Portrait of Genius: Jose Capablanca
Cuba wasn’t always the place we imagine today. It may surprise you to learn that in the early 1900′s Havana was known as the “Paris of the Caribbean.” It was in 1910 in Havana that the world was introduced to one of greatest chess players who ever lived. His name was José Raúl Capablanca.
Capablanca learned the game of chess from watching his father play. He claims to have never read a book about chess. I don’t tend to believe in talent, but Capablanca seriously challenges that belief. His incredible mind seems to have been born with an amazing natural ability for chess. At age 12 he defeated the Cuban champion. Here is a video showing on of those incredible games:
When Capablanca became world champion in 1921, he was in the middle of a winning streak that lasted 8 years. Yes, you read that correctly. Capablanca, playing against the greatest players in the world, including Alexander Alekhine, Emanuel Lasker, and Akiba Rubinstein he never lost a single game.
To give you an idea of the amazing mind of Capablanca, consider this. He would give exhibitions where he played multiple games at the same time. At one point he played 102 games simultaneously. He didn’t lose a single game. His opponents marveled at his speed and praised his ability to instantly see deeply into the position of a game. Here is another game of Capablanca’s that has been described as one of the most instructive games of chess ever played:
A world champion of chess may seem like an unrewarding title, but don’t be fooled. When a world champion was defending his title in 1915 the stakes were about $700,000 in today’s terms. Don’t ask me where this money came from, but needless to say, world champion chess games are big money.
An interesting footnote to Capablanca’s amazing life is his invention of a variation of chess that added two new pieces to the game. The first new piece is called an archbichop which has the combined power of a bishop and a knight. The second piece is a chancellor which has the combined powers of the rook and a knight. The game is played on a 10×8 board and is referred to as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capablanca_chess. If you are interested in chess variations the wikipedia page about fairy pieces is fascinating.
