CHESS FUNDAMENTALS - Capablanca E-Book

Jose Raul Capablanca

• Herausgeber: Lebooks Editora
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 179

Beschreibung

Jose Raul Capablanca (Havana, 1888 - New York, 1942) was a Cuban chess player who became the World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927. Capablanca learned to play chess at the age of four by observing his father's technique, and he became a legend in the world of chess. Originally written in English with the title "Chess Fundamentals" by Capablanca, is a treatise on the basic principles of the game, presented with remarkable precision and clarity, and developed and applied in a series of games commented on by the champion himself.

Leseprobe

José Raul Capablanca

CHESS FUNDAMENTALS

1a edition

Preface

José Raul Capablanca (Havana, 1888 - Nova York, 1942) was a Cuban chess player who became the World Chess Champion from 1921 to 1927. Capablanca learned to play chess at the age of four by observing his father's technique and went on to become a legend in the world of chess.

Capablanca is still considered one of the greatest players of all time, particularly recognized for his quick judgment, extremely low error rate, high quality in endgames, and positional style. He is also known for his natural talent and the little time he spent preparing for tournaments.

Originally written in English under the title "Chess Fundamentals" by Capablanca, this work is a treatise on the basic principles of the game, presented with remarkable precision and clarity. The book includes a series of annotated games played by Capablanca himself, where he applies and develops these principles. The great master Botvinnik considers Capablanca's "Chess Fundamentals" to be the best chess book ever written due to the quality of its teachings.

It is truly an excellent read for chess enthusiasts.

LeBooks Edition

Table of Contents

Forewords

CHAPTER I - First Principles, Endings, Middle game and Openings

CHAPTER 2 - Endgame Principles

CHAPTER 3: - Planning a Win in Middle game Play

CHAPTER 4: General Theory

CHAPTER 5: Endgame Strategy

CHAPTER 6: Further Openings and Middle games

CHAPTER 7: Illustrative Games

Forewords

Who was Capablanca?

Jose Raul Capablanca was a Cuban chess player who was born on November 19, 1888, in the Castle of the Prince, a military installation in Havana. He was the second son of Jose Maria Capablanca Fernandez, a Spanish army officer, and Matilde Maria Graupera Marin, a Catalan woman from Matanzas.

According to his own account, Capablanca learned to play chess at the age of four by observing his father playing with friends. During one of the games, his father, who was an assistant to General Francisco de Paula Lono Perez, made an illegal move with his knight. Capablanca accused him of cheating and proceeded to demonstrate what he had done. He then played a game of chess with his father and defeated him.

When Capablanca turned five, his father started taking him to the Havana Chess Club. The best players in the club were unable to defeat him even when he played without a queen. In December 1901, at the age of thirteen, he defeated the Cuban national champion Juan Corzo with a score of 4 wins, 3 losses, and 6 draws, becoming the champion of Cuba.

Towards the Top

He completed his studies at the Matanzas High School. His family did not have the resources to send him to study abroad, but due to his good academic results, his patron Ramon Pelayo de la Torriente decided to finance his education in the United States, with the expectation that Capablanca would later manage his prosperous sugar business in Cuba. He attended the Woody Cliff School in New Jersey and initially planned to study chemical engineering at Columbia University. However, his passion for chess constantly distracted him, and he only completed the first two years of his studies.

In 1905, he started frequenting the Manhattan Chess Club. On the night of April 6, 1906, he participated in a lightning tournament where he defeated the great Emanuel Lasker in successive elimination matches, astonishing everyone and winning the tournament. Lasker shook his hand and said, "You are an exceptional young man, you have made no mistakes."

In his first international encounter, he faced the American master Eugene Delmar and won all the games, despite giving him a pawn and move advantage.

Between late 1908 and 1909, Capablanca embarked on a prolonged tour of the United States. Out of a total of 734 games played, he won 703, drew 19, and suffered only 12 defeats.

In 1909, at the age of 20, Capablanca won a match against the American champion Frank Marshall (+8 -1 =14). Marshall's persistence allowed the young Capablanca to participate in the San Sebastian tournament in Spain in 1911. It was one of the most important competitions of the time, with all the great players of the world present except the reigning world champion, Emmanuel Lasker. At the start of the tournament, Osip Bernstein and Aron Nimzowitsch objected to Capablanca's presence, arguing that he had not yet won any major tournaments. However, after Capablanca won his first game against Bernstein (a game that would later be recognized as a brilliant masterpiece), Bernstein acknowledged his talent and said he wouldn't be surprised if Capablanca ended up winning the tournament.

