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.
[Event "1st South American Champ, Carrasco"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1922.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Rolando Illa"]
[Black "Jose De Freitas"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "1921.12.25"]
{Stonewall Attack} 1. d4 Nf6 2. e3 d5 3. Bd3 e6 4. Nd2 c5 5. c3 Nbd7 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.} Be7 {I think
that fianchettoing the B with ...g6 is an excellent method of meeting the
Stonewall and the Colle.} 7. Qf3 (7. Qe2 b6 8. Nh3 Bb7 9. Nf2 Qc7 10. g3 a5 11.
a4 O-O 12. O-O {White has no attack and black is slightly better. Kesten,
S-Morcken,O Dubrovnik 1950}) (7. Ngf3 O-O 8. Ne5 cxd4 9. exd4 Qc7 10. O-O Nb6
11. Rf3 Bd7 12. Rh3 g6 13. Ndf3 Ne4 14. Ng5 Nxg5 15. fxg5 Nc4 16. Qg4 {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... O-O 8. Ne2 Ne8 9. g4 Nd6
10. Qh3 f5 {White's attacked is stymied and black stands somewhat better.}) 8.
Nh3 {Guess where this N is headed.} Ng4 {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. O-O (
9. Nf2 Ndf6 10. Nxg4 Nxg4 (10... hxg4 11. Qe2 {and black is better because
white's K-side attacking chances had disappeared.}) 11. h3 Nf6 {white can't
play g4 and his pieces are in each other's way.}) 9... Ndf6 {Preferrable was 9.
..f5 and the K-side is pretty much locked up.} 10. Ng5 cxd4 11. exd4 Qc7 12. h3
Nh6 13. Qg3 g6 14. Ndf3 Nf5 15. Qe1 {No doubt black, having blocked things up
on the K-side, was satisfied with his position. How can white break through?}
Nh7 {He does it easily after this move.} (15... O-O 16. Ne5 h4 {The idea is ...
Ng3 and ...Ne4} 17. Bxf5 exf5 18. Qxh4 Kg7 19. Re1 Rh8 20. Qg3 Ne4 {allows
block to put of a tough defense.}) 16. Ne5 Nxg5 17. fxg5 O-O {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,} Ng7 19. Bf4 {
[%mdl 32] An interesting idea.} Qd8 20. Qe3 Bd7 21. Rf2 Qe8 22. Raf1 Bb5 {
You would think eliminating white's good B would lessen the force of the
attack, but it doesn't.} 23. Bg3 Bxd3 24. Nxd3 Qd8 25. Bh4 (25. Rf6 {was even
more forceful.} h4 (25... Bxf6 26. gxf6 Ne8 27. gxh5 Nxf6 28. Bh4 Ng4 29. Qg3
g5 30. Qxg4 {wins}) 26. Bxh4 Ne8 27. Ne5 Bxf6 28. gxf6 Kh7 29. Bg5 {It's
interesting to note how this bad B has managed to find employment.} Qd6 30. Bh6
{And white simply has too many threats.}) 25... Bd6 26. Rf6 {This serves no
purpose now.} (26. Kg2 {Intending to exchange the B which now serves no
purpose on h4.} e5 {This counterattack in the center is his best chance.} (
26... Qc7 27. Bg3 Bxg3 28. Qxg3 Qxg3+ 29. Kxg3 Ne8 (29... hxg4 30. hxg4 {
white wins by occupying the h-file.}) 30. gxh5 {white is clearly better.}) 27.
dxe5 Bc7 28. Rf6 Qe8 29. Bg3 Bd8 (29... hxg4 30. hxg4 Ne6) 30. Nf4 hxg4 (30...
Bxf6 31. gxf6 Ne6 32. gxh5 gxh5 33. Nxe6 {mates in 3}) 31. hxg4 Qa4 {Heading
for e4} 32. Qf3 Qc2+ 33. Rf2 Qe4 {The exchange of Qs eases black's defense.}
34. Nxd5 Qxf3+ 35. Kxf3 {Bringing the K closer to the center.} (35. R6xf3 Bxg5
{White has the better ending.}) 35... Rc8 (35... Bxf6 {is immediately fatal.}
36. Nxf6+ Kh8 37. Rh2+) 36. Rd6 Bxg5 37. Bf4 {with good chances in the endgame.
}) 26... Qc7 {It's instructive to observe how easily white breaks through.} 27.
R6f3 Rae8 (27... hxg4 28. hxg4 e5 {This counterattack offered him reasonable
chances of putting up some kind of defense.}) 28. Bg3 Bxg3 29. Rxg3 b5 30. Rgf3
Re7 31. Ne5 {Threatening to win with Nxg6} Rfe8 32. Rxf7 Rxf7 33. Rxf7 Qa5 34.
Qf2 {The threat of Qf6 wins} (34. Qf3 {Not to quibble, but this is even better.
} Nf5 35. gxf5 {and the Q is positioned to capture on either d5 or h5.}) 34...
Nf5 35. gxf5 {Black resigned. Very precise play by Illa.} (35. gxf5 exf5 36.
Rf6 Rxe5 {The only antidote to Rxg6} 37. dxe5 Qa4 38. Qf3 {mates in 7 at most.}
) 1-0
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