My Chess Career (Newsletter Edition), Part I, by Jose R. Capablanca

“They show the vivacious spirit of enterprise and combination proper in a youngster, but lack, naturally, some of the compact, machine-like force which characterises the games of the great masters.”

Feb 17, 2022

I have had an idea to take a look at Capablanca’s book ‘My Chess Career’ since I published the anniversary edition of ‘Chess Fundamentals’. My educational background is in history and I work as an archivist, so I have a great interest in the past and would love to bring an important chess book from the past back into the spotlight.

The plan is to turn ‘My Chess Career’ into a newsletter series with one game per post, that you hopefully will enjoy reading. If you don’t know the book it was first published in 1920 and contains 35 games annotated by Capablanca.

I will take some liberties with the editing due to the format. I will add pictures, extra diagrams, engine evals (these will be included in a section at the end of each post I will call ‘The Post Mortem’), highlighted quotes, links to a Lichess study, and a GIF of the game. Hopefully, it will bring some new life into the book and make it an interesting read.

Remember to leave a comment below with your thoughts about the game or any feedback about the first post. If the newsletter series becomes a success I might turn it into a book in the end. We will see how it goes. Enjoy!

My Chess Career, Part I

By Jose R. Capablanca
First published 1920

Capablanca and the Nimzo-Indian | ChessBase

AUTHOR’S NOTE

This book proposes to meet a general demand that I should tell the events and circumstances that have made me what I am today in the Chess World. In writing it I have endeavoured to tell the truth, what I think of certain games, positions and other things, at the risk at times of appearing extremely conceited to those who don’t know me well personally. Conceit I consider a foolish thing; but more foolish still is that false modesty that vainly attempts to conceal that which all facts tend to prove. I have not given any drawn or lost games, because I thought them inadequate to the purpose of the book. There have been times in my life when I came very near thinking that I could not lose even a single game. Then I would be beaten, and the lost game would bring me back from dreamland to earth. Nothing is so healthy as a thrashing at the proper time, and from few won games have I learned as much as I have from most of my defeats. Of course I would not like to be beaten at a critical moment, but, otherwise, I hope that I may at odd times in the future lose a few more games, if thereby I derive as much benefit as I have obtained from defeats of the past.

“Nothing is so healthy as a thrashing at the proper time, and from few won games have I learned as much as I have from most of my defeats.”

The notes I have written with great care, and I trust that no mistakes will be found, and that they will tend to clear up points which heretofore may have remained obscure. I also hope that they will be found both instructive and interesting, and that the book, as a whole, will meet the approval of the legion of chess players throughout the world, and specially of the many friends with whose wishes I have tried to comply by lifting the veil of that which was never a mystery: “My Chess Career.”

J. R. Capablanca.

Introductory

The object of this little book is to give to the reader some idea of the many stages through which I have passed before reaching my present strength, and of my way of thinking nowadays when faced by a worthy opponent. No doubt it must be interesting to know how one of the strongest players in the world has obtained his strength, through what processes he has passed, his way of thinking when not yet developed, how his thoughts and ideas gradually changed until the present day, and whether or not these thoughts and ideas would still be capable of further development or changes. Apart from the psychological interest, there ought to be many points of practical value to those desirous of attaining a certain degree of proficiency in chess. As I go along narrating my chess career, I will stop at those points which I consider most important, giving examples of my games with my own notes written at the time the games were played, or when not, expressing the ideas I had while the game was in progress. This will make the book different from all others, and I believe more interesting. At the end, if space permits, I will add some points that will be useful, principally to beginners, but some of which may be also of value to more experienced players. I was born in Habana, the capital of the Island of Cuba, the 19th of November, 1888. I was not yet five years old when by accident I came into my father’s private office and found him playing with another gentleman. I had never seen a game of chess before; the pieces interested me, and I went the next day to see them play again.

“As I go along narrating my chess career, I will stop at those points which I consider most important, giving examples of my games with my own notes written at the time the games were played, or when not, expressing the ideas I had while the game was in progress.”

