25 Jun '09 13:19>1 edit
12th World Chess Championships
Capablanca vs Alekhine 1927
Buenos Aires
Why did I choose this match?
There are several reasons why I wanted to analyse this famous World Championships.
Capablanca is often quoted as one of the most accurate players of all time. He is statistically one of the least blunder-prone, so therefore I would expect quite a high top 3 matchup figure. In 1927 he was almost confirmed World Champion before the games started, such was the expectation of a straightforward win.
World champion from 1921 to 1927, many people regard Jose Raul Capablanca as the very best player who ever lived.
He faced in Alekhine, one of the most natural combinative players in the history of the game. A lethal tactician who was coming into his prime, Alekhine prepared rigorously for this match, both mentally and physically. He was also one of very few players around at the time who could stump-up the match fee of $10,000.
Alekhine is consistently in top 10 lists of all-time best Grandmasters. In the 1920’s and 30’s he dominated the chess scene and was easily the world’s best player, holding the World Champion title for a total of 17 years until his death in 1946.
There were plenty of longer games to analyse in this almost rather bloated affair. Virtually all were variations of the QGD, so I considered that the two protagonists would not only be familiar with the openings (and the middlegame positions that follow) but that the standard of play by both would be incredibly high from the start.
Although over 80 years old, I consider the 1927 World Championships to be well worthy of the exhaustive(!) engine matchup analysis that follows.
All conditions were the same for all games analysed and for obvious reasons, a game is classed as ‘out of book’ if I cannot find the position prior to this 1927 match in the chesslive.de database.
Fritz 11 @ 30 seconds per move
Pentium 4 2.93GHz 1GB RAM
Hash Table 192MB
Database used www.chesslive.de
Game 1
[Event "Buenos Aires"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "1927.01.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O Bf5 8.
Bxf5 {Takes game out of book; 1st} Nxf5 {1st} 9. Qd3 {2nd} Qd7 {1st} 10. Nd1 {
Not in top 3} O-O {2nd} 11. Ne3 {1st} Nxe3 {1st} 12. Bxe3 {1st} Rfe8 {2nd} 13.
Nf4 {Not in top 3} Bd6 {1st} 14. Rfe1 {Not in top 3} Nb4 {1st} 15. Qb3 {1st}
Qf5 {1st} 16. Rac1 {Not in top 3} Nxc2 {2nd} 17. Rxc2 {1st} Qxf4 {1st} 18. g3 {
1st} Qf5 {1st} 19. Rce2 {1st} b6 {1st} 20. Qb5 {2nd} h5 {1st} 21. h4 {
Not in top 3} Re4 {1st} 22. Bd2 {Not in top 3} Rxd4 {1st} 23. Bc3 {1st} Rd3 {
2nd} 24. Be5 {1st} Rd8 {3rd} 25. Bxd6 {1st} Rxd6 {1st} 26. Re5 {1st} Qf3 {1st}
27. Rxh5 {1st} Qxh5 {2nd} 28. Re8+ {1st} Kh7 {Only move} 29. Qxd3+ {1st} Qg6 {
1st} 30. Qd1 {2nd} Re6 {Not in top 3} 31. Ra8 {1st} Re5 {3rd} 32. Rxa7 {1st} c5
{1st} 33. Rd7 {Not in top 3} Qe6 {1st} 34. Qd3+ {1st} g6 {1st} 35. Rd8 {
Not in top 3} d4 {1st} 36. a4 {Not in top 3} Re1+ {2nd} 37. Kg2 {1st} Qc6+ {1st
} 38. f3 {1st} Re3 {2nd} 39. Qd1 {1st} Qe6 {2nd} 40. g4 {2nd} Re2+ {2nd} 41.