After a move during a game in the rapid chess variant, Nimzowitsch took offense to a comment from Capablanca, to which he responded, "Players without a track record should keep their mouths shut in the presence of their superiors." In response, Capablanca challenged Nimzowitsch to face him in a series of rapid games, which he easily won. The masters present at the scene concluded that the young Cuban was unbeatable in the rapid variant, a distinction that would remain with him until the end of his life. Capablanca ultimately went on to win the championship (once again against Nimzowitsch), using an opening highly admired by Mikhail Botvinnik, and astonishing the chess world by finishing with a score of +6 -1 =7, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Carl Schlechter, and Siegbert Tarrasch.

In 1911, he challenged Lasker for the World Chess Championship. The German accepted the challenge but proposed 17 conditions for the match. Capablanca disagreed with some of them, and they did not reach an agreement.

In 1913, he played in Havana and finished second behind Frank Marshall, having lost one of the games against the American after having a winning position. Reuben Fine claimed that Capablanca had demanded the mayor to remove all spectators so they wouldn't see him in a bad mood while losing. This story has circulated in books and on the internet. However, Edward G. Winter's book documents that Fine's story has no foundation. It instead demonstrates that the 600 spectators present, who naturally supported their compatriot, gave Marshall a strong ovation. Marshall's own notes corroborate this version: when he heard the crowd's cheering, he believed they were going to attack him, so he asked for a security escort to quickly take him to his hotel. He was later told what had actually happened.

Immediately after this, Capablanca achieved a result of +13 -0 =0 in a tournament in New York, although Oldrich Duras was the only International Grandmaster among all his rivals.

In September 1913, he secured a job at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The average salary provided by this job allowed him to continue enjoying his passion for chess and undertake some trips abroad in search of new challenges. For many years, he was the most famous Cuban.

Shortly afterward, he played a series of games in Europe against the best players of the time. In Berlin, he defeated Jacques Mieses and Richard Teichmann. In St. Petersburg, he played a series of six games, two against Alexander Alekhine, two against Yevgeny Znosko-Borovsky, and two against Fedor Duz-Khotimirsky, losing only once to Znosko-Borovsky and winning the rest. These were his first encounters with Alekhine, whom he outperformed. Then, in Riga, he defeated Nimzowitsch in an elegant opposite-colored bishops ending. In Moscow, he defeated Bernstein in a game that appears in many anthologies as a gem due to the winning move 29...Db2!! and the new strategy of hanging pawns. He also outperformed Bogatyrchuk in Kiev, among others. In Vienna, he defeated Richard Réti in a game and Savielly Tartakower 1.5-0.5. Capablanca also gave a large number of simultaneous games known for their speed and numerous victories.

In the great tournament of 1914 in St. Petersburg, with the participation of most of the world's top players (excluding those from the Austro-Hungarian Empire), Capablanca encountered the great Lasker for the first time in a regular tournament (the Cuban had already won the final of the aforementioned lightning chess tournament in 1906, in which he innovated with a now-famous final composition). Capablanca took a one-and-a-half-point lead in the preliminary rounds and forced Lasker to fight for a draw. He again won the brilliancy prize against Bernstein and had some important victories against David Janowsky, Nimzowitsch, and Alekhine.

However, he fell victim to a notorious improvement in Lasker's performance in the second half of the tournament, which included a famous victory by the German. He finished second, behind Lasker with 13 points against Lasker's 13.5, but ahead of Alekhine, who finished in third place. At the conclusion of the tournament, Tsar Nicholas II proclaimed the five prize winners (Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tarrasch, and Marshall) as "Grandmasters of Chess."

World Champion

In 1920, Lasker realized that Capablanca was becoming too strong and decided to resign the title in his favor, adding, "You have won the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." The Cuban preferred to win it in a match, but Lasker insisted that he was now the challenger. In 1921, they played the championship in Havana, where Capablanca defeated the German without losing a single game: +4 -0 =10. It would not be until eight decades later that this would be repeated when Vladimir Kramnik defeated Garry Kasparov +2 -0 =13 in 2000.

The new world champion, Capablanca, dominated in London in 1922. There were a number of strong players, and it was believed that the champion should not be able to evade challenges to his title as had happened in the past. In this tournament, some of the best players of the time (Alexander Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubov, Geza Maroczy, Richard Reti, Akiba Rubinstein, Tartakower, and Milan Vidmar) gathered to discuss rules for future world championships. Among other things, one of the conditions proposed by the champion was that the title contender would have to raise at least ten thousand dollars for the prize.

In the following years, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch challenged Capablanca but failed to raise the money. He finished second in New York in 1924, once again ahead of Alekhine. In 1925, he finished third in Moscow behind Efim Bogoljubov and Lasker. But in 1927, he dominated the tournament in New York against six players without losing a game and with 2.5 points more than Alekhine.

