My Favorite Chess Player.

My favorite chess player was Jose Raul Capablanca. He made the game of chess look so easy. I have learned alot by playing over thousand of Capablanca's games. The book "Capablanca's 100 Best Chess Games" is highly recommended.

Jose Raul Capablanca was born in Havana, Cuba on November 19, 1888. He learned to play chess at age four by watching his father's games, and his rise to the top of the sport was quick.

When he was twelve years old he defeated the Cuban Champion Juan Corzo in an informal match. He then won another match against one of the world's most famous players, the American Frank James Marshall. Finally in his first major tournament, San Sebastian 1911, Capa made a spectacular debut, taking first place ahead of Carl Schlechter and Akiba Rubinstein.

Many in the chess world considered him the logical successor to World Champion Emanuel Lasker, including Lasker himself. World War I delayed a Lasker-Capablanca match, but in 1921 the two finally met in Havana. Capa won the title without losing a single game.

During his tenure as Champion, which lasted until 1927, Capablanca competed in four major international tournaments. He took two first prizes, one second, and one third place from the four events. His renowned technical skill, particularly in the endgame, soon earned him a reputation for being all but invincible. In fact, when he lost a game to Richard Reti at the New York Tournament of 1924, it was his first defeat in eight years.

In 1927, Capablanca lost his title to Alexander Alekhine in an exhausting match. He was unable to obtain a rematch despite winning several more international tournaments in the years to come.

(Capablanca was a master of the first rank and truly my favorite chess player of all time)

Kevin

Rare Video Of Capablanca

Capablanca Chess Quotes

1. A good player is always lucky.

2. A Passed Pawn increases in strength as the number of pieces on the board diminishes.

3. In order to improve your game, you must study the endgame before everything else, for whereas the the endings can be studied and mastered by themselves, the middle game and the opening must be studied in relation to the endgame.

4. As one by one I mowed them down, my superiority soon became apparent.

5. I have not given any drawn or lost games, because I thought them inadequate to the purpose of the book.

6. Chess books should be used as we use glasses: to assistthe sight, although some players make use of them as ifthey thought they conferred sight.

7. You may learn much more from a game you lose than from agame you win. You will have to lose hundreds of gamesbefore becoming a good player.

8. Referring to the match with Marshall"The most surprising feature of all was the fact that I played without ever having opened a book to study the openings..

9. A player some time ago asked me to give him some advice for average players, and I asked him of what sort, and what did he find was the general weakness. He said that some players are very aggressive and others are not aggressive at all. Both are wrong, but if you have to be one of the two, it is much better to be very aggressive. Download Jose Raul Capablanca PDF

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