Kh3 {1st} Qe3 {2nd} 42. Qh1 {1st} Qf4 {1st} 43. h5 {Not in top 3} Rf2 {
Not in top 3} 0-1
Result:
White: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 22/36 (61,1% )
Top 2 Match: 26/36 (72,2% )
Top 3 Match: 26/36 (72,2% )
Black: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 21/36 (77,8% )
Top 2 Match: 31/36 (86,1% )
Top 3 Match: 33/36 (91,7% )
Game 2
This goes out of book on 9…Nxd5, so with 10 non-book moves analysis is of little use.
Game 3
[Event "Buenos Aires WCh (03)"]
[Site "Buenos Aires WCh (03)"]
[Date "1927.01.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A47"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 c5 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bxg2 7. Kxg2 d5 {
Takes game out of book; Not in top 3} 8. c4 {2nd} e6 {Not in top 3} 9. Qa4+ {
3rd} Qd7 {1st} 10. Nb5 {1st} Nc6 {1st} 11. cxd5 {1st} exd5 {1st} 12. Bf4 {3rd}
Rc8 {1st} 13. Rc1 {1st} Bc5 {3rd} 14. b4 {1st} Bxb4 {2nd} 15. Rxc6 {1st} Rxc6 {
1st} 16. Qxb4 {1st} Ne4 {Not in top 3} 17. Nd2 {3rd} Nxd2 {1st} 18. Qxd2 {1st}
O-O {1st} 19. Rd1 {3rd} Rc5 {1st} 20. Nd4 {2nd} Re8 {Not in top 3} 21. Nb3 {
Not in top 3} Rcc8 {2nd} 22. e3 {1st} Qa4 {Not in top 3} 23. Qxd5 {1st} Rc2 {
1st} 24. Rd2 {1st} Rxa2 {Not in top 3} 25. Rxa2 {2nd} Qxa2 {1st} 26. Qc6 {1st}
Rf8 {2nd} 27. Nd4 {1st} Kh8 {Not in top 3} 28. Be5 {2nd} f6 {3rd} 29. Ne6 {1st}
Rg8 {1st} 30. Bd4 {2nd} h6 {1st} 31. h4 {2nd} Qb1 {Not in top 3} 32. Nxg7 {1st}
Qg6 {2nd} 33. h5 {3rd} Qf7 {1st} 34. Nf5 {2nd} Kh7 {2nd} 35. Qe4 {3rd} Re8 {1st
} 36. Qf4 {1st} Qf8 {Not in top 3} 37. Nd6 {1st} Re7 {1st} 38. Bxf6 {2nd} Qa8+
{Not in top 3} 39. e4 {1st} Rg7 {Not in top 3} 40. Bxg7 {1st} Kxg7 {2nd} 41.
Nf5+ {3rd} Kf7 {3rd} 42. Qc7+ {1st} 1-0
Result:
White: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 19/35 (54,3% )
Top 2 Match: 27/35 (77,1% )
Top 3 Match: 34/35 (97,1% )
Black: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 15/35 (42,9% )
Top 2 Match: 21/35 (60,0% )
Top 3 Match: 24/35 (68,6% )
Game 4
[Event "Buenos Aires WCh (04)"]
[Site "Buenos Aires WCh (04)"]
[Date "1927.01.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Black "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D64"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. a3
a6 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bd3 h6 {Takes game out of book; 1st} 11. Bf4 {2nd} dxc4 {3rd}
12. Bxc4 {1st} b5 {1st} 13. Ba2 {2nd} Bb7 {1st} 14. O-O {1st} c5 {2nd} 15. dxc5
{1st} Nxc5 {1st} 16. Rfd1 {1st} Qb6 {1st} 17. Be5 {Not in top 3} Rac8 {1st} 18.