During this period, there were also several changes in the master's personal life. In December 1921, he married Gloria Simoni Betancourt. They had a son, Jose Raul, in 1923, and a daughter, Gloria, in 1925, but the marriage ended in divorce. Around the same time, he also lost his father and mother.

Loss of the Title

Success in New York in 1927 was exceptional: Capablanca finished undefeated in a quadruple round-robin with six of the world's top players, with 2.5 points above the second-place finisher (Alekhine). Capablanca also outperformed the Muscovite in their first encounter, won the brilliancy prize for the most brilliant game against Rudolf Spielmann, and won two interesting games against Nimzowitsch.

This made him the clear favorite for the championship match against Alekhine, who had never been able to defeat Capablanca until then. The challenge was backed by a group of Argentine businessmen, and the president of Argentina guaranteed the funds.

The proximity of the match led to a series of predictions about its outcome: Austrian grandmaster Rudolf Spielmann declared, "Alekhine will not win a single game"; according to Vidmar, "Alekhine doesn't have a shadow of a chance"; Bogoljubov agreed, "The final result will be 6 x 3 in favor of Capablanca"; Nimzowitsch and Maroczy also favored Capablanca's victory.

Capablanca himself felt confident of his triumph and, true to his style, did not prepare for the match, relying on his unique ability to solve problems directly in front of the chessboard. Instead, driven by his work responsibilities as the representative of Cuban chess, he participated in an exhibition match tour in Brazil.

In a diametrically opposite strategy, his opponent dedicated himself to the complex task of studying with unprecedented depth the underlying patterns in Capablanca's style of play, his recurring moves, and responses to complicated problems, thus inaugurating a working method that is now the norm among the top players in the chess world.

The match was played in Buenos Aires in September. The first player to achieve six victories would win. Alekhine played with patience and solidity and led Capablanca to lose the first game in a mediocre manner. He then gained an advantage by winning games 3 and 7, which were more in Alekhine's attacking style, and later lost games 11 and 12. Capablanca tried to convince Alekhine to cancel the match after a long series of draws, but the Russian refused and ultimately emerged victorious with a score of +6 -3 =25, in the longest world championship match in history, excluding the 1985 championship between Karpov and Kasparov.

Alekhine did not accept to play a rematch, contrary to one of the conditions of the match. Despite the collapse of the financial markets in 1929, Alekhine continued to insist on the conditions agreed upon in London, namely that Capablanca was required to raise $10,000. The challenger failed to meet this condition. Instead, Alekhine played two world championship matches against Efim Bogoljubov, who was a good chess player but not a threat to him in a long match. During his reign, Alekhine refused to play in the same tournaments as his rival.

Post-championship

Capablanca won several strong tournaments after losing the world title and had hopes that his results would eventually force Alekhine to play a rematch for the world championship, which did not happen. In 1931, he defeated the great Dutch player Max Euwe with a score of +2 -0 =8, after which he stopped playing at the highest level for a while, only participating in less significant games at the Manhattan Chess Club.

Reuben Fine, an extraordinary rapid chess player, recalls playing several speed chess matches against Alekhine during this period, with very close results. In comparison, the few times he faced the Cuban in this variant, Capablanca "crushed him mercilessly."

In 1934, Capablanca started playing in major tournaments again. Olga Chagodayev, whom he married in 1938, inspired him to compete once more. Alekhine lost the title to Euwe in 1935, partly due to his alcohol problems. This gave Capablanca new hopes of regaining the title, and he won in Moscow in 1936, ahead of Botvinnik and Lasker. In the great Nottingham tournament in 1936, he tied with Botvinnik, ahead of Euwe, Lasker, Alekhine, and behind the emerging talents of Reuben Fine, Samuel Reshevsky, and Salomon Flohr.

This was Capablanca's first game against Alekhine since their World Championship match, and the Cuban genius did not miss the opportunity to avenge his defeat. Despite having an inferior position, he managed to trap the Russian in such an elaborate trap that none of the other players (except Lasker) realized where the loser had made the mistake.

Capablanca commented on this particular game in "El legado de Capablanca: sus últimas presentaciones" (pages 111-112), expressing his admiration for Lasker's cunning, even at the age of sixty. However, Capablanca does not mention his opponent, Alekhine. The relationship between the two was one of deep mutual dislike, to the point where they rarely shared a chessboard for more than a few seconds: each would make their move and then get up to walk around.

