Havana 1913 was one of a number of international tournaments held in the western hemisphere during the first quarter of the 20th century. All of the players except Blanco and Corzo came straight from New York 1913 to Havana. Capablanca was the clear favorite not only because of his impressive results, but also as the hometown hero expected to make a triumphant return. Fate was to deny him the expected win.

THE PLAYERS

Frank Marshall -- After the death of of Harry Nelson Pillsbury, Marshall became the strongest US master. He was very active in both domestic and international events, with inconsistent results. His most outstanding success up to this point was first at Cambridge Springs 1904 ahead of Emanuel Lasker.

Jose Raul Capablanca -- Although his greatest achievements still lay ahead of him, Capablanca won his first important international event at San Sebastian 1911 ahead of Akiba Rubinstein, Milan Vidmar, unknown player, Siegbert Tarrasch, Carl Schlechter, Aron Nimzowitsch, Ossip Bernstein, Rudolf Spielmann, Richard Teichmann, Geza Maroczy, David Janowski, Amos Burn, and Oldrich Duras. His win against Bernstein (Capablanca vs O Bernstein, 1911) won the first brilliancy prize. Just prior to Havana, Capablanca had finished ahead of Marshall in a New York tournament and no doubt expected to do so again in his home country.

David Janowski -- Janowski lost a lopsided world championship match to Lasker in 1910 (+0 -8 =3). A talented tactician, Janowski was relatively weak in endgame play. http://www.edochess.ca/players/p487... ranks Janowski as one of the top 10 players in the world during the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Oscar Chajes -- Chajes would hand Capablanca one of his rare losses in 1916, O Chajes vs Capablanca, 1916, Capablanca's last loss prior to his 1916-1924 undefeated streak. Chajes lost a match to Janowski in Havana 1913 (+0 - 2 =1) and would win one in New York 1918 (+7 -5 =10).

Abraham Kupchik -- Kupchik finished in the middle of the field right behind Chajes at New York 1913 that ended a few weeks prior to Havana. Aside from Havana, the only big event outside the US where Kupchik played was the 1935 Olympiad at Warsaw, winning the individual bronze medal on the gold-medal team (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/3z...). He also played board 9 on the 1945 USSR-USA radio match (Wikipedia article: USA vs. USSR radio chess match 1945). Kupchik was one of the strongest US players behind Marshall between WWI and WWII and played in many US events. Two of his better results were tied for first with Marshall at the 9th American Chess Congress in Lake Hopatcong 1923 (Game Collection: Lake Hopatcong 1923 (9th American Chess Congress) and second behind Capablanca and ahead of Maroczy, Marshall, and Edward Lasker at the Pan American tournament in Lake Hopatcong 1926.

Charles Jaffe -- Jaffe won a 1907 match against Jacques Mieses (+2 -0 =0) and lost a 1909 match to Marshall (+2 -4 =3). Jaffe placed third behind Capablanca and Marshall in New York 1913 just prior to the Havana tournament, winning his game with Capablanca (Capablanca vs C Jaffe, 1913). Jaffe's major contribution to the Havana tournament was his gross blunder in C Jaffe vs Marshall, 1913. Capablanca took this as evidence that Jaffe came to Havana just to help Marshall win. Capablanca never played in another event with Jaffe, and it is thought Capablanca exerted pressure to have Jaffe excluded from events where Capablanca might play.

Rafael Blanco Estera -- Blanco became the permanent holder of the Dewar Cup (Copa Dewar) in 1937 when he won the Cuban championship for the third time since the Cup was donated in 1911. He later would play for Cuba along with Capablanca at the 1939 Olympiad in Buenos Aries (http://www.olimpbase.org/players/qg...).

Juan Corzo -- Winter has an article on Corzo (http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...), which includes a group photo from Havana 1913. A 12-year old Capablanca won a match from Corzo (+4 -3 =6) in 1901, which Capablanca would claim made him the unofficial champion of Cuba. With the exception of the Capablanca match, Corzo was considered the Cuban champion from 1898 until 