Qe2 {1st} Nce4 {3rd} 19. Bd4 {1st} Bc5 {1st} 20. Nxe4 {1st} Bxd4 {1st} 21. Nxd4
{1st} Bxe4 {1st} 22. Bb1 {3rd} Rxc1 {1st} 23. Rxc1 {1st} Bxb1 {1st} 24. Rxb1 {
1st} Rc8 {1st} 25. Qe1 {Not in top 3} Qc7 {3rd} 26. h3 {1st} Ne4 {2nd} 27. Ne2
{3rd} Qe5 {Not in top 3} 28. Rc1 {1st} Rxc1 {Not in top 3} 29. Qxc1 {1st} Qc5 {
1st} 30. Qxc5 {1st} Nxc5 {1st} 31. Nd4 {1st} Kf8 {1st} 32. b4 {2nd} Na4 {1st}
33. Kf1 {2nd} Nb6 {2nd} 34. Nb3 {3rd} Nc4 {1st} 35. Nc5 {2nd} Nxa3 {2nd} 36.
Nxa6 {1st} Ke7 {1st} 37. Ke2 {2nd} Kd6 {1st} 38. Kd3 {2nd} Nc4 {1st} 39. Nc5 {
1st} f5 {2nd} 40. Kc3 {2nd} Kd5 {Not in top 3} 41. Na6 {1st} Kd6 {3rd} 42. Nc5
{1st} Nb6 {Not in top 3} 43. Nd3 {Not in top 3} e5 {1st} 44. Kb3 {2nd} Nc4 {
Not in top 3} 45. Kc3 {1st} Kd5 {1st} 46. Nc5 {2nd} Nd6 {2nd} 47. Kd3 {1st} g5
{3rd} 48. Na6 {2nd} e4+ {2nd} 49. Kc3 {1st} Kc6 {Not in top 3} 1/2-1/2
Result:
White: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 22/39 (56,4% )
Top 2 Match: 33/39 (84,6% )
Top 3 Match: 36/39 (92,3% )
Black: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 22/40 (55,0% )
Top 2 Match: 29/40 (72,5% )
Top 3 Match: 34/40 (85,0% )
Capablanca vs Alekhine 1927
Buenos Aires
Why did I choose this match?
There are several reasons why I wanted to analyse this famous World Championships.
Capablanca is often quoted as one of the most accurate players of all time. He is statistically one of the least blunder-prone, so therefore I would expect quite a high top 3 matchup figure. In 1927 he was almost confirmed World Champion before the games started, such was the expectation of a straightforward win.
World champion from 1921 to 1927, many people regard Jose Raul Capablanca as the very best player who ever lived.
He faced in Alekhine, one of the most natural combinative players in the history of the game. A lethal tactician who was coming into his prime, Alekhine prepared rigorously for this match, both mentally and physically. He was also one of very few players around at the time who could stump-up the match fee of $10,000.
Alekhine is consistently in top 10 lists of all-time best Grandmasters. In the 1920’s and 30’s he dominated the chess scene and was easily the world’s best player, holding the World Champion title for a total of 17 years until his death in 1946.
There were plenty of longer games to analyse in this almost rather bloated affair. Virtually all were variations of the QGD, so I considered that the two protagonists would not only be familiar with the openings (and the middlegame positions that follow) but that the standard of play by both would be incredibly high from the start.
Although over 80 years old, I consider the 1927 World Championships to be well worthy of the exhaustive(!) engine matchup analysis that follows.
All conditions were the same for all games analysed and for obvious reasons, a game is classed as ‘out of book’ if I cannot find the position prior to this 1927 match in the chesslive.de database.
Fritz 11 @ 30 seconds per move
Pentium 4 2.93GHz 1GB RAM
Hash Table 192MB
Database used www.chesslive.de
Game 1
[Event "Buenos Aires"]
[Site "Buenos Aires"]
[Date "1927.01.02"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C01"]
[PlyCount "86"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. exd5 exd5 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. Nge2 Nge7 7. O-O Bf5 8.
Bxf5 {Takes game out of book; 1st} Nxf5 {1st} 9. Qd3 {2nd} Qd7 {1st} 10. Nd1 {
Not in top 3} O-O {2nd} 11. Ne3 {1st} Nxe3 {1st} 12. Bxe3 {1st} Rfe8 {2nd} 13.