In 1937, unlike the situation between Alekhine and Capablanca, Euwe fulfilled his obligation and granted Alekhine a rematch. Alekhine stopped drinking, prepared well, and easily regained the first place. After this, there was not much hope for Capablanca to compete for the title again. Alekhine did not play any more championship matches and died in 1946. The absolute and arbitrary control of the title by the reigning champion prompted FIDE to regulate the mechanism for selecting challengers to ensure that the best contender had the opportunity to reach the final.

Shortly after, Capablanca's health began to deteriorate. He suffered a minor stroke during the AVRO Tournament in 1938 and had the worst result of his career, finishing seventh out of eight players. However, even in this stage of decline, he was able to produce extraordinary results. At the Chess Olympiad in 1939 in Buenos Aires, representing Cuba, he won the individual gold medal as the best first board player, ahead of Alekhine and Paul Keres.

On March 7, 1942, Capablanca was at the Manhattan Chess Club in New York. He was in a good mood, joking about the moves being played on the chessboard. Suddenly, surprising those around him, he stood up exclaiming, "Help me take off my coat..." and then collapsed in the arms of the chess players who approached him. He was later taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he arrived in a comatose state and passed away at 5:30 a.m. on the 8th. The direct cause of his death was a cerebral hemorrhage resulting from hypertension, a condition he had been suffering from for quite some time. Interestingly, exactly one year earlier, Emanuel Lasker had also passed away at the same hospital. Capablanca's death caused great sorrow in the chess world. The most important grandmasters of the time, including Alekhine, expressed their condolences and referred to him as the greatest chess player of all time.

José Capablanca was buried with great honors in the Colon Cemetery in Havana. General Fulgencio Batista, the dictator of Cuba, personally took care of the funeral arrangements. Capablanca passed away at the age of 53 years and 109 days. In 1951, Cuba issued a 25-cent stamp with his portrait, the first stamp featuring a chess master.

Assessment of his career

Throughout his career, Capablanca suffered less than fifty losses in official games. In official games, he lost 35 times, which is 6% of his total games. He remained undefeated for over eight years, from February 10, 1916, when he lost from a superior position against Oscar Chajes, until March 21, 1924, when he succumbed to Richard Réti in the New York International Tournament. This record consists of 63 games, including the highly challenging London tournament in 1922 and the World Championship match against Lasker. In fact, only Marshall, Lasker, Alekhine, and Rudolf Spielmann won two or more official games against a mature Capablanca, although the overall scores in their respective careers are negative (Capablanca defeated Marshall +20 -2 =28, Lasker +6 -2 =16, Alekhine +9 -7 =33), with the exception of Spielmann who achieved a balanced score (+2 -2 =8). Among the world elite, only Paul Keres had a narrow margin in his favor (+1 -0 =5), a victory that occurred when Capablanca was 50 years old, in the decline of his career. His Elo rating has been calculated at 2725.

Capablanca did not establish a school of his own, but his style was highly influential in the games of World Champions Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov. Mikhail Botvinnik wrote about how much he learned from Capablanca and specifically mentioned that Alekhine also owed a great deal of his positional play to the Cuban, which they learned during their frequent meetings before their rivalry for the world title turned them into enemies.

About the book

Chess Fundamentals is a treatise on the basic principles of the game of chess, presented with remarkable precision and clarity. The book includes a series of annotated games by the champion himself, where the principles are developed and applied.

"Fundamentos del Ajedrez" by José Raúl Capablanca is not a book for learning chess from scratch, but it can be highly useful for beginners who already have a basic understanding of the rules of the game and Algebraic Notation. Even more advanced players can refine their game with the multiple resources and games explained in the book.

The book consists of 6 chapters, each covering different topics explained throughout the book. It concludes with a selection of games, including 14 games by the champion analyzed and commented on by Capablanca himself.

Botvinnik considers Capablanca's "Fundamentos del Ajedrez" as the best chess book ever written. In this text, the grandmaster emphasizes that while the bishop is generally stronger than the knight, the combination of the queen and knight is generally superior to the combination of the queen and bishop. The diagonal movement of the bishop simply imitates that of the queen, while the knight complements it by immediately reaching positions that are inaccessible to the queen. Botvinnik credits Capablanca as the first to make this observation.

Author’s Preface

Chess Fundamentals was first published thirteen years ago. Since then, there have appeared at different times several articles dealing with the so-called Hypermodem Theory.

Those who have read the articles may well have thought that something new, of vital importance, had been discovered. The fact is that the Hypermodem Theory is merely the application, during the opening stages generally, of the same old principles through the medium of somewhat new tactics. There has been no change in the fundamentals. The change has been only a change of form, and not always for the best at that.

In chess the tactics may change but the strategic fundamental principles are always the same, so that Chess Fundamentals is as good now as when published for the first time. It will be as good a hundred years from now as long in fact as the laws and rules of the game remain what they are at present.