José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (1888 - 1942)
The
full name of the Cuban is José Raul Capablanca y Graupera. He was world master
from 1921 through 1927. "Capa" was born in Havana on November 19th, 1888 and
died in New York on March 8th, 1942. Capa was a stand out talent. He could
precisely assess a position. He learned to play chess at age four by watching
his father play. When he was just 12 years old, he became a Cuban master.
At a tournament in St. Petersburg (Russia) in 1914, Capablanca was given the
grandmaster title together with Lasker, Tarrasch,
Aljechin and Marshall. In 1921, Capa won against
the German Emanuel Lasker 4:0! Lasker suffered in the Cuban heat and was in
bad shape. After Capa gained the world master title he talked about himself
in plural. During the tournament of London in 1922, the Londoner record was
adopted on Capablanca's initiative. In this record, the defense of the world
master title is arranged. The challenger has to raise 10,000 dollars. All
challengers failed because of this stipulation. Not until 1927 could Aljechin
raise the money in Argentina. Capa lost the WM-fight against Aljechin 6:3.
He never defended the title and Aljechin prevented a rematch.