A Confession About Capablanca's Games

     In my chess library I have four Capablanca books: Chess Fundamentals and My Chess Career by Capablanca, Capablanca's Hundred Bet Games by Harry Golombek and Capablanca, A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, 1lustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888-1942 by Edward Winter. 

     Here's my confession...I have never read them. The reason is that Capa's games never appealed to me; I don't know why. However, of late I have been peeking at the books and today's game feature an in instructive game from the 1916 Rice Gambit tournament that was held in New York City in 1916.

     His opponent was David Janowsky, the guy who is probably best remembered as a punching bag for the greats of his day. That's not fair though because Chessmetrics assigns him a high rating of 2776 in July 1904. On the site's May through September list he was ranked number 1 in the world ahead of such players as Maroczy, Tarrasch, Lasker and Pillsbury. 

     The problem was Janowsky played very quickly and was a gambler both on and off the board. He was a sharp tactician who was devastating with the Bishop pair. 

     Capablanca, himself, said, "...when in form [he] is one of the most feared opponents who can exist". Capablanca noted that Janowsky's greatest weakness was in the endgame, and which Janowsky reportedly claimed to detest. Frank Marshall wrote that Janowsky "could follow the wrong path with greater determination than any man I ever met!" 

     Reuben Fine called him a player of considerable talent, but a "master of the alibi" when it came to his defeats. Fine also noted that Janowsky was sometimes unpopular with his colleagues because of his habit of stubbornly playing on in lost positions. 

     In 1915, Isaac Rice started planning the Rice Jubilee Tournament to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of his discovery of the Rice Gambit, but he died on November 2, 1915. 

     Rice planned to invite primarily American masters and leading European players who might be able to compete despite the war. No reply was received from Alekhine and Marshall refused to compete after a dispute over his fee, but Janowsky was able to make it from France. The event consisted of a round robin with the players with the four highest scores playing a final with the preliminary scores carrying over. 

 

I understand that Capa himself annotated this game in My Chess Career, but I do not have access to his notes. However, Alex Yermolinsky commented on the opening in The Road to Chess Improvement and stated that the game made an impression on him in regards to the Queens opposing each other on b3 and b6.