Partidas inmortales capablanca biography

Cuban chess player (–)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Capablanca and the second or maternal family name is Graupera.

José Raúl Capablanca
Capablanca in
Full&#;name	José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera
Country	Cuba
Born	()19 November Havana, Captaincy General of Cuba, Spanish Empire
Died	8 March () (aged&#;53) New York City, US
World Champion	–

José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November – 8 March ) was a Cuban chess player who was the third world chess champion from to A chess prodigy, he is widely famous for his exceptional endgame ability and speed of play.

Capablanca was born in in the Castillo del Príncipe, Havana.^[1] He beat Cuban champion Juan Corzo in a match on 17 November , two days before his 13th birthday.^[2][3] His victory over Frank Marshall in a match earned him an invitation to the San Sebastián tournament, which he won ahead of players such as Akiba Rubinstein, Aron Nimzowitsch and Siegbert Tarrasch.

Over the next several years, Capablanca had a strong series of tournament results. After several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match with then world champion Emanuel Lasker, Capablanca finally won the world chess champion title from Lasker in Capablanca was undefeated from February 10, to March 21, , a period that included the world championship match with Lasker.

Capablanca beaten the title in to Alexander Alekhine, who had never defeated Capablanca before the match.

A chess study by CM RomanHerrmann Accessibility: Enable blind mode.

Following unsuccessful attempts to arrange a rematch over many years, relations between them became acrimonious. Capablanca continued his excellent tournament results in this period but withdrew from serious chess in He made a comeback in , with good results, but also showed symptoms of sky-high blood pressure.

He died in of a brain hemorrhage.

Capablanca excelled in simple positions and endgames; Bobby Fischer described him as possessing a "real soft touch". He could play tactical chess when necessary, and had good defensive technique.

Es ampliamente reconocido como uno de los mejores jugadores de todos los tiempos. Se trata sin duda de un logro sin precedentes en la historia de nuestro juego. Capablanca se impuso en ese encuentro de manera convincente. Capablanca se impuso con facilidad, obteniendo un resultado espectacular con 10,5 puntos sobre 11 posibles.

He wrote several chess books during his career, of which Chess Fundamentals was regarded by Mikhail Botvinnik as the top chess book ever written. Capablanca preferred not to present detailed analysis but focused on critical moments in a game.

His style of chess influenced the play of future world champions Bobby Fischer and Anatoly Karpov.

Biography and career

Childhood

José Raúl Capablanca, the second surviving son of a Spanish army officer, José María Capablanca, and a Spanish woman from Catalonia, Matilde María Graupera y Marín,^[4] was born in Havana on 19 November According to Capablanca, he learned to play chess at the age of four by watching his father play with friends, pointed out an illegal relocate by his father, and then beat his father.^[5] At the age of eight he was taken to Havana Chess Club, which had hosted many crucial contests, but on the suggestions of a doctor he was not allowed to play frequently.

Between November and December , he narrowly beat the Cuban Chess Champion, Juan Corzo, in a match.^[6][7][8] However, in April he came in fourth out of six in the National Championship, losing both his games with Corzo.^[8] In Capablanca easily passed the entrance examinations for Columbia College (New York), where he wished to play for Columbia's strong baseball team, and soon was starting shortstop on the freshman team.^[7] In the same year he joined the Manhattan Chess Club, and was soon recognized as the club's strongest player.^[6] He was particularly dominant in rapid chess, winning a tournament ahead of the reigning World Chess Champion, Emanuel Lasker, in ^[6] He represented Columbia on top board in intercollegiate team chess.^[9] In he left the university to zero in on chess.^[6][7]

According to Columbia University, Capablanca enrolled at Columbia's Educational facility of Mines, Engineering and Connection in September , to research chemical engineering.^[10] 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.

