering
3rd= 7.5/14 +2 -1 =11 Behind Paul Keres (9), Fine (8); tied
with Reshevsky; ahead of Flohr (7), Erich Eliskases (6),
Ragozin (6) and Vladimir Petrov (5).
1938 Paris
1st= 8/10 +6 -0 =4 Ahead of Nicolas Rossolimo (7.5) and
four others.
1938 AVRO tournament, at ten cities in the Netherlands
7th 6/14 +2 -4 =8 Behind Keres (8.5), Fine (8.5), Botvinnik
(7.5), Alekhine (7), Euwe (7) and Reshevsky (7); ahead of
Flohr (4.5).
1939 Margate
2nd= 6.5/9 +4 -0 =5 Behind Keres (7.5); tied with Flohr;
ahead of seven others.
At the 1939 Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires, Capablanca took the
medal for best performance on a country's first board.
++2.G Match results
Here are Capablanca's results in matches.
1901 Juan Corzo
Won Havana 7-6 +4 -3 =6 For the championship of Cuba; Corzo
was the reigning champion.
1909 Frank James Marshall
Won New York 15-8 +8 -1 =14.
1919 Boris Kostic
Won USA 5-0 +5 -0 =0.
1921 Emanuel Lasker
Won Havana 9-5 +4 -0 =10 For the World Chess Championship.
1927 Alexander Alekhine
Lost Buenos Aires 15.5-18.5 +3 -6 =25 For the World Chess
Championship.
1931 Max Euwe
Won Netherlands 6-4 +2 -0 =8 Euwe became World Champion
1935-1937.
++3. Alexander Alekhine - Jose Raul Capablanca, Buenos Aires
1927
World Championship Match
Buenos Aires 1927, Round 34
White: Alexander Alekhine
Black: Jose Raul Capablanca
Result: 1-0
ECO: D51 - Queen's Gambit Declined, Capablanca Variation
Notes by R.J. Macdonald
1. d4 d5
2. c4
(The Queen's Gambit.)
2. ... e6
(The Queen's Gambit Declined.)
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. Bg5 Nbd7
5. e3 c6
6. a3
(This is the Capablanca Variation.)
6. ... Be7
(Also possible is 6. ... h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Nf3 0-0 9. Bd3 b6 10. cxd5 exd5 11.
0-0 Bb7 12. Qc2 Re8 13. Rfd1 Bd6, with a slight advantage for white.)
7. Nf3 0-0
(Or 7. ... h6 8. Bh4 0-0 9. Bd3 b6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. 0-0 Bb7 12. Qc2 Re8 13.
Bg3 c5, with a slight advantage for white.)
8. Bd3 dxc4
9. Bxc4 Nd5
10. Bxe7 Qxe7
11. Ne4 N5f6
(11. ... N5b6 12. Ba2 e5 13. Rc1 exd4 14. Qxd4 Nf6 15. Nxf6+ Qxf6 16. Qxf6 gxf6
17. Nd4 Bd7 18. Bb3 a5 19. Rc5 Rfe8 20. Kd2 a4 21. Ba2 Re5 22. Rhc1 Ra5 23.
Rxa5 Rxa5 24. Rc3 c5 25. Ne2 Rb5 26. Rc2 1/2-1/2, as in the game S. Del Rio
Angelis (2532) - E. Can (2471), Ankara 2009.)
12. Ng3 c5
(Black's piece can't move from c8. 12. ... Rd8 13. 0-0 b6 14. h4 c5 15. Qe2 g6
16. h5 Bb7 17. Rad1 cxd4 18. Rxd4 Bxf3 19. gxf3 Ne5 20. hxg6 hxg6 21. f4 Nxc4
22. Rxc4 Rac8 23. Rfc1 Qd7 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 1/2-1/2, as in the game R. Bensadon -
V. Lalich, Argentina 1938. 12. ... b5 13. Be2 offers equal chances.)
13. 0-0
(White now has a slight advantage.)
13. ... Nb6
(Black threatens to win material: Nb6xc4. 13. ... Rd8 14. Rc1 gives white a
slight advantage.)
14. Ba2
(14. Bd3 cxd4 15. exd4 Bd7 leads to equality.)
14. ... cxd4
(14. ... Rd8 15. e4 offers equal chances.)
15. Nxd4
(15. Qxd4 Bd7 gives white a slightly better position.)
15. ... g6
(This Controls f5. Both sides now have equal opportunities.)
16. Rc1
(16. f4 e5 17. fxe5 Qxe5 offers equal chances.)
16. ... Bd7
(16. ... e5 17. Nb5 Rd8 18. Qe1 leads to equality.)
17. Qe2 Rac8
(17. ... Rfd8 18. e4 e5 19. Nf3 leads to equality.)
18. e4
(White has a very active position.)
18. ... e5
(Black threatens to win material: e5xd4.)
19. Nf3 Kg7
(19. ... Bg4 20. h3 Bxf3 21. Qxf3 offers equal chances.)
20. h3
(This covers g4. 20. Qd2 Na4 offers equal chances.)
20. ... h6
(This secures g5.)
