Capablanca Positionally Outplayed by a Schoolboy 

A very good game. It felt like watching an engine vs a human. Black posed the greatest difficulties for White, and when White was too adventurous, Black combined threats with his passed pawn and on the weak white king to win material. Sometimes players can feel the attack ends in the endgame, but Botvinnik essentially had 4 attackers (knight, pawn, & 2 rooks) vs nearly a lone king, so it was only a matter of time before a win was found.

Good to have the game demonstrated and explained at the strategic level all the way through..

Capablanca was usually a gentleman. That's what Jack Moskowitz told me around 20 years ago when he came to the Wednesday night chess club at the Lakeview senior center in Irvine, California. Moskowitz used to live in New York in the 1930s where he would occasionally see either Capablanca or Emmanuel Lasker at the Manhattan chess club or the Marshall chess club.

Of course I knew this anecdote, but I had never seen thiis remarkable game. Some say it was just one only game but a young boy beating such a great champion is very impressive, and Botvinnik was the only player to beat Capablanca in this simultanate. Still at 13, Botvinnik shows an ability to be rationnal and accurate in a stressing situation. I admire him as many did decades ago. During WWII, he asked to be allowed to train chess 3 days weekly and the rest of the time he worked as engineer to beat the Nazists, risking his life. Alekhine refused to play against him and maybe Botvinnik would have been still WC before WWII : after WWII he was more than 34. But even, around 40, he spent 3 entire years to pass a doctorate in electronic: remarkable ! And half of a year, he has been working as engineer. Of course he loved the "little father", as many did in that time all over the World ( that annoyed the guys of her Majesty) and as many do even now in Botvinnik's country, that is no more the chess's country, though. I have a Russian friend whose grand father founded Chakmaty v SSSR,.but she doesn't play chess and would prefer Tal...

Experiment is the best teacher, so don't be afraid, play a move! And Capa played Db3?!

In chess, one game means nothing either you win or lose. But a match of 12 games is a fair measure to judge your relative strength/weakness with respect to your opponent.

Thanks

Capablanca was a great player, but always, some young whippersnapper comes along to knock off the old guy.

The boy. Ze boy. 😂😂😂

When I saw the photo, I thought Capablanca played Leon Trotsky child :)

Need to comment on game.to much if if