IT will surprise many people to learn that third world champion José Capablanca played
1.e4 more often than
1.d4.
But he scored a higher percentage with the latter and it came to dominate his opening choice with the white pieces.
After 1.d4 Capablanca scored highly against 1...d5 but even better against the modern favourite 1...Nf6, which makes him an interesting repertoire-model for today's club player.
White
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 the Nimzo-Indian: 2...e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 was all the rage when Capablanca was at the peak of his career. He scored 76% (all percentages are from ChessBase's 2020 Mega database) with 4.Qc2. The main line then went 4...d5 5.cxd5 Qxd5 when Capablanca preferred 6.Nf3, meeting 6...c5 with 7.Bd2 Bxc3 8.Bxc3. Today 5...exd5 is more popular - Capablanca met it with 6.Bg5, which is still the main reply.
Capablanca scored heavily against the Grünfeld: 2...g6 3.Nc3 d5 without establishing a favourite between 4.Nf3, 4.Bf4 and 4.cxd5. Perhaps 4.Bf4 is the way to go as it is the least-common of these moves today but has been played by Giri, Anand, Aronian, Ivanchuk and many other top grandmasters.
Capablanca only faced the King's Indian: 3...Bg7 once, choosing the Sämisch: 4.e4 d6 5.f3.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 most of Capablanca's opponents transposed to the Queen's Gambit Declined with 3...d5. Most games continued 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 Be7 (Black's last two moves were quite often played in reverse-order) 6.Nf3 0-0 7.Rc1 c6 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bxc4 Nd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 which is still the main line today. Capablanca scored 71% after 11.0-0.
Against the Slav: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 Capablanca scored 79% with 3.Nf3, rising to 85% when he met 3...Nf6 with 4.e3. He was usually happy going down the main line: 4...e6 5.Nc3 Nbd7 6.Bd3 dxc4 7.Bxc4 b5, scoring 67% in three games with 8.Bd3 but 50% in three games with less-popular 8.Be2.
He seems to have only faced 4...Bf5 twice, drawing with 5.Qb3 but winning with 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Qb3.
He only faced the Queen's Gambit Accepted: 2...dxc4 four times, playing four different replies, drawing with 3.Nc3 and 3.e4 but winning with 3.Nf3 and 3.e3.
Against the Dutch: 1...f5 Capablanca scored a sprightly 60% with the Staunton Gambit: 2.e4.
Against 1...e6 he nearly always went for a French with 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3, meeting the Classical: 3...Nf6 with 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.Bxe7 and after 6...Qxe7 he scored highly with both 7.Nb5 (Lasker's favourite) and 7.Qd2.
Again like Lasker he met the McCutcheon: 4...Bb4 with 5.exd5.
Against the Winawer: 3...Bb4 he kept the game open and scored well, albeit from a small sample, with 4.Bd3!?
Black v 1.e4
Capablanca overwhelmingly replied 1...e5, meeting the Spanish: 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 with the Steinitz Deferred: 3...a6 4.Ba4 d6. He only faced today's favourite 5.c3 three times, but won both games in which he replied with the sharp Siesta Variation: 5...f5. More common in his day was 5.0-0 Bd7 6.c3, which he met with 6....g6.
Against the modern Deferred Exchange: 5.Bxc6+ bxc6 6.d4 he scored 87% with the main reply 6...f6.
Against the Vienna: 2.Nc3 Capablanca played the slightly unusual 2...Nc6, which has also been the choice of Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura and Aronian. One of the points is to avoid the theory-laden sharp lines of 2...Nf6 3.f4. Capablanca's opponents nearly always replied 3.Nf3 after which he was happy to transpose into a Four Knights with 3...Nf6.
Against the King's Gambit: 2.f4 Capablanca scored 100% with 2...exf4, meeting 3.Nf3 with 3...g5.
Against the Italian Game: 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 he usually replied 3...Bc5 but scored much better with the Two Knights: 3...Nf6, meeting the critical 4.Ng5 with 4...d5 5.exd5 Na5.
He successfully met the Scotch: 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 with 4....Nf6, but had trouble with the Scotch Gambit: 4.Bc4, scoring just one draw from three outings with the very-sharp 4...Bc5 5.0-0 Nf6 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1+ Be6 9.Ng5 etc. Theoretically this is fine for Black but requires a lot of memorisation. An interesting alternative is 5...Nge7 which Capablanca won with the only other time he faced this line.
