His talent was recognized during the 1910's and during his visit to Argentina even Capablanca was pleasantly surprised Illa's talent. Illa had great theoretical knowledge and was a brilliant tactician. As a person people found him modest, cordial, generous and always a gentleman.
His first appearance in the first championship of the Club Argentino de Ajedrez in Buenos Aires was in 1909 where he finished last, but he won the tournament the following year.
In 1913 he won the title of club champion by beating Julio A. Lynch by +3 =1 -1. Curiously, he lost the title 8 years later to the same player. In between he successfully defended his title against the best players in the city. At that time holding the club title was equivalent to being a national champion.
He conclusively lost a match, 0-6, against Serbian master Boris Kostic in 1913, but drew a match against Philadelphia champion Sydney Sharp in 1918.
In the first South American Championship in 1922 he finished second behind Roberto Grau. Illa died in Buenos Aires on May 3, 1937.
The tournament was held in Carrasco, Uruguay in 1922 and was the first international individual tournament that took place in South America.
Carrasco is an upscale residential
suburb of Montevideo. It has a long stretch of beach backed by an
elegant promenade, around which a cluster of hotels, bars, and
restaurants form the area’s lively core. Inland, leafy streets feature a
mix of well-preserved early-20th-century houses. The merit of putting the tournament together belonged to the chess leaders of Montevideo. and so the tournament is also known as the Montevideo Tournament of 1921.
Rolando Illa–Jose De Freitas1–01st South American Champ, Carrasco1922Stockfish 15
Stonewall Attack 1.d4 f6 2.e3 d5 3.d3 e6 4.d2 c5 5.c3 bd7 6.f4
Many years ago I purchased How To Think Ahead by Horowitz and Reinfeld. The
book showed how to play the Stonewall and it looked like a sure thing. It
wasn't. My opponents rarely played as badly as the examples in the book and I
lost a lot of games and so gave it up. Years later along came a book by Soltis
on the Stonewall Attack and it still didn't work as promised. e7 I think
that fianchettoing the B with ...g6 is an excellent method of meeting the
Stonewall and the Colle. 7.f3 7.e2 b6 8.h3 b7 9.f2 c7 10.g3 a5 11.a4 0-0 12.0-0 White has no attack and black is slightly better. Kesten,
S-Morcken,O Dubrovnik 1950 7.gf3 0-0 8.e5 cxd4 9.exd4 c7 10.0-0 b6 11.f3 d7 12.h3 g6 13.df3 e4 14.g5 xg5 15.fxg5 c4 16.g4 quickly
fizzled out to a draw in Weczerek,F-Jantzen,L Dresden 2001 7...h5 In view
of white's intentions of attacking on the K-side this weakening of his K's
position is ill advised. Correct was 7...O-O 7...0-0 8.e2 e8 9.g4 d6 10.h3 f5 White's attacked is stymied and black stands somewhat better. 8.h3 Guess where this N is headed. g4 Black hopes a N on g4 will gum up
white's K-side attack, especially since it can't be driven off by h3. 9.0-0 9.f2 df6 10.xg4 xg4 10...hxg4 11.e2 and black is better because
white's K-side attacking chances had disappeared. 11.h3 f6 white can't
play g4 and his pieces are in each other's way. 9...df6 Preferrable was 9.
..f5 and the K-side is pretty much locked up. 10.g5 cxd4 11.exd4 c7 12.h3 h6 13.g3 g6 14.df3 f5 15.e1 No doubt black, having blocked things up
on the K-side, was satisfied with his position. How can white break through? h7 He does it easily after this move. 15...0-0 16.e5 h4 The idea is ...
Ng3 and ...Ne4 17.xf5 exf5 18.xh4 g7 19.e1 h8 20.g3 e4 allows
block to put of a tough defense. 16.e5 xg5 17.fxg5 0-0 Better was 17...
Bd7 hoping his K can bail out on the Q-side would have allowed him to fight on.
18.g4 All that remains is to bust open black's K-side, g7 19.f4
An interesting idea. d8 20.e3 d7 21.f2 e8 22.af1 b5
You would think eliminating white's good B would lessen the force of the
attack, but it doesn't. 23.g3 xd3 24.xd3 d8 25.h4 25.f6 was even
more forceful. h4 25...xf6 26.gxf6 e8 27.gxh5 xf6 28.h4 g4 29.g3 g5 30.xg4 wins 26.xh4 e8 27.e5 xf6 28.gxf6 h7 29.g5 It's
interesting to note how this bad B has managed to find employment. d6 30.h6 And white simply has too many threats. 25...d6 26.f6 This serves no
purpose now. 26.g2 Intending to exchange the B which now serves no
purpose on h4. e5 This counterattack in the center is his best chance. 26...c7 27.g3 xg3 28.xg3 xg3+ 29.xg3 e8 29...hxg4 30.hxg4
white wins by occupying the h-file. 30.gxh5 white is clearly better. 27.dxe5 c7 28.f6 e8 29.g3 d8 29...hxg4 30.hxg4 e6 30.f4 hxg4 30...xf6 31.gxf6 e6 32.gxh5 gxh5 33.xe6 mates in 3 31.hxg4 a4 Heading
for e4 32.f3 c2+ 33.f2 e4 The exchange of Qs eases black's defense. 34.xd5 xf3+ 35.xf3 Bringing the K closer to the center. 35.6xf3 xg5 White has the better ending. 35...c8 35...xf6 is immediately fatal. 36.xf6+ h8 37.h2+ 36.d6 xg5 37.f4 with good chances in the endgame.
26...c7 It's instructive to observe how easily white breaks through. 27.6f3 ae8 27...hxg4 28.hxg4 e5 This counterattack offered him reasonable
chances of putting up some kind of defense. 28.g3 xg3 29.xg3 b5 30.gf3 e7 31.e5 Threatening to win with Nxg6 fe8 32.xf7 xf7 33.xf7 a5 34.f2 The threat of Qf6 wins 34.f3 Not to quibble, but this is even better.
f5 35.gxf5 and the Q is positioned to capture on either d5 or h5. 34...f5 35.gxf5 Black resigned. Very precise play by Illa. 35.gxf5 exf5 36.f6 xe5 The only antidote to Rxg6 37.dxe5 a4 38.f3 mates in 7 at most. 1–0
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