Early individual career

Capablanca's skill in rapid chess lent itself to simultaneous exhibitions, and his increasing reputation in these events led to a US-wide tour in ^[11] Playing games in 27 cities, he scored %—a much higher percentage than, for example, Géza Maróczy's 88% and Frank Marshall's 86% in This performance gained him sponsorship for an exhibition pair that year against Marshall, the US champion,^[12] who had won the 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.^[13] Capablanca defeat Marshall, 15–8 (8&#;wins, 1&#;loss, 14&#;draws)—a margin comparable to what Lasker achieved against Marshall (8&#;wins, no&#;losses, 7&#;draws) in winning his Society Championship match.

After the game, Capablanca said that he had never opened a book on chess openings.^[6][14] Following this fit, Chessmetrics rates Capablanca the world's third strongest player for most of the period from through ^[15]

Capablanca won six games and drew one in the Fresh York State Championship.

A chess prodigyhe is widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Over the next several years, Capablanca had a strong series of tournament results. After several unsuccessful tries to arrange a match with then world champion Emanuel LaskerCapablanca finally won the world chess champion title from Lasker in Capablanca was undefeated from February 10, to March 21,a period that included the world championship match with Lasker.

Both Capablanca and Charles Jaffe won their four games in the knock-out preliminaries and met in a match to decide the winner, who would be the first to win two games. The first game was drawn and Capablanca won the second and third games.

After another grueling series of simultaneous exhibitions,^[11] Capablanca placed second, with 9½ out of 12, in the National Tournament at New York, half a point behind Marshall, and half a point ahead of Charles Jaffe and Oscar Chajes.^[16][17] Marshall, invited to play in a tournament at San Sebastián, Spain, in , insisted that Capablanca also be allowed to play.^[18]

According to David Hooper and Ken Whyld, San Sebastián 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.^[19][20] At the beginning of the tournament, Ossip Bernstein and Aron Nimzowitsch objected to Capablanca's participation because he had not fulfilled the entry condition of winning at least third prize in two master tournaments.^[6] Capablanca won brilliantly against Bernstein in the very first round, more simply against Nimzowitsch,^[11] and astounded the chess planet by taking first place, with six wins, one loss and seven draws, ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Milan Vidmar, Marshall, Carl Schlechter and Siegbert Tarrasch, et al.^[6] His loss, to Rubinstein, was one of the most brilliant achievements of the latter's career.^[21] 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 acknowledged as a serious contender for the world championship.^[11]

World title contender

In , Capablanca challenged Lasker for the World Chess Championship. Lasker accepted his challenge while proposing 17 conditions for the connect.

Capablanca objected to some of the conditions, which favored Lasker, and the match did not take place.^[22][23]

In , Capablanca won a tournament in New York with 11/13, half a indicate ahead of Marshall.^[16][24] Capablanca then finished second to Marshall in Havana, scoring 10 out of 14 and losing one of their individual games.^[16][25] The spectators naturally favored their native hero, but sportingly gave Marshall "thunderous applause".^[25][26] In a tournament in New York in , at the Rice Chess Club, Capablanca won all 13 games.^[11][16]

In September , Capablanca accepted a occupation in the Cuban Foreign Office,^[6] which made him financially secure for life.^[20] Hooper and Whyld write, "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."^[27] His first instructions were to move to Saint Petersburg, where he was due to play in a major tournament.^[11] 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 four games.^[6][11] 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.^[6]

The St.

Petersburg chess tournament was the first in which Capablanca confronted Lasker under tournament conditions.^[11] This event was arranged in an unusual way: after a preliminary single round-robin tournament involving 11 players, the top five were to play a second stage in double round-robin format, with total scores from the preliminary tournament carried forward to the second contest.^[11] Capablanca placed first in the preliminary tournament, 1½ points ahead of Lasker, who was out of train and had made a shaky start.

Despite a determined attempt by Lasker, Capablanca still seemed on course for ultimate victory. But 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 Tarrasch.^[11]Lasker then won his ultimate game, against Marshall, thus finishing half a point ahead of Capablanca and 3½ ahead of Alekhine.^[6][28] Alekhine commented:

His actual, incomparable gifts first began to make themselves known at the time of St.

