José Raúl Capablanca

José Raúl Capablanca y Grau Pera ( born November 19, 1888 in Havana, † March 8, 1942 in New York City ) was a Cuban chess player and diplomat. From 1921 to 1927 he was the third world chess champion.

Life

Capablanca was the son of a Spanish colonial official. He was a child prodigy and learned to play chess was four years old. He is said to have taught this by merely Watching his father at the games themselves, but this was directed by Capablanca himself in later years to the realm of fable. But the fact is that he already had a very young age for a considerable playing strength.

Capablanca won a match against the Cuban national champion Juan Corzo 4-3 at 6 sheds at the age of 12 years. Later he studied at Columbia University in New York chemistry and sports. In 1909 he won a competition against the leading American champion Frank Marshall clearly with 8-1 draw at 14. The international breakthrough came at the tournament in San Sebastian in 1911, which he won against known masters such as Akiba Rubinstein, Milan Vidmar and Carl Schlechter. From 1913 he was in the diplomatic service of Cuba, but could in fact entirely devoted to chess.

In April / May 1914, the chess history took place in St. Petersburg, one of the most important tournaments. Capablanca reached a margin of 1 ½ points over world champion Emanuel Lasker in general tournament. Lasker made ​​the winning tournament of the best five players, however, the residue up for it, Capablanca defeated and was 13 ½ points from 18 games, half a point ahead of Capablanca, tournament winner.

Capablanca won in 1921 in a match against Lasker (4 wins, 10 draws, no defeats ) the world title. This he lost in 1927 in Buenos Aires to Alexander Alekhine (3-6 at 25 drawn games ). At a rematch did not happen anymore, since Capablanca and Alekhine could not agree on the modalities; Some authors say that Alekhine was avoiding a rematch aware.

Capablanca was not until the mid- 1930s the world's best. He won in 1936 heavily infested tournaments in Moscow (sole winner against Botvinnik ) and Nottingham ( shared with Botvinnik ). During the AVRO tournament in 1938, he suffered a first mild stroke, was adversely affected and finished only second to last place.

Capablanca married in 1921, his first wife Gloria Simioni y Betancourt, with which he had been made ​​known a few months before the marriage by the Cuban Minister Gonzalo de Quesada. She came from a family of Cuban patriots who had been honored for their achievements in the War of Independence. Marriage, from the emerged two children, divorced in 1937. On 20 October 1938 he married his second wife in New York Olga Chagodaef (born Choubaroff ) ( born September 23, 1898 in Georgia, † April 24, 1994 in Manhattan), a Russian princess, whom he had met in 1934. In 1942, Capablanca suffered when lapwings at the Manhattan Chess Club a further stroke from which he never recovered. He died in the same hospital as Lasker a year earlier. His final resting place is located on the Columbus cemetery of Havana.

Game

Capablanca's style was very solid. He played with great ease and was in his best period 1914-1924 as hard to beat. He himself claimed in playoffs up to 25 trains (not half moves ) ahead attribute. Because of its precise game Capablanca was also called the chess machine. From 1914 to 1927, he lost only five tournament games, serious games of 578 total only 36

In addition to its superb technology Capablanca was also known for his so-called " petites combinaisons ": high-modulus, not particularly complicated combinations that had to be seen far in advance but. An example from Capablanca's youth is his game against Ettlinger, which was played in 1907 in New York. In the diagram position, 1 ... Sa5 c4 followed a pawn to d5 activate the king over the field can Se3xc4 d5xc4 2 3 Tb4xc4 Ke6 -d5 4 Tc4 - c8 KD5 -e4 - e8 5 Rc8 Ke4 - d3 6 Te8xe2 f3xe2 superfluous characters were abgetauscht, the black king penetrated the position and supports the far advanced pawns. 7 Kd1 - e1 LB6 - c7 - 8 Ld2 f4 LC7 a5 9 Lf4 -d2 f5 - f4! A petite combinaison. White can not allow further advancement of this farmers still beat him with the rotor, since the farmer c3 depends. 10 g3xf4 La5 -d8 The Pointe, it threatens vital Lh4 matt. White gave up.

Capablanca was confident that chess will lose its charm if the future because of the high technique of the chess master most of the games ended in a draw ( " Remistod " the game of chess ). He therefore proposed a chess variant before on a larger board with extra characters to make the game more complicated. Although this variant did not prevail, some modern variations on traditional chess but to build on it. The further development, however, showed that Capablanca had underestimated the complexity of chess; today his vision of Remistods has not become reality.

Its highest historical Elo rating of 2877 Capablanca reached in May 1921, winning the world championship against Lasker.

Games

• Capablanca - Bernstein, San Sebastián 1911
• Lasker - Capablanca, St. Petersburg 1914
• Capablanca - Marshall, New York 1918
• Botvinnik - Capablanca, Rotterdam 1938

List of tournament and competition results

The Capablanca Hagenlocher legend

See The Hagen Punch Capablanca legend

Film

• Chess Fever (1925 ) with Capablanca as a supporting actor in the Filmhumoreske

Works

• My chess career (1920, dt: My chess career )
• Chess Fundamentals (1921, dt: Principles of Chess Strategy )
• A Primer of Chess (1935 )
• Ultimas lecciones (1942, dt: Last chess lessons )