Nf4 {Not in top 3} Bd6 {1st} 14. Rfe1 {Not in top 3} Nb4 {1st} 15. Qb3 {1st}
Qf5 {1st} 16. Rac1 {Not in top 3} Nxc2 {2nd} 17. Rxc2 {1st} Qxf4 {1st} 18. g3 {
1st} Qf5 {1st} 19. Rce2 {1st} b6 {1st} 20. Qb5 {2nd} h5 {1st} 21. h4 {
Not in top 3} Re4 {1st} 22. Bd2 {Not in top 3} Rxd4 {1st} 23. Bc3 {1st} Rd3 {
2nd} 24. Be5 {1st} Rd8 {3rd} 25. Bxd6 {1st} Rxd6 {1st} 26. Re5 {1st} Qf3 {1st}
27. Rxh5 {1st} Qxh5 {2nd} 28. Re8+ {1st} Kh7 {Only move} 29. Qxd3+ {1st} Qg6 {
1st} 30. Qd1 {2nd} Re6 {Not in top 3} 31. Ra8 {1st} Re5 {3rd} 32. Rxa7 {1st} c5
{1st} 33. Rd7 {Not in top 3} Qe6 {1st} 34. Qd3+ {1st} g6 {1st} 35. Rd8 {
Not in top 3} d4 {1st} 36. a4 {Not in top 3} Re1+ {2nd} 37. Kg2 {1st} Qc6+ {1st
} 38. f3 {1st} Re3 {2nd} 39. Qd1 {1st} Qe6 {2nd} 40. g4 {2nd} Re2+ {2nd} 41.
Kh3 {1st} Qe3 {2nd} 42. Qh1 {1st} Qf4 {1st} 43. h5 {Not in top 3} Rf2 {
Not in top 3} 0-1
Result:
White: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 22/36 (61,1% )
Top 2 Match: 26/36 (72,2% )
Top 3 Match: 26/36 (72,2% )
Black: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 21/36 (77,8% )
Top 2 Match: 31/36 (86,1% )
Top 3 Match: 33/36 (91,7% )
Game 2
This goes out of book on 9…Nxd5, so with 10 non-book moves analysis is of little use.
Game 3
[Event "Buenos Aires WCh (03)"]
[Site "Buenos Aires WCh (03)"]
[Date "1927.01.04"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Black "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A47"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. g3 Bb7 4. Bg2 c5 5. O-O cxd4 6. Nxd4 Bxg2 7. Kxg2 d5 {
Takes game out of book; Not in top 3} 8. c4 {2nd} e6 {Not in top 3} 9. Qa4+ {
3rd} Qd7 {1st} 10. Nb5 {1st} Nc6 {1st} 11. cxd5 {1st} exd5 {1st} 12. Bf4 {3rd}
Rc8 {1st} 13. Rc1 {1st} Bc5 {3rd} 14. b4 {1st} Bxb4 {2nd} 15. Rxc6 {1st} Rxc6 {
1st} 16. Qxb4 {1st} Ne4 {Not in top 3} 17. Nd2 {3rd} Nxd2 {1st} 18. Qxd2 {1st}
O-O {1st} 19. Rd1 {3rd} Rc5 {1st} 20. Nd4 {2nd} Re8 {Not in top 3} 21. Nb3 {
Not in top 3} Rcc8 {2nd} 22. e3 {1st} Qa4 {Not in top 3} 23. Qxd5 {1st} Rc2 {
1st} 24. Rd2 {1st} Rxa2 {Not in top 3} 25. Rxa2 {2nd} Qxa2 {1st} 26. Qc6 {1st}
Rf8 {2nd} 27. Nd4 {1st} Kh8 {Not in top 3} 28. Be5 {2nd} f6 {3rd} 29. Ne6 {1st}
Rg8 {1st} 30. Bd4 {2nd} h6 {1st} 31. h4 {2nd} Qb1 {Not in top 3} 32. Nxg7 {1st}
Qg6 {2nd} 33. h5 {3rd} Qf7 {1st} 34. Nf5 {2nd} Kh7 {2nd} 35. Qe4 {3rd} Re8 {1st
} 36. Qf4 {1st} Qf8 {Not in top 3} 37. Nd6 {1st} Re7 {1st} 38. Bxf6 {2nd} Qa8+
{Not in top 3} 39. e4 {1st} Rg7 {Not in top 3} 40. Bxg7 {1st} Kxg7 {2nd} 41.