Petersburg, , 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.

Capablanca jugó partidas oficiales, ganando , entablando y perdiendo 35, el 6% del total.

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.^[29]

After the breakdown of his attempt to negotiate a title match in , Capablanca drafted rules for the conduct of future challenges, which were agreed to by the other top players at the 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, (worth about £26, or $44, in terms^[30]).^[23]

During World War I

World War I began in midsummer , bringing international chess to a virtual halt for more than four years.^[11] Capablanca won tournaments in New York in , , (with preliminary and final round-robin stages) and , losing only one game in this sequence.^[31] In the event, Marshall, playing Black against Capablanca, unleashed a complicated counterattack, later known as the Marshall Attack, against the Ruy Lopez opening.

It is often said that Marshall had kept this secret for operate against Capablanca since his defeat in their match;^[32] however, Edward Winter discovered several games between and where Marshall passed up opportunities to use the Marshall Attack against Capablanca; and an game that used a similar line.^[33] This gambit is so complex that Garry Kasparov used to avoid it,^[34] and Marshall had the advantage of using a .

Nevertheless, Capablanca set up a way through the complications and won.^[20] Capablanca was challenged to a match in by Borislav Kostić, who had arrive through the tournament undefeated to take second place.

The correspond was to go to the first player to win eight games, but Kostić resigned the match after losing the first five.^[6][35] Capablanca considered that he was at his strongest around this time.^[11][36]

World Champion

The Hastings Victory tournament of was the first international competition on Allied soil since The field was not strong,^[11] and Capablanca won with 10½ points out of 11, one point ahead of Kostić.^[31]

In January , Lasker and Capablanca signed an agreement to perform a World Championship match in , noting that Capablanca was not free to play in Because of the delay, Lasker insisted that if he resigned the title, then Capablanca should become World Champion.

Lasker had previously included in his accord 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.^[37] Lasker then resigned the title to Capablanca on 27 June , saying, "You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." When Cuban enthusiasts raised $20, to fund the match provided it was played in Havana, Lasker agreed in August 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.^[37]

The correspond was played in March–April ; Lasker resigned it after 14 games, having lost four and won none.^[37]Reuben Fine and Harry Golombek attributed the one-sided finding to Lasker's mysteriously poor form.^[31][38]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.^[11] 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 20 years younger, a slightly stronger player, and had more recent competitive practice.^[39]

Edward Winter, after a lengthy summary of the facts, concludes, "The press was dismissive of Lasker's wish to confer the title on Capablanca, even questioning the legality of such an initiative, and in it regarded the Cuban as having become society champion by dint of defeating Lasker over the board."^[37] Reference works invariably give Capablanca's reign as titleholder as beginning in , not ^[40][41][42]

Capablanca won the London tournament of with 13 points in 15 games with no losses, ahead of Alekhine with 11½, Milan Vidmar (11), and Akiba Rubinstein (10½).^[43] 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 2½ hours; the champion must defend his title within one year of receiving a doubt from a recognized master; the champion would decide the meet of the match; the champion was not obliged to agree a challenge for a purse of less than US$10, (about $, in terms^[44]); 20% of the purse was to be paid to the title holder and the remainder divided, 60% to the winner of the match, and 40% to the loser; the highest purse command must be accepted.^[45] Alekhine, Efim Bogoljubow, Géza Maróczy, Richard Réti, Rubinstein, Tartakower and Vidmar promptly signed them.^[46] Between and Alekhine, Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch all challenged Capablanca, but only Alekhine could raise the money, in ^[47]

In , Capablanca had also given a simultaneous exhibition in Cleveland against opponents, the largest in history up to that period, winning and drawing one—setting a record for the best winning percentage ever in a enormous simultaneous exhibition.^[48]

After beginning with four draws, followed by a loss,^[11] Capablanca placed second at the New York chess tournament with the score of 14½/20 (+10−1=9), 1½ points behind Lasker, and 2½ ahead of third-placed Alekhine.^[43] Capablanca's defeat by Réti in the fifth round was his first in serious competition in eight years.^[16][49] He made another bad start at the Moscow chess tournament,^[11] and could only fight back to third place, two points behind Bogoljubow and ½ point behind Lasker.

