NUMERO UNO
1. José Raúl Capablanca (1888-1942) from Cuba
World Champion for 6 years 1921-1927
José Raúl Capablanca, the second surviving son of a Spanish army officer, was born in Havana, Cuba 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 13 he beat the Cuban national champion.
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.
Capablanca played in numerous simultaneous exhibitions, sometimes playing hundreds of opponents at a time and usually winning 95 percent or more of the games. In one exhibition in the U.S., he played 103 simultaneous games over six hours, winning 102, drawing one, losing ZERO (99.5%). Even when he played against other Grandmasters of chess, he usually won by wide margins.
Unlike other chess champions and Grandmasters, Capablanca rarely studied his opponents’ previous games and strategies and instead relied on his natural chess talent. He is listed as the greatest natural genius at chess by the authors of the famous book, The Complete Chess Addict. Capablanca is at the number one spot on my all-time list of Greatest chess players for the above reasons, plus:
* He was a chess prodigy, defeating his national champion at the age of 13
* In 1918 he played in a tournament in New York where the average rating of his opponents was 2682. Capablanca won with 6 wins, zero losses, and zero draws.
* When he won the 1921 World Championship match against Dr. Lasker, he did so by beating him with four wins, ten draws, and ZERO losses
* From 1916 to 1924 he was undefeated, playing 64 games against Grandmasters and winning 40 and drawing 24 (+40-0=24)
* Even Alekhine, who defeated Capablanca in 1927 to take over the World Champion title, still had a lifetime minus (more losses than wins) to Capablanca (+7-9=33)
* A computer analysis study of the past world champions’ moves and games, showed that Capablanca had the greatest strength of all the past world champions (IGCA Journal, June 2006)
* Capablanca successfully predicted that chess would become inundated with draws and he is the first known world champion to propose a chess variant
Capablanca 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 (a chancellor that moves as both a rook and knight and an archbishop that can move as a bishop and knight). He thought this would prevent technical knowledge from becoming such a dominant factor, at least for a few centuries and he is correct, that since there is still the same starting position, opening theories would eventually develop even with this variant. Unlike some other later world champions who have proposed some variants after losing the World Champion title, Capablanca proposed his chess variant while he was still world champion.
1921 World Championship match, game 10
Dr. Emanuel Lasker, World Champion, playing white
Jose Raul Capablanca, playing black
1.d4 {Notes by J. R. Capablanca} d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5
Be7 5.e3 O-O 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Qc2 c5 8.Rd1 Qa5 9.Bd3 h6 10.Bh4
cxd4 11.exd4 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nb6 13.Bb3 Bd7 14.O-O {The
development is now complete. White has a lone d Pawn, but, on
the otherhand, Black is somewhat hampered in the maneuvering
of his pieces.} Rac8 15.Ne5 Bb5 {With this move and the
following, Black brings about an exchange of pieces, which
leaves him with a free game.} 16.Rfe1 Nbd5 17.Bxd5 Nxd5
18.Bxe7 Nxe7 19.Qb3 Bc6 {Not Ba6 because of Nd7, followed by
Nc5.} 20.Nxc6 bxc6 21.Re5 Qb6 22.Qc2 Rfd8 23.Ne2 {Probably
White's first mistake. He wants to take a good defensive
position, but he should instead have counter-attacked with Na4
and Rc5.} Rd5 24.Rxd5 cxd5 {Black has now the open file and
his left side Pawn position is very solid, while White has a
weak d-Pawn. The apparently weak Black a Pawn is not actually
weak because White has no way to attack it.} 25.Qd2 Nf5 26.b3
{In order to free the Queen from the defense of the b-Pawn and
also to prevent Rc4 at any stage.} h5 { In order to prevent g4
at a later stage. Also to make a demonstration on the king’s
side, prepatory to further operations on the other side.}
27.h3 {Weak, but White wants to be ready to play g4.} h4 {To
tie up White's King side. Later on it will be seen that White
is compelled to play g4 and thus further weaken his game.}
28.Qd3 Rc6 29.Kf1 g6 30.Qb1 Qb4 31.Kg1 {This was White's
sealed move. It was not the best move, but it is doubtful if
White has any good system of defense.} a5 32.Qb2 a4 {Now Black
exchanges the pawn and leaves White with a weak, isolated
b-Pawn, which will fall sooner or later.} 33.Qd2 Qxd2 34.Rxd2
axb3 35.axb3 Rb6 {In order to force Rd3 and thus prevent the
White rook from supporting his b-Pawn by Rb2 later on. It
means practically tying up the White rook to the defense of
his two weak pawns. } 36.Rd3 Ra6 37.g4 hxg3 38.fxg3 Ra2 39.Nc3
Rc2 40.Nd1 {The alternative Na4, was not any better. White’s
game is doomed. } Ne7 41.Nc3 Rc1+ 42.Kf2 Nc6 43.Nd1 Rb1 {Not
Nb4 because of 44. Rd2 Rb1 45. Nb2 Rxb2 46.Rxb2 Nd3+ 47.Ke2
Nxb2 48.Kd2, and Black could not win. } 44.Ke2 {Not a mistake,
but played deliberately. White had no way to protect his
b-Pawn.} Rxb3 45.Ke3 Rb4 46.Nc3 Ne7 47.Ne2 Nf5+ 48.Kf2 g5
49.g4 Nd6 50.Ng1 Ne4+ 51.Kf1 Rb1+ 52.Kg2 Rb2+ 53.Kf1 Rf2+
54.Ke1 Ra2 {All these moves have a meaning. The student should
carefully study them.} 55.Kf1 Kg7 56.Re3 Kg6 57.Rd3 f6 58.Re3
Kf7 59.Rd3 Ke7 60.Re3 Kd6 61.Rd3 Rf2+ 62.Ke1 Rg2 63.Kf1 Ra2
64.Re3 e5 {This was my sealed move and unquestionably the best
way to win.} 65.Rd3 {If 65.Ne2 Nd2+ 66.Kf2 e4 67.Rc3 Nf3
68.Ke3 Ne1 69.Kf2 Ng2. and White would be helpless. If 65.Nf3
Nd2+ exchanging knights wins.} exd4 66.Rxd4 Kc5 67.Rd1 d4
68.Rc1+ Kd5 {There is nothing left. The Black pawn will
advance and White will have to give up his Knight for it. This
is the finest win of the match and probably took away from
Dr. Lasker his last real hope of winning or drawing the
match.} 0-1
Capablanca wins a strategic masterpiece
“No other master has sustained so few losses over such a long period of time. When asked how many moves he looked ahead his reply was ‘
One move, the best move’, and this probably holds more than a grain of truth. Capablanca was renowned for his ability to instantly and accurately evaluate chess positions. Perhaps, of all the chess players through history only he had such an accurate evaluation function. Capablanca liked to control the position and to focus only on elements he felt were necessary to achieve victory. His endgame technique was legendary. It is often said that you can discover the true strength of a player by looking at how he handles endgames. If this is the case then Capablanca was the strongest player of all time.” (from the Chyss website, where Capablanca is also listed as the Greatest chess player of all-time)
As a player who defied tradition (advocated for chess variants) , who was well-rounded and participated in other sports (baseball), and focused on the present with the emphasis on one move at a time; Capablanca may be the chess champion who is the most Dhamma-like. Victor Korchnoi, who was never World Champion, but came very close several times, is perhaps the most Dhamma-like Grandmaster since he practiced yoga and meditation and used it to almost make an incredible come from behind victory against Anatoly Karpov in the World Championship match of 1978.