21. Qd2 Be6
22. Bxe6 Qxe6
23. Qa5
(White threatens to win material: Qa5xe5.)
23. ... Nc4
(Black threatens to win material: Nc4xa5.)
24. Qxa7 Nxb2
25. Rxc8 Rxc8
26. Qxb7
(White has a new passed pawn on a3.)
26. ... Nc4
(26. ... Nd3!? should be considered, as it seems to equalize.)
27. Qb4
(White has a slight advantage.)
27. ... Ra8
(27. ... Rc6 28. Rc1 gives white a solid advantage.)
28. Ra1 Qc6
29. a4 Nxe4
(29. ... Ne8 30. Qc3 f6 31. Nd2 is solid for white.)
Key Move Diagram:
r7/
5pk1/
2q3pp/
4p3/
PQn1n3/
5NNP/
5PP1/
R5K1
Position after black's 29th move.
30. Nxe5!
(Deflection on c4.)
30. ... Qd6
(30. ... Nxe5 31. Qd4 Double attack, or 31. Qxe4 Pinning. 31. Qxe4.)
31. Qxc4 Qxe5
32. Re1 Nd6
(32. ... Nd2 33. Qc1 (33. Rxe5?! Nxc4 34. Re4 Rxa4 leads to equality) 33. ...
Qd4 34. Ne2 gives white a solid advantage.)
33. Qc1
(33. Rxe5?! Nxc4 34. Re4 Rxa4 offers equal chances.)
33. ... Qf6
34. Ne4 Nxe4
35. Rxe4 Rb8
(35. ... Ra5 36. Qc4 gives white a solid advantage.)
36. Re2
(36. a5 Ra8 37. Qa3 h5 gives white a solid advantage.)
36. ... Ra8
37. Ra2 Ra5
38. Qc7
(38. Qe1 Qd8 gives white a solid advantage.)
38. ... Qa6
(38. ... Rg5!? 39. Ra3 Rf5 gives white a solid advantage.)
39. Qc3+
(White now has a very strong position.)
39. ... Kh7
40. Rd2 Qb6
(40. ... Rxa4?? - that pawn is deadly bait and will cause Black grave problems
after 41. Rd8 g5 42. Qh8+ Kg6 43. Qe5.)
41. Rd7
(41. Rb2 Qd8 42. Rb8 Qd1+ 43. Kh2 Qd6+ 44. g3 Qe5 is very strong for white.)
41. ... Qb1+
42. Kh2 Qb8+
43. g3 Rf5
44. Qd4
Key Move Diagram:
1q6/
3R1p1k/
6pp/
5r2/
P2Q4/
6PP/
5P1K/
8
Position after white's 44th move.
44. ... Qf8??
(Strolling merrily down the path to disaster. Better is 44. ... Qh8 45. Kg2
Qxd4 46. Rxd4 Kg7, with a moderate advantage for white.)
45. Rd5
(White now has a very strong position.)
45. ... Rf3
(45. ... Qa8 does not help much after 46. Rxf5 gxf5, where white has a very
strong advantage.)
46. h4
(46. Kg2 secures the point: 46. ... Rf5 47. Rxf5 gxf5 48. Qd5 should win for
white.)
46. ... Qh8
47. Qb6 Qa1
48. Kg2 Rf6
49. Qd4 Qxd4
50. Rxd4 Kg7
51. a5 Ra6
52. Rd5 Rf6
53. Rd4
(Twofold repetition. 53. Rb5!? Rc6 is very strong for white.)
53. ... Ra6
(White now has a moderate advantage.)
54. Ra4 Kf6
55. Kf3 Ke5
56. Ke3
(Better is 56. g4, with a moderate advantage for white.)
Key Move Diagram:
8/
5p2/
r5pp/
P3k3/
R6P/
4K1P1/
5P2/
8
Position after white's 56th move.
56. ... h5?
(56. ... Kd5 57. g4 retains a moderate advantage for white.)
57. Kd3
(57. f3!? Kd5 is very strong for white.)
57. ... Kd5
(White has a moderate advantage.)
58. Kc3 Kc5
59. Ra2 Kb5
(59. ... Rf6 60. Kd3 Ra6 gives white a moderate advantage.)
60. Kb3
(60. Kd4 Kc6 is very strong for white.)
Key Move Diagram:
8/
5p2/
r5p1/
Pk5p/
7P/
1K4P1/
R4P2/
8
Position after white's 60th move.
60. ... Kc5?
(60. ... Rf6 61. f4 Re6 62. Kc3 gives white a moderate advantage.)
61. Kc3
(61. Ka4 Ra8 is very strong for white.)
61. ... Kb5
62. Kd4 Rd6+
(62. ... Kc6 is very strong for white.)
63. Ke5 Re6+
(63. ... Ra6 64. Kf4 Kc4 65. Kg5 is very strong for white.)
64. Kf4
Key Move Diagram:
8/
5p2/
4r1p1/
Pk5p/
5K1P/
6P1/
R4P2/
8
Position after white's 64th move.
64. ... Ka6??
(Black has lost his cool ... understandable when you consider his position. 64.
... Ra6 is relatively better, but white still has a very strong position.)