Capablanca won at Lake Hopatcong, with 6 points out of 8, ahead of Abraham Kupchik (5) and Maroczy (4½).^[50]

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 ^[51] Since Nimzowitsch had challenged before Alekhine, Capablanca gave Nimzowitsch until 1 January , to provide a deposit in order to arrange a match.^[52] When this did not materialize, a Capablanca–Alekhine match was agreed, to initiate in September ^[53]

In the Modern York chess tournament, held from 19 February to 23 Rally ,^[54][55] six of the world's strongest masters played a quadruple round-robin, with the others creature Alekhine, Rudolf Spielmann, Milan Vidmar, Nimzowitsch and Marshall,^[50] with Bogoljubow and Lasker absent.^[20] Before the tournament, Capablanca wrote that he had "more experience but less power" than in , that he had peaked in and that some of his competitors had become stronger in the meantime.^[11] But Capablanca had overwhelming success: he finished undefeated with 14/20, winning the mini-matches with each of his rivals, 2½ points ahead of second-place Alekhine, and won the "best game" prize for a win over Spielmann.^[50]

In December , shortly after becoming World Champion, Capablanca married Gloria Simoni Betancourt.

They had a son, José Raúl Jr., in and a daughter, Gloria, in ^[56] According to Capablanca's second wife, Olga, his first marriage broke down fairly soon, and he and Gloria had affairs.^[57] Both his parents died during his reign, his father in and mother in ^[56]

Losing the title

Since Capablanca had won the New York chess tournament overwhelmingly and had never clueless a game to Alekhine, most pundits regarded the Cuban as the clear favorite in their World Chess Championship match.^[11] But Alekhine won the match, played from September to November at Buenos Aires, by 6 wins, 3 losses, and 25 draws^[52]—the longest formal World Championship compare until the contest in –85 between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov.^[58] Alekhine's victory surprised almost the entire chess world.^[52] After Capablanca's death, Alekhine expressed surprise at his own victory, since in he had not consideration he was superior to Capablanca, and he suggested that Capablanca had been overconfident.^[29] Capablanca entered the match with no technical or physical preparation,^[6][11] while Alekhine got himself into good physical condition^[59] and had thoroughly studied Capablanca's play.^[60] According to Kasparov, Alekhine's research uncovered many miniature inaccuracies, which occurred because Capablanca was unwilling to concentrate intensely.^[61]Vladimir Kramnik commented that this was the first contest in which Capablanca had no easy wins.^[39]Luděk Pachman suggested that Capablanca, who was unaccustomed to losing games or to any other type of setback, became depressed over his unnecessary loss of the 11th game in a grueling endgame featuring errors by both players.^[62][63] The match became somewhat notorious for its extremely lopsided use of the Queen's Gambit Declined; all games after the first two used this opening, and Capablanca's defeat has been partially attributed to his unwillingness to attempt any other openings.

Immediately after winning the pair, Alekhine announced that he was willing to give Capablanca a rematch, on the same terms that Capablanca had required as champion—the challenger must provide a stake of US$10,, of which more than half would leave to the defending champion even if he was defeated.^[64] Alekhine had challenged Capablanca in the early s, but Alekhine could not raise the money until ^[47] After Capablanca's death, Alekhine wrote that Capablanca's demand for a $10, stake was an attempt to avoid challenges.^[29] Negotiations dragged on for several years, often breaking down when contract seemed in sight.

