Introduction
One thing I must highlight in order to show the importance of Reinfeld’s book is that it came out only a few months after Capablanca’s untimely death. Capablanca died at the age of 54, in March of 1942. Reinfeld, 22 years his junior, wrote The Immortal Games of Capablanca during the same year. He got to follow Capablanca’s ascent to the top of the chess world first-hand – he was 17 when Capablanca lost the title to Alekhine in 1927. Despite that, the depth of historical facts is lacking, and you don’t feel as if Reinfeld has given his best to provide a detailed account of Capablanca’s career. That, I think, wasn’t the idea behind the book anyway. This is a game collection featuring 113 of Capablanca’s best games according to the author.
Capablanca’s Career
Capablanca was the first young prodigy to take the chess world by storm. Like Tal, Fischer, or Gukesh today, he was a sensation, and he quickly, and effortlessly became the best. Undoubtedly. Reinfeld gives a brief overview of Capa’s life and career in the introductory chapter.
Capablanca had black in game 10 of the Lasker – Capablanca World Championship Match (1921) which saw him overtake the throne from Lasker. On move 26, Lasker, with the white pieces, continued with b3, a flexible, waiting move. How would you evaluate the position before b3?
On Chessmind you can solve positional problems and get instant feedback like you would from a real coach, you can learn from numerous opening courses, practice tactics adapted to your strength, and get access to ChessGPT! Try it out!
Capablanca came to the US to study in 1909. Previously he had won a match against Corzo in his native Cuba, but that was no measure of true strength. Shortly after arriving to New York, and joining the Manhattan Chess Club, he defeated Marshall, by far the best American player 8-1 in a match! The result was shocking, and it marked the beginning of Capa’s ascent. Because of that match, he earned a place in the elite lineup of the 1911 San Sebastian tournament. The tournament organizers had a rule for invitees – they had to have earned at least a fourth place in at least three international tournaments in the 10 years leading up to San Sebastian. Capablanca had never played an international event before. How then, had he been allowed to participate?
Robert Irons, the author of the book on the tournament, in the chapter titled “The Case for Capablaca”, attempts to answer that question. Irons provides detailed accounts of everything said and done on the matter in the years leading up to the event. In short – with a few exceptions, not many participants had objected to Capablanca’s participation, and Mieses wanted him to compete. In light of Capa’s crushing victory over Marshall in 1908 (8-1 with 14 draws), it was clear that the invite had been well deserved.
Other Books on Capablanca You Might Like
- ELO: 1400
- -
- 1600
- Chess Fundamentals: 100th Anniversary Edition
- José Raúl Capablanca
Reinfeld mentions that the “most loquacious” objectors to Capablanca’s attendance were Bernstein and Nimzowitsch. Capablanca’s crushing win over Bernstein silenced them. That must have been the sweetest victory of his career. Capablanca won San Sebastian with 9.5. Rubinstein and Vidmar shared second with 9. This victory cemented him as a just member of the chess elite and no one has doubted his genius after that.
Capablanca’s rivalry with Alekhine, culminating in their 1927 World Championship match, is what marked the majority of his career. Reinfeld constantly mentions Capablanca as being naturally gifted and not hard working. He writes that he began his decline soon after the match, and that, with brief moments of genius, such as his play during Nottingham 1936, his play deteriorated. He was overrun by better prepared, equally talented players such as Alekhine, Botvinnik and Euwe. He describes Capablanca’s career as sad. I think that’s not true. He was a true chess celebrity. He was the “it guy”, like Magnus today. If he played in a tournament, everyone else was in the background in spectators’ eyes.
He was also a gentleman, he enjoyed life, and, unlike many chess geniuses, he never succumbed to the extreme mental strain chess puts on the mind of the top players. Actually, when I think about it, he was a well-rounded, versatile person, just like Magnus today.
About the Author
Fred Reinfeld is the most prolific chess author of the first half of the 20th century, and perhaps of all time. He has written or co-written over 100 chess books. He wrote on other topics as well, and his books include titles such as “The Real Book About Whales and Whaling”, “Uranium and other Miracle Metals”, and “The Story of Paper Money, Including Catalogue of Values”. I ran into an interesting piece of information on Reinfeld while reading Edgard Colle – Caissa’s Wounded Warrior. Taylor Kingston, the author, talks about Reinfeld’s claim that he would annotate around 500 games per year for different publications. Writing was Reinfeld’s profession, and he wrote books on an unprecedented scale.
Other Books by Fred Reinfeld You Might Like
- ELO: 1200
- -
- 1400
- 1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations
- Fred Reinfeld
He was also a strong player himself, active in the 30s and 40s, after which he withdrew from competitive play. He used to be in the top 10 in the US for over 10 years, and he scored a couple of great wins against top players like Reshevsky or Marshall.
The original edition of The Immortal Games of Capablanca
The book originally came out in 1942. It was in descriptive notation. The new edition by Russell Enterprises has transformed the notation into the modern, algebraic form. This is just one of many books in their series titled “21 Century Edition”. As part of it, they have published many other classics written by Fred Reinfeld.
Over 200 new diagrams were added to the new edition and Reinfeld’s analysis was checked with Stockfish. A note (S14) has been added to any position which he had misevaluated with a corrected line or move. So the problem of Reinfeld’s analysis being outdated has been fixed.
Structure of the Book
The book features 113 annotated games divided into five chapters chronologically. The first chapter begins with Capablanca’s 1902 game against Corzo, and the final ends with his 1939 game against Czerniak from the Buenos Aires Olympiad. That was his last tournament. Until his death in 1942, he had only played in several simuls. Each chapter is devoted to a period in Capa’s career – The boy prodigy becomes a master (1902-1909), Grandmaster (1910-1914), Challenger (1914-1920), World Champion (1921-1927, and Ex-Champion (1927-1942).
Reinfeld provides a full list of Capablanca’s tournament and match records as well.
Quality of Annotations
They are not detailed. 113 in roughly 200 pages? Do the math. Many moves and entire sequences have been left without text, and almost no sidelines were even mentioned, let alone annotated. Reinfeld writes well, and his notes are useful, albeit not as instructive as those of Alekhine or Tal, for example, but they don’t come even close to the true instructive value of well written game collections.
Conclusion
This is a relatively poorly annotated game collection that features 113 of Capablanca’s famous games, divided into 5 chapters chronologically. For 1942, this may have been a great book, but it’s lacking in both quality and quantity of annotations by today’s standards. This is one of Reinfeld’s many books. Over 100. Perhaps he should have written fewer books in greater detail.
Other Game Collections You Might Like
- ELO: 1800
- -
- 2000
- Chess Warrior, The Life & Games of Géza Maróczy
- László Jakobetz
- ELO: 1600
- -
- 2000
- The Livonian Knight: Selected Games of Alvis Vitolins
- Zigurds Lanka, Edvins Kengis, Janis Klovans, Janis Vitomskis