65. Kg5 Re5+
(65. ... Kb7 does not improve anything after 66. Ra4, where white has a
decisive advantage.)
66. Kh6 Rf5
(66. ... Re6 does not solve anything after 67. Rb2 Re7 68. Kg7, as white still
has a decisive advantage.)
67. f4
(67. Ra4 keeps an even firmer grip: after 67. ... Rb5 white's position is just
too strong. Instead, if 67. ... Rxf2 68. Rf4 Rg2 69. Rxf7 Rxg3 70. Rf6+ Kxa5
71. Rxg6 Rh3 72. Kxh5 and white is winning.)
67. ... Rc5
(If 67. ... Rxa5 68. Rxa5+ Kxa5 69. Kg7 white wins many pawns.)
68. Ra3 Rc7
(68. ... Rc6 doesn't change anything after 69. f5! should win for white.)
69. Kg7 Rd7
(69. ... Rc6 doesn't change the outcome of the game: 70. Kxf7 Ka7 71. Rf3 is
decisive for white.)
Key Move Diagram:
8/
3r1pK1/
k5p1/
P6p/
5P1P/
R5P1/
8/
8
Position after black's 69th move.
70. f5! gxf5
71. Kh6
(71. Rf3 seems even better: After 71. ... Rd1 white should win easily.)
71. ... f4
(71. ... Rd5 cannot change what is in store for black: 72. Kxh5 Rd6 73. Kg5 and
white should win easily.)
72. gxf4 Rd5
73. Kg7 Rf5
(73. ... Rd4 is not the saving move: 74. Rf3 Rd7 75. Re3 should win for white.)
74. Ra4 Kb5
75. Re4 Ka6
76. Kh6 Rxa5
(76. ... Kb7 leaves white with a winning position.)
77. Re5 Ra1
78. Kxh5 Rg1
79. Rg5 Rh1
(79. ... Rd1 does not win a prize because of 80. Rf5 Rd7 81. Kh6 Kb6 82. Kg7
winning the f7 pawn, and the h4 pawn will soon cost black a rook.)
80. Rf5 Kb6
81. Rxf7 Kc6
(81. ... Kc5 doesn't get the bull off the ice: 82. f5 Kd5 83. Kg5 Rg1+ 84. Kf6
Rh1 85. Rh7 Rc1 86. h5 Rc6+ 87. Kg5 Rc2 88. Kg6 Rc3 89. Rh6 Rg3+ 90. Kf7 Ke5
91. f6 Rg5 92. Ke7 Kd5 93. f7 Re5+ 94. Kf6 Re4 95. Kg7 Re7 96. Rf6 Kc4 97. Kg6
Re3 98. Rf4+ Kd5 99. h6 Re6+ 100. Kg5 Re5+ 101. Rf5 Rxf5+ 102. Kxf5 Kc4 103.
f8=Q Kb5 104. h7 Kb6 105. Qc8 Kb5 106. h8=Q Ka4 107. Qb7 Ka3 108. Qa1#.)
82. Re7
(Black resigned. White can win with either (a) 82. Re7 Kd6 83. Re4 Kd5 84. Re8
Rf1 85. Kg5 Rg1+ 86. Kf5 Rh1 87. Rh8 Kd4 88. Kf6 Rf1 89. f5 Ke4 90. Rh5 Rf4 91.
Ke6 Kd3 92. f6 Re4+ 93. Kf5 Ra4 94. Rh8 Ra5+ 95. Kg6 Ra6 96. Re8 Kc4 97. h5 Ra2
98. f7 Rg2+ 99. Kh6 Rf2 100. Rc8+ Kd5 101. Rd8+ Kc4 102. Rf8 Rf3 103. Rc8+ Kd4
104. Rd8+ Ke5 105. Re8+ Kd5 106. Rd8+ Ke6 107. f8=Q Rxf8 108. Rxf8 Kd6 109. Kg7
Kd5 110. h6 Kd6 111. h7 Kc6 112. Rf5 Kd7 113. h8=Q Ke6 114. Qf8 Kd7 115. Rf6
Kc7 116. Qe7+ Kb8 117. Rf8#; or (b) 82. Rg7 Kd5 83. Kg5 Rh2 84. h5 Rg2+ 85. Kf6
Rc2 86. h6 Rc6+ 87. Kg5 Rc2 88. h7 Rg2+ 89. Kf6 Rh2 90. f5 Rh1 91. Re7 Kc4 92.
Kg7 Rg1+ 93. Kf8 Rh1 94. f6 Rh4 95. Kg8 Rd4 96. Rc7+ Kd3 97. Rc8 Rg4+ 98. Kf7
Rh4 99. Rd8+ Ke4 100. Re8+ Kf5 101. Kg7 Rxh7+ 102. Kxh7 Kxf6 103. Kg8 Kg5 104.
Rf8 Kh6 105. Kf7 Kg5 106. Ke6 Kg4 107. Ke5 Kg3 108. Ke4 Kg2 109. Ke3 Kg3 110.
Rf4 Kg2 111. Rf3 Kg1 112. Rg3+ Kh1 113. Kf2 Kh2 114. Rf3 Kh1 115. Rh3#.)
1-0
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