Go back
Capablanca game collection books

Capablanca game collection books

Only Chess

c

Joined
02 Mar 07
Moves
6309
Clock
25 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Is anyone aware of a collection of Capablancas games, annotated by the man himself, translated into algebraic? I have looked on amazon but I am having a hard time finding such a thing.

g

Joined
22 Aug 06
Moves
359
Clock
25 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

My Chess Career and Chess Fundamentals were both written by Capablaca and both included some of his games which he annotated.

The Immortal Capablanca by Fred Reinfeld contains a ton of Capa's great games, but they are all annotated by Reinfeld, not Capa.

M

St. Paul, Minnesota

Joined
26 Mar 08
Moves
74043
Clock
25 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by chrspayn
Is anyone aware of a collection of Capablancas games, annotated by the man himself, translated into algebraic? I have looked on amazon but I am having a hard time finding such a thing.
Why does it have to be in algebraic? Descriptive notation isn't so bad once you get used to it.

greenpawn34

e4

Joined
06 May 08
Moves
43363
Clock
25 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Chernev and Reinfeld did two excellent books on Capa's games.

Capa's own books are good, but Capa was gifted so could not
fully explain why he was so good.

Chernev and Reinfeld were very good writers (and teachers).
I prefer these two to explain to the layman Capa's games than the great man himself.

The Unknown Capablanca by Hooper is a real eye opener.
It's has a lot Caps's games v Joe's in simultaneous displays.
He was a class one tactician and it's pity he did not use this
style sometimes in serious games.

I'd take Mr Hand's advice, learn descriptve. You can pick some
wonderful bargains and some excellent books in descriptive.

p

Joined
15 Jan 08
Moves
1989
Clock
25 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

I have Immortal games of Capablanca by Reinfield. It's in descriptive notation but you can download the pgn's that are in the book online, so you don't even need to learn descriptive, although it's not difficult anyway.

C
Pawn Grubber

a2-g8 diagonal

Joined
02 Sep 07
Moves
4285
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

I've got copies of 'The Immortal Games of Capablanca' by Reinfeld, which is good, but not algebraic.

I also have a copy of Winter's 'Capablanca. A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888-1942'. This has a lot of games annotated by Capablanca himself (from other sources, e.g. chess magazines of the time). A great, entertaining book, but not for those without disposable income. I'd drop the $$ on a copy of Fischer's 60 Memorable games first (I love that book, worth every penny). I agree with greenpawn, I wouldn't put Capa in with other great annotators. His games are beautiful, but his writings a little short of the game itself.

King Mob

Joined
30 Sep 07
Moves
75528
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

I have the algebraic reissue of Harry Golombek's Capablanca tome. It's fantastic andI recommend it highly.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by chrspayn
Is anyone aware of a collection of Capablancas games, annotated by the man himself, translated into algebraic? I have looked on amazon but I am having a hard time finding such a thing.
Also, I'm not sure how useful it would be to you, since it's in DN and not very many games, but don't forget the out-of-print Dover reissue of "World's Championship Matches, 1921 and 1927". Capa lightly annotates the 1921 games, but not the 1927 games (which were annotated by others).

c

Joined
02 Mar 07
Moves
6309
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Can anyone tell if this: http://www.amazon.com/Capablancas-Hundred-Best-Games-Chess/dp/184382129X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219754286&sr=8-1


is the algebraic version or not, I am guessing it is because of the 2004 copyright date, but am not sure.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
Clock
26 Aug 08
1 edit
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by chrspayn
Can anyone tell if this: http://www.amazon.com/Capablancas-Hundred-Best-Games-Chess/dp/184382129X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219754286&sr=8-1


is the algebraic version or not, I am guessing it is because of the 2004 copyright date, but am not sure.
I'm not certain, but I suspect it is NOT in algebraic notation. The Batsford edition by Golombek and Nunn is in figurine algebraic, but there's no indication that this Hardinge Simpole edition is a copy of the Batsford edition. I suspect it's a copy of an older edition that was made in descriptive notation. Also, if you read the Amazon reviews, you'll see that they imply that the book is in descriptive.

Edit - BTW, for information, Hardinge Simpole books are "print-on-demand" books. I have one HS book, and it appears to simply be photocopy impressions of older books. And because it's a photocopy instead of an exact copy of the original, there seems to be a slight degradation of print quality, which is even more noticable in photos. Also, most (if not all) of the covers use the same generic graphic design, which is clearly not as desirable as the original cover graphics, imho.)

c

Joined
02 Mar 07
Moves
6309
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

I suspect it is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Capablancas-Games-American-Batsford-Library/dp/1879479478/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219769062&sr=8-20

It seems like algebraic collections of both Capablanca and Alekhine games are always both out of print and quite expensive

greenpawn34

e4

Joined
06 May 08
Moves
43363
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by King Mob
I have the algebraic reissue of Harry Golombek's Capablanca tome. It's fantastic andI recommend it highly.
I too have this but in desciptive.
Winter states it has few errors in it - hope they cleared this up
in the algebraic version.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by chrspayn
I suspect it is this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Capablancas-Games-American-Batsford-Library/dp/1879479478/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219769062&sr=8-20

It seems like algebraic collections of both Capablanca and Alekhine games are always both out of print and quite expensive
I'm not sure what you mean here. For clarification, the link you give in this post is the American Batsford edition by Golombek, as edited by Nunn. This is the same book I referred to earlier that I stated is in figurine algebraic notation. (And I'm 100 percent sure of this.) Unfortunately, it's also out of print and expensive on the used book market.

However, it's not the book that I suspect the Hardinge Simpole book has copied. As I previously stated, I suspect that HS has copied an older, descriptive notation edition, although I haven't actually seen a copy of the HS book.

MR

Joined
19 Jun 06
Moves
847
Clock
26 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by chrspayn

It seems like algebraic collections of both Capablanca and Alekhine games are always both out of print and quite expensive
Regarding Alekhine game books, you could always get the Skinner book. Yeah, it would cost you several times the cost of a normal new book, but then it would take you several lifetimes to get through. What a bargain! 😉

King Mob

Joined
30 Sep 07
Moves
75528
Clock
27 Aug 08
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by greenpawn34
I too have this but in desciptive.
Winter states it has few errors in it - hope they cleared this up
in the algebraic version.
I believe those errors have been corrected in the algebraic reissue. As I recall, Golombek's original analysis is always included but there are a couple of games where John Nunn disagrees with Golombek and includes his alternative analysis in a footnote.

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.