Their association became bitter, and Alekhine demanded much higher appearance fees for tournaments in which Capablanca also played.^[59][65]

Post-championship and partial retirement

After losing the World Championship in overdue , Capablanca played more often in tournaments, hoping to empower his claim for a rematch.^[66] From through , he won six first prizes, also finishing second twice and one shared second.^[16] His competitors included rising stars such as Max Euwe and Isaac Kashdan,^[67][68] as successfully as players who had been established in the s, but Capablanca and Alekhine never played in the same tournament during this period, and next met only at the Nottingham tournament, after Alekhine had lost the world title to Euwe the previous year.^[66][69][70] In late , Capablanca also won a correspond (+2−0=8) against Euwe,^[16][70] whom Chessmetrics ranks sixth in the earth at the time.^[71]

Despite these outstanding results, Capablanca's play showed signs of decline: his play slowed from the speed of his youth, with occasional time trouble;^[20] he continued to produce many superb games, but also made some gross blunders.^[11][20][70] Chessmetrics nonetheless ranks Capablanca as the second strongest player in the society (after Alekhine) from his decline of the title through to autumn , except for a brief appearance in the superior place.^[15]

Alekhine's offer to play Capablanca in a rematch if $10, could be raised came to naught due to the Fantastic Depression.

After winning an event at New York in , he withdrew from serious chess,^[16] perhaps disheartened by his inability to secure a rematch with Alekhine,^[70] and played only less serious games at the Manhattan Chess Club and .^[72] On 6 December , 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.^[72]

It is from this period that the only surviving voiced film footage survives.

José Raúl Capablanca: el genio del ajedrez: Revive las partidas icónicas de José Raúl Capablanca, el tercer campeón mundial, y aprende de su estilo preciso y eficiente. Descubre las estrategias y jugadas legendarias de Capablanca, uno de los más grandes ajedrecistas de la historia.

He is with Euwe and Dutch radio sports journalist Han Hollander. Hollander asks Capablanca for his views on the upcoming world Championship match between Euwe and Alekhine in October of that year (). Capablanca replies: "Dr. Alekhine's game is 20% bluff.

Dr. Euwe's game is clear and straightforward.

Jose Raul Capablanca was the third earth chess champion He is widely accepted as one of the greatest players of all hour. During an 8-year period spanning fromCapablanca did not lose a single tournament game! His log of 40 wins and 23 draws over this period where he also became world champion was unprecedented.

Dr. Euwe's game—not so strong as Alekhine's in some respects—is more evenly balanced." Then Euwe gives his evaluation in Dutch, explaining that his feelings alternated from optimism to pessimism, but in the previous ten years, their score had been evenly matched at 7–7.^[73]

Return to competitive chess

At first Capablanca did not divorce his first wife, as he had not intended to remarry.

Olga, Capablanca's second wife, wrote that she met him in the slow spring of ; by delayed October the pair were deeply in love, and Capablanca recovered his ambition to prove he was the world's best player.^[57] In he divorced his first wife and married Olga on 20 October,^[57] about a month before the AVRO tournament.^[74]

Starting his comeback at the Hastings tournament of –35, Capablanca finished fourth, although coming ahead of Mikhail Botvinnik and Andor Lilienthal.^[75] He placed second by ½&#;point in the Margate tournaments of and At Moscow Capablanca finished fourth, 1&#;point behind the joint winners,^[75] while Lasker's third place at the age of 66 was hailed as "a biological miracle."^[76] The following year, Capablanca won an even stronger tournament in Moscow, one point ahead of Botvinnik and 3½ ahead of Salo Flohr, who took third place;^[75] A month later, he shared first place with Botvinnik at Nottingham, with a score of (+5−1=8), losing only to Flohr.

