country death_date death_place worldchampion birth_place birth_date nickname birthname image article_title name
cuba 8 march 1942 new york city , new york , united states 1921 -- 27 havana , captaincy general of cuba , spanish empire 19 november 1888 human chess machine josé raúl capablanca y graupera capablanca chess fever su 1926.jpg josé raúl capablanca
 josé raúl capablanca
josé raúl capablanca

josé raúl capablanca y graupera -lrb- 19 november 1888 -- 8 march 1942 -rrb- was a cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927 .
considered one of the greatest players of all time , he was renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play .
he was exceptionally difficult to beat , losing only 35 first class games in his entire career .
born in havana , he beat cuban champion juan corzo in a match at the age of 13 years .
his defeat of frank marshall in a match in 1909 earned him an invitation to the 1911 san sebastian tournament , which he won ahead of players such as akiba rubinstein , aron nimzowitsch and siegbert tarrasch .
after several unsuccessful attempts to arrange a match with the then world champion emanuel lasker , during which he had a strong series of tournament results , he finally won the title from lasker in 1921 .
capablanca was undefeated from february 10 , 1916 to march 21 , 1924 , which included the world championship match with lasker .
capablanca lost the title in 1927 to alexander alekhine , who had never beaten capablanca before the match .
after unsuccessful attempts to arrange a return match over many years , relations between them became bitter .
capablanca continued his excellent tournament results in this period but withdrew from serious chess in 1931 .
he made a comeback in 1934 , with some good results , but also showed symptoms of high blood pressure .
he died in 1942 of `` a cerebral hemorrhage provoked by hypertension '' .
capablanca excelled in simple positions and endgames ; bobby fischer described him as possessing a `` real light touch '' .
he could play tactical chess when necessary , and had good defensive technique .
he wrote several chess books during his career , of which `` chess fundamentals '' was regarded by mikhail botvinnik as the best chess book ever written .
capablanca preferred to not present detailed analysis but focused on critical moments in a game .
his style of chess was influential in the play of future world champions bobby fischer and anatoly karpov .