Black v 1.d4 and Others
Capablanca normally replied 1...Nf6 but after 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 he usually switched to the Queen's Gambit Declined with 3...d5, whereupon many of his games went 4.Bg5 (no one played 4.cxd5) Be7 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3 Nbd7 7.Rc1 c6 8.Bd3 dxc4 9.Bc4 Nd5 10.Bxe7 Qxe7. This is very mainline but not so relevant today, at least at club level, as most Whites now play 4.cxd5, for which Capablanca's games are no help. Similarly, after 3.Nf3 he most often played 3...d5.
Capablanca only faced the London: 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bf4 four times, scoring two-out-of-two with 3...c5, the idea being to quickly generate queenside pressure with ...Qb6.
Against 1.Nf3 he usually played 1...Nf6, meeting 2.c4 with 2...e6.
The English: 1.c4 was a rare bird in Capablanca's day but he usually replied 1...Nf6, meeting 2.Nf3 with 2...e6 and 2.Nc3 with 2...c5.
Capablanca famously lost his world title to Alexander Alekhine, but what is less well-known is that their career score favoured the Cuban by +9 =33 -7.
His match wins against Alekhine, and his win at Nottingham 1936 (their first encounter since Capablanca lost their 1927 match), appear in many anthologies.
Here is a lesser known game from earlier in their careers.
Alekhine - Capablanca
St Petersburg 1914
Spanish Steinitz
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bd7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.0-0 Be7
There are more than 1,600 games with this position in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database.
8.Nf5!?
A double-edged choice - White gets the bishop-pair at the cost of a damaged pawn-structure.
8...Bxf5 9.exf5 0-0 10.Re1
Twenty-one years later Alekhine played 10.Bf4 in a simul loss.
10...Nd7!?
This seems slow. Normal is 10...Re8.
11.Nd5 Bf6 12.c3
Both players presumably felt 12.Nxf6+ Qxf6 swops a well-placed knight for a bishop that looks active but after the text is blunted by White's queenside pawn-structure.
12...Nb6 13.Nxf6+
Alekhine changes his mind and goes for exchanges that will see him give up the bishop-pair but have the slightly better pawn-structure.
13...Qxf6 14.Bxc6 bxc6 15.Qf3 Rfe8 16.Be3
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| What, if anything, should Black do about his hanging c6 pawn? |
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16...c5
Much better than 16...d5? which leaves the white bishop very active on the central dark squares. However 16...Nd5!? is playable although the analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01 like White after preserving the bishop with 17.Bd4 or 17.Bd2.
17.Re2 Re5 18.Rae1 Rae8
Tarrasch pointed out that 18...Rxf5?? loses to 19.Bg5, and also gave 18...Qxf5 19.Qxf5 Rxf5 20.Bxc5!
19.Qb7?!
Decentralising the queen to go after pawns proves dangerous. White holds the balance with, for example, 19.Bf4 Rxe2 20.Rxe2 Rxe2 21.Qxe2 Kf8 22.g4 as 22...g6?? loses to 23.Bh6+.
19...Qxf5 20.Qxc7 Qe6 21.Qxa7 Nd5
White has, temporarily at least, won a pawn, and his extra pawn is passed on the a file, but it is a long way from threatening to queen.
22.Kf1?
The engines reckon a lesser evil is 22.g3 although they prefer Black after 22...h5 or 22...f5.
22...Nf4 23.Rd2 Nxg2
Also winning is Tarrasch's 23...Qg4 24.f3 Qe6 and the engines' 23...Qc4+ 24.Kg1 Nxg2.
24.Kxg2 Qg4+ 25.Kf1 Qh3+ 26.Ke2 Rxe3+ 27.fxe3 Qxe3+ 28.Kd1
Or 28.Kf1? Qf3+ 29.Rf2 Qh1#
28...Qxe1+ 29.Kc2 Qe4+ 30.Kb3?
This makes it easier for Black. As Tarrasch pointed out, there was more resistance in 30.Kc1, eg 30...Qf4 31.Kc2 g6 32.Qd7 although Black's extra pawn and safer king should tell in the long run.
30...Qc6
The engines point out a quicker win starting with 30...Ra8, eg 31.Rxd6 h6 32.Qd7 Rb8+ 33.Qc2 etc.
31.a4 d5
But now ...Ra8 is not so clear after 32.Rxd6!
32.a5 Qb5+ 33.Ka3 Rb8 34.Ka2 h6 35.a6?
This allows an immediate finish.
35...Qb3+ 0-1
White is mated after 36.Kb1 Re8 etc.