The loss to Flohr was because of being disturbed while in time trouble by the bystander Euwe.^[77] Alekhine placed sixth, only one&#;point behind the joint winners.^[75] These tournaments of were the last two Lasker played,^[78] and the only ones in which Capablanca finished ahead of Lasker, now ^[79] During these triumphs Capablanca began to suffer symptoms of high blood pressure.^[36] He tied for second place at Semmering in , then could only finish seventh of the eight players at the AVRO tournament,^[80] an elite contest designed to select a challenger for Alekhine's world title.^[81][82]

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.^[36] In , he had extremely perilous hypertension of systolic/ diastolic (hypertensive crisis is / or above, and even after treatment Capablanca had /).^[83]

After winning at Paris in and placing second in a slightly stronger tournament at Margate in , Capablanca played for Cuba in the 8th Chess Olympiad, in Buenos Aires, and won the gold medal for the best performance on the .^[84] While Capablanca and Alekhine were both representing their countries in Buenos Aires, Capablanca made a final attempt to arrange a World Championship link.

Alekhine declined, saying he was obliged to be available to defend his adopted homeland, France, as World War II had just broken out.^[85] Capablanca announced in advance that he would not play Alekhine if their teams met.^[86]

Death

Not long before his death, his familial hypertension had shot up to the hazardous –/+.

The day before his fatal stroke, his vascular specialist Dr. Schwarzer strongly advised him that his life was endangered unless he totally relaxed, but Capablanca said that he could not because his ex-wife and children had started court proceedings against him.

The doctor blamed his death on "his troubles and aggravation".^[87]

On 7 March , Capablanca was observing a 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 afterward.

Eminent physician Eli Moschcowitz administered first aid and then arranged an ambulance. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he died at AM the next day.

En la historia del ajedrez, hay jugadores que han dejado una huella imborrable en el mundo de este deporte. Marshallconocido por su estilo agresivo y creativo, era un rival temible para cualquier jugador. Esta partida fue considerada una obra maestra y se ha estudiado en innumerables ocasiones como ejemplo de juego posicional y manejo del tiempo. Ambos jugadores eran considerados genios del ajedrez y esta partida fue muy esperada por los aficionados al juego.

Emanuel Lasker had died in the same hospital only a year earlier.^[88] The produce of death was given as "a cerebral hemorrhage provoked by hypertension", in particular a hypertensive thalamic hemorrhage. The hospital admissions report stated:

When admitted to Mt.

Sinai Hospital, the examination showed: Patient critically ill in deep coma, unreceptive to nocioceptive stimuli, unequal pupils with the left one dilated (fixed and unresponsive to light), left facial palsy, left hemiplegia, globally low tendinous reflexes and arterial tension / A lumbar puncture was performed which showed hemorrhagic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with a pressure of mm of water.^[89]

The packed autopsy, by Drs.

Moschcowitz, Prill, and Levin, showed that the right thalamus was almost totally destroyed, and in its place was a hematoma 2 inches wide and 2 inches tall. The whole ventricular system and cisterna magna were flooded with blood. The gyri were flattened and sulci narrowed, consistent with years of extreme hypertension.

His heart was enlarged, g instead of the normal – g, including 3&#;cm hypertrophy of left ventricle wall. This wall had a number of subendiocardial hemorrhages, which was later proved to be common in patients with severe intercranial hypertension.

This caused the release of a huge amount of vasoactive substances into the bloodstream, including acetylcholine and noradrenaline that caused these hemorrhages.^[90][91]

The lumbar puncture was a terrible idea, as intracranial hypertension is now a well-known contraindication because it releases the pressure of the cerebrospinal fluid counteracting the herniating force of the hypertension.

But neurosurgeon Orlando Hernández-Meilán has said that it made no difference, as Capablanca could not have been revived even if the best modern medicine had been available.^[89]

Capablanca was given a public funeral in Havana's Colón Cemetery on 15 March ^[87]

Tributes

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 superb chess genius whose like we shall never see again."^[29] Lasker once said: "I have recognizable many chess players, but only one chess genius: Capablanca."^[92]

An annual Capablanca Memorial tournament has been held in Cuba, most often in Havana, since ^[93]

Assessment

Playing ability and style

Further information: Comparison of top chess players throughout history

As an adult, Capablanca lost only 34 serious games.^[88] He was undefeated from 10 February , when he lost to Oscar Chajes in the New York tournament, to 21 March , when he lost to Richard Réti in the New York International tournament.