Nf5+ {3rd} Kf7 {3rd} 42. Qc7+ {1st} 1-0
Result:
White: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 19/35 (54,3% )
Top 2 Match: 27/35 (77,1% )
Top 3 Match: 34/35 (97,1% )
Black: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 15/35 (42,9% )
Top 2 Match: 21/35 (60,0% )
Top 3 Match: 24/35 (68,6% )
Game 4
[Event "Buenos Aires WCh (04)"]
[Site "Buenos Aires WCh (04)"]
[Date "1927.01.05"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Alexander Alekhine"]
[Black "Jose Raul Capablanca"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D64"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "1927.??.??"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e3 O-O 6. Nf3 Nbd7 7. Rc1 c6 8. a3
a6 9. Qc2 Re8 10. Bd3 h6 {Takes game out of book; 1st} 11. Bf4 {2nd} dxc4 {3rd}
12. Bxc4 {1st} b5 {1st} 13. Ba2 {2nd} Bb7 {1st} 14. O-O {1st} c5 {2nd} 15. dxc5
{1st} Nxc5 {1st} 16. Rfd1 {1st} Qb6 {1st} 17. Be5 {Not in top 3} Rac8 {1st} 18.
Qe2 {1st} Nce4 {3rd} 19. Bd4 {1st} Bc5 {1st} 20. Nxe4 {1st} Bxd4 {1st} 21. Nxd4
{1st} Bxe4 {1st} 22. Bb1 {3rd} Rxc1 {1st} 23. Rxc1 {1st} Bxb1 {1st} 24. Rxb1 {
1st} Rc8 {1st} 25. Qe1 {Not in top 3} Qc7 {3rd} 26. h3 {1st} Ne4 {2nd} 27. Ne2
{3rd} Qe5 {Not in top 3} 28. Rc1 {1st} Rxc1 {Not in top 3} 29. Qxc1 {1st} Qc5 {
1st} 30. Qxc5 {1st} Nxc5 {1st} 31. Nd4 {1st} Kf8 {1st} 32. b4 {2nd} Na4 {1st}
33. Kf1 {2nd} Nb6 {2nd} 34. Nb3 {3rd} Nc4 {1st} 35. Nc5 {2nd} Nxa3 {2nd} 36.
Nxa6 {1st} Ke7 {1st} 37. Ke2 {2nd} Kd6 {1st} 38. Kd3 {2nd} Nc4 {1st} 39. Nc5 {
1st} f5 {2nd} 40. Kc3 {2nd} Kd5 {Not in top 3} 41. Na6 {1st} Kd6 {3rd} 42. Nc5
{1st} Nb6 {Not in top 3} 43. Nd3 {Not in top 3} e5 {1st} 44. Kb3 {2nd} Nc4 {
Not in top 3} 45. Kc3 {1st} Kd5 {1st} 46. Nc5 {2nd} Nd6 {2nd} 47. Kd3 {1st} g5
{3rd} 48. Na6 {2nd} e4+ {2nd} 49. Kc3 {1st} Kc6 {Not in top 3} 1/2-1/2
Result:
White: Alekhine
Top 1 Match: 22/39 (56,4% )
Top 2 Match: 33/39 (84,6% )
Top 3 Match: 36/39 (92,3% )
Black: Capablanca
Top 1 Match: 22/40 (55,0% )
Top 2 Match: 29/40 (72,5% )
Top 3 Match: 34/40 (85,0% )