Capablanca-Alekhine 1927: result and significance

Komentarisana partija

Capablanca versus Alekhine: game 11

José Raúl Capablanca · Alexander Alekhine · 1927-10 · 0-1

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Game eleven pits White's central space against Black's bishop activity. It later becomes a struggle between passed pawns and king attacks. Counting pawns is not enough: follow which pieces become tied to defending them.

Explanation

Capablanca-Alekhine 1927 was the World Championship match in Buenos Aires between champion and challenger . The central condition was to reach six wins : draws brought neither player closer to that target.

The previous record favored Capablanca. In the tally published by Karsten Müller from Mega Database, their twelve earlier encounters produced five wins for the champion and seven draws. Winning the title required Alekhine to do something he had not yet achieved in those games: beat Capablanca, and do so repeatedly.

Capablanca himself challenged the expectation of an easy win. In a statement published by La Nación on September 1, 1927, he acknowledged Alekhine’s strength and called that forecast rash.

Game eleven brought the match level

Capablanca entered game 11 leading by 2-1 in wins. Alekhine’s victory with Black leveled that score at 2-2; the 3-2 lead came when he also won game twelve.

Game eleven was a long struggle showing the preparation of pawn breaks, the value of a passed pawn and the difficulty of defending a king with queens on the board. Central pressure developed into pawn advances and counterplay against the kings. Both sides promoted, leaving each with two queens, but White’s new queen did not make its exposed king safe. Capablanca resigned before checkmate.

Levenfish and Romanovsky praised its intensity and wealth of ideas. Alekhine was more severe: in My Best Games of Chess, 1924-1937, he criticized the errors in the final phase, while emphasizing the game’s sporting importance. Historical analyses also differ over several evaluations.

The title was still at stake

Those consecutive victories did not settle the championship. Much later, Capablanca won game 29 and cut Alekhine’s lead to 4-3. The challenger still had to win games 32 and 34 to reach six victories. The final tally was six wins for Alekhine, three for Capablanca and 25 draws: 34 games in all, with a points score of 18.5-15.5.

The final game had been adjourned and was not resumed. In a note dated November 29, 1927, Capablanca communicated his resignation and explicitly congratulated Alekhine, who became the fourth world champion.

Ponovo odigraj istorijske partije

Buenos Ajres, 11. partija. Oktobar 1927.

Kapablanka protiv Alehina, 1927

Igraš kao Alexander Alekhine, crni

Pretvori pritisak u centru u slobodnog pešaka i uskladi teške figure u trci za promociju.

Otvori partiju

Common confusions

6-3 versus 18.5-15.5

The first score counts wins only; the second also awards half a point for every draw.

Sources

1.Capablanca's 1927 World Championship Match resignition note, FIDE Open Chess Museum
2.Capablanca v Alekhine, 1927, Chess Notes (Edward Winter)
3.Capablanca-Alekhine, 11th match game, annotations by Levenfish and Romanovsky, Soviet Chess History, translated by Douglas Griffin
4.Levenfish and Romanovsky’s book on the 1927 match, Douglas Griffin, Soviet Chess History
5.Alekhine versus Capablanca: match scores, Chessworld
6.Endgame Riddle: Alekhine vs Capablanca (17 de octubre de 2022), Karsten Müller, ChessBase
7.Scoresheet of Game 7 of 1927 World Championship Match Capablanca - Alekhine, Capablanca's handwriting, FIDE Open Chess Museum
8.Capablanca-Alekhine (1927): resultados y registros de las partidas, TheChesspedia