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José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (November 19, 1888 - March 8, 1942) was a famous Cuban chess player in the early to mid twentieth century. He was World Champion, between 1921 and 1927.
Capablanca, born in Havana, Cuba, was a chess prodigy having beaten the Cuban national champion at the age of 12. His brilliance was noted at an early age, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever. He is especially renowned for his quickness of judgement, freedom from making mistakes, endgame skill, and positional style.
He learned the rules of the game at the age of four by watching his father play. Even later, as a mature master, he very much remained a "natural" player, spending very little time preparing for his tournament appearances.
His bitter rival Alexander Alekhine, who had beaten Capablanca to become the fourth World Champion, wrote on Capablanca's death, "With his death, we have lost a very great chess genius whose like we shall never see again."
In his entire chess career, Capablanca suffered fewer than fifty losses. He was undefeated for eight consecutive years, from 1916 to 1923 inclusive, a 63-game winning streak.
Capablanca predicted that chess would in the near future die a death of draws, meaning that masters could, if they wanted to, draw every game. This has not yet come to pass, though it has come very close to it. For example, in the first championship match between Karpov and Kasparov, the latter, on the verge of defeat, was able to switch to a less aggressive strategy and produce such a long string of draws that the match had to be annulled, exactly the sort of situation that Capablanca deplored and predicted chess was going towards.
To change such a fate, Capablanca suggested a new variation on chess, called "Capablanca Chess", to be played on a 10x8 board. His idea was that the added pieces and board size would increase the complexity of chess and allow the strongest player more opportunity to turn the game in his favor.
In the match that cost him the championship, Capablanca tried to get Alekhine to annul the match at one point, when both players were locked in a series of draws. Alekhine refused, and eventually prevailed.
See also: List of notable chess players, List of chess world championship matches.
Writings of Jose Raul Capablanca
- Chess Fundamentals by Jose Raul Capablanca (Everyman Chess, October 1994, ISBN 1857440730)
- The Immortal Games of Capablanca by Fred Reinfeld & Jose Raul Capablanca (Dover, February 1991, ISBN 0486263339)
Further reading - Capablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess by Harry Golombek (London, Bell, 1947). Available on Batsford reprint; 1971. ISBN 1879479478
- Unknown Capablanca by David Hooper & Dale Brandreth; Dover; July 1993. ISBN 0486276147
- Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games by Irving Chernev; Dover; August 1995. ISBN 0486286746
External links
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