Rose Almost Beat Capablanca

    My father, who never played chess, was born in 1907, a time when comic strips, dime novels and early silent films (nickelodeons) were becoming popular. Traveling vaudeville shows were popular. They featured variety acts like comedians, singers, dancers, magicians, acrobats, trained animals, and dramatic skits. 

    In 1907, Emanuel Lasker successfully defended his World Championship title against Frank Marshall that was played in six American cities. Lasjer won by a score of +8 -0 =7. 

    A major tournament was held in Ostend, Belgium that was won by Siegbert Tarrasch. It was also the year some young player, ike Akiba Rubinstein, Aron Nimzovich, Richard Reti, Milan Vidmar and Tarrasch himself were beginning to make their mark. 

    In a minor, long forgotten event, for the seventh time the international cable match between an American team of players from Columbia, Harvard and Yale met a British team rom Oxford and Cambridge in a cable match that was held on Saturday, March 23, 1907. They were playing for a silver shield, a gift from Professor Isaac L. Rice. At the time it was in the custody of Oxford and Cambridge.

 

    The Americans played at the rooms of the Rice Chess Club in the Cafe Boulevard, 156 Second Avenue, New York City. The British team played in the rooms of the Metropolitan Chess Club in the Inns of Court Hotel, London. By 7:30am New York time, a crew from the Commercial Cable Company established a direct connection and play began half an hour later. 

    Capablanca’s opponent in this game, Herbert J. Rose (1883-1961, 78 years old) was born in Orillia, Ontario, north of Toronto. He attended McGill University in Montreal, and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship. Studying at Balliol College, Oxford, he was a member of the university chess team playing in four Varsity matches, and against Capablanca in the cable match. Rose went on to become a professor of Latin and Greek, authoring the standard textbook, A Handbook of Greek Mythology, in 1928.

 

[Event "College Cable Match"] [Site "?"] [Date "1907.03.23"] [Round "?"] [White "Jose Capablanca (USA)"] [Black "H.J. Rose (England)"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C63"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"] [PlyCount "83"] [EventDate "1907.??.??"] {C63: Ruy Lopez: Schliemann Defense/Jaenisch Gambit} 1. e4 {[%emt 0:00:00]} e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 {The Schliemann Defense, aka the Jaenisch Gambit, is a sharp line in which black sacrifices a P with the hope of getting a K-side attack. It's risky.} 4. d3 {At the time a great deal of analysis was done on this position and it was concluded that 4.Nc3, a move which had the backing of Lasker, was best. Today both moves get equal billing, but statistics seem to favor 4.Nc3} Nf6 5. O-O fxe4 6. dxe4 d6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. h3 O-O 9. Ng5 {It was correctly suggested that 9.Bc4+ and 10.a3 securing a retreat for the valuable B was better.} Qe8 10. f4 h6 11. Bc4+ Kh8 12. Ne6 (12. Nf7+ Rxf7 13. Bxf7 Qxf7 {Generally speaking the B+N are to ne favored over the R amd sp sucj an exchange should be avoided.}) 12... Bxe6 13. Bxe6 Nd4 14. Bb3 (14. Bc4 b5 15. Bd3 b4 16. Ne2 Nxe2+ 17. Qxe2 {is about equal. Schurade,M (2360)-Moehring,G (2375) Leipzig 1981}) 14... Nxb3 15. axb3 Qc6 16. Qe2 {He could have played 16. Qd3 immediately.} exf4 17. Bxf4 a6 18. Rae1 Rae8 19. Qd3 Nd7 20. Nd5 Nc5 21. Qc3 {Baiting a trap.} Ne6 (21... Nxe4 {An early annotator suggested that this was less complicated, but it is, in fact, more complicated and inferior to the move played.} 22. Qxc6 bxc6 23. Nxc7 Bh4 24. Nxe8 Bxe1 25. Nxd6 Rxf4 26. Rxf4 Nxd6 {White has a R+P vs B+N plus nlack has weak Ps and so this position strongly favors white.}) 22. Qd2 {White would have done better by making a couple of exchanges.} (22. Nxe7 Rxe7 23. Qxc6 bxc6 24. Bd2) 22... Nxf4 23. Nxf4 Qc5+ 24. Kh1 Bg5 25. Ng6+ Kg8 26. Qd3 Rxf1+ 27. Rxf1 Bf6 {[%mdl 2048] Now a good way for white to seek play is to advance his h-Pawn.} 28. e5 {An annotator of the day correctly called this move unnecessarily risky, adding that apparently Capablanca felt it incumbent upon himself to do something. His main problem is that he was hampered by the weak e-Pawn. Writing in The Unknown Capablanca author Dale Brandreth stated that Capablanca only played in two telegraph matches, because he did not like the slow pace of play. And, he arrived late for this game, played quickly and that explains his rash play in maling this move.} (28. h4 Qb5 29. c4 Qc6 30. Rf4 b5 31. h5 bxc4 (31... Bxb2 { loses to} 32. Rf8+ Rxf8 (32... Kh7 33. e5 Rxf8 34. Ne7+) 33. Ne7+) 32. bxc4 Bg5 {with completely equal chances.}) 28... dxe5 29. b4 {Baiting another trap.} Qc6 (29... Qxb4 30. Qd5+ Kh7 31. Rxf6 gxf6 32. Qf7#) 30. Qb3+ Qe6 31. Qg3 {Trading Qs would have left white with no chances at all.} Bg5 32. Nh4 {This loses outright, but even after his best try of 32.h4 black would be winning.} Bxh4 { This move is just OK, but it's not the strongest.} (32... Qc4 {threatening ... Qxf1# secures the win after. It;s surprising that the annotator in the American Chess Bulletin and the players missed this.} 33. Kg1 Qxh4 {and black is a B and a P up.}) 33. Qxh4 {[%mdl 4096]} e4 34. Re1 Qe7 {His passed P would have been stronger with Qs on the board.} (34... e3 {has better winning chances.} 35. Re2 Qd5 36. c3 Qd1+ 37. Qe1 Qd3 {Black has the advantage, but squeezubg out the win would likely be an arduous process.}) 35. Qxe7 Rxe7 36. Kg1 Kf7 37. Kf2 Kf6 38. Ke3 Ke5 39. Rd1 h5 40. Rd4 Kf5 41. Rd5+ Kg6 42. Rd4 { Fraw agreed.} 1/2-1/2