During this streak, which included his World Championship match against Lasker, Capablanca played 63 games, winning 40 and drawing ^[49][94] 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).^[95] Of top players, only Keres had a narrow plus score against him (+1−0=5).^[96] Keres's win was at the AVRO chess tournament, during which tournament Capablanca turned 50, while Keres was ^[97]

Statistical ranking systems place Capablanca high among the greatest players of all time.

Nathan Divinsky and Raymond Keene's guide Warriors of the Mind () ranks him fifth, behind Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Bobby Fischer and Mikhail Botvinnik—and immediately ahead of Emanuel Lasker.^[98] In his 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.^[99]Chessmetrics () is rather sensitive to the length of the periods creature compared, and ranks Capablanca between third and fourth strongest of all time for peak periods ranging in length from one to 15 years.^[] Its storyteller, the statistician Jeff Sonas, concluded that Capablanca had more years in the top three than anyone except Lasker, Karpov and Kasparov—though Alekhine had more years in the top two positions.^[] A study found that Capablanca was the most accurate of all the World Champions when compared with computer analysis of World Championship match games.^[][] 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;^[] however a laptop analysis by Bratko and Guid using the stronger engines Rybka 2 and Rybka 3 initiate similar results to the Crafty analysis for Capablanca.^[]

Boris Spassky, Society Champion from to , considered Capablanca the best player of all time.^[] Bobby Fischer, who held the title from to , admired Capablanca's "light touch" and ability to see the right move very quickly.

Fischer reported that in the s, 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 unmatched, so much so that most attempts to attack him came to grief without any visible defensive efforts on his part.

But he could play wonderful tactical chess when necessary—most famously in the Manhattan Chess Club Championship tournament, when Marshall sprang a deeply analyzed on him, which he refuted while playing under the normal time limit (although ways have since been found to strengthen the Marshall Attack).^[20][] He was also capable of using aggressive tactical act to drive home a positional advantage, provided he considered it safe and the most competent way to win, for example against Spielmann in the Recent York tournament.^[][]

Influence on the game

Capablanca did not found any institution per se, but his approach influenced world champions Fischer, Karpov, and Botvinnik.

Alekhine received schooling from Capablanca in positional participate before their fight for the world title made them sour enemies.

As a chess author, Capablanca did not present massive amounts of detailed analysis, instead focusing on the critical moments in a game.

His writing style was plain and effortless 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 excel than queen and bishop, especially in endings—the bishop merely mimics the queen's diagonal move, while the knight can immediately extend squares the queen cannot.^[][] Explore is divided over Capablanca's conclusion: in , Glenn Flear establish little difference,^[] while in , Larry Kaufman, analysing a huge database of games, concluded that results very slightly favored queen plus knight.^[]John Watson wrote in that an unusually large proportion of queen and knight versus queen and bishop endings are drawn, and that most pivotal games are characterized by the winning side having one or more obvious advantages in that specific game.^[]

Personality

Early in his chess career, Capablanca received some criticism, mainly in Britain, for the allegedly conceited description of his accomplishments in his first guide, 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 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."^[]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 modesty and the Latin and American tendency to state "I played this game as well as it could be played" if he honestly reflection that was true.^[6] Capablanca himself said, in his author's notice prefacing My Chess Career: "Conceit I consider a foolish thing, but more foolish still is the false modesty that vainly attempts to conceal which all facts tend to prove." Fischer also admired this frankness.^[] Du Mont also said that Capablanca was rather sensitive to criticism,^[6] 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, consideration he resented that chess had dominated his life, and wished he could have studied song or medicine.^[57]

Capablanca chess

Main article: Capablanca chess