The third day, as I looked on, my father, a very poor beginner, moved a Knight from a white square to another white square. His opponent, apparently, not a better player, did not notice it. My father won, and I proceeded to call him a cheat and to laugh. After a little wrangle, during which I was nearly put out of the room,

I showed my father what he had done. He asked me how and what I knew about chess? I answered that I could beat him; he said that that was impossible, considering that I could not even set the pieces correctly. We tried conclusions, and I won. That was my beginning. A few days after, my father took me to the Habana Chess Club, where the strongest players found it impossible to give me a Queen. About that time the Russian Master, Taubenhaus, visited Habana, and he declared it beyond him to give me such odds. Later, in Paris, in 1911, Mr. Taubenhaus would often say, “I am the only living master who has given Mr. Capablanca a Queen". Then followed several years in which I only played occasionally at home. The medical men said that it would harm me to go on playing. When eight years old I frequented the club on Sundays, and soon Don Celso Golmayo, the strongest player there, was unable to give me a Rook.

After two or three months I left Habana, and did not play chess again until I returned. I was eleven years old then, and H. N. Pillsbury had just visited the club and left everybody astounded at his enormous capacity and genius. Don Celso Golmayo was dead, but there still remained Vasquez and J. Corzo, the latter having just then won the Championship from the former. In this atmosphere, in three months I advanced to the first rank. In order to test my strength a series of games was arranged, in which I was to play two games against each one of the first-class players. All the strong players took part in the contest except Vasquez, who had just died. The result proved that I stood next to the Champion, J. Corzo, to whom I lost both games.

The Match with J. Corzo

Some of my admirers thought that I should have a good chance of beating J. Corzo. They attributed my defeats to the fact that I had never seen a chess book and urged me to study. One of them gave me several books, among which, one on endings. I liked the endings and studied some of them. Meanwhile, the match with Corzo was arranged; the winner of the first four games — draws not counting — would be declared the victor. I began to play with the conviction that my adversary was superior to me; he knew all the openings and I knew none; he knew many games of the great masters by heart, things of which I had no knowledge whatever; besides, he had played many a match and had the experience and all the tricks that go along with it, while I was a novice, the first two games were quickly won by him, but something in the third, which was a draw, showed me that he had his weaknesses and gave me the necessary courage and confidence. From there on he did not win a game, and only scored five more draws before I won the four required. The victory made me, morally at least, the champion of Cuba. I was then twelve years old. I had played without any book knowledge of the openings; the match gave me a better idea of them. I became more proficient in the middle game and decidedly strong once the Queens were exchanged.

Of the games of the match I append two. They show the vivacious spirit of enterprise and combination proper in a youngster, but lack, naturally, some of the compact, machine-like force which characterises the games of the great masters.

“They show the vivacious spirit of enterprise and combination proper in a youngster, but lack, naturally, some of the compact, machine-like force which characterises the games of the great masters.”

However, in one of them, I could not have carried the attack, even to-day, with greater force and efficiency.

Here are the two games.

Game no. 1

*Juan Corzo y Príncipe (June 24, 1873 – September 27, 1941)*

J. Corzo vs. J. R. Capablanca, 0-1
Link to Lichess study
Year: 1900
Opening: Hampe Allgaier Thorold Gambit.

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4

Corzo knew my complete lack of book knowledge, consequently he tried repeatedly to play gambits of this sort where it would be difficult for me to find the proper answer.

4. Nf3 g5 5. h4 g4 6. Ng5 h6 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. d4 d5

Afterwards Corzo told me that the book recommended 8...d6.

9. exd5 Qe7+

We had played this variation in a previous game, and Corzo had answered 10. Be2 to this check. The game ended in a draw, but I should have won. Corzo analyzed the position and told someone that he should have played Kf2. When I heard this I analyzed the situation myself and decided to play it again, as I thought that Black should win with the continuation which I put in practice in this game.

10. Kf2 g3+ 11. Kg1

11...Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Qc5 13. Ne2 Qb6 14. Qxb6 axb6 15. Nd4 Bc5 16. c3 Ra4 17. Be2

17...Bxd4+ 18. cxd4 Rxd4 19. b3 Nf6 20. Bb2 Rd2 21. Bh5+

21...Nxh5 22. Bxh8 f3 23. gxf3 Nf4 24. Be5 Rg2+ 25. Kf1 Rf2+ 26. Ke1 Nd3+

Resigns.

The Post Mortem

This concludes the first game of the book. After each game, I will collect interesting insights by collecting other resources on the games and highlight any computer insights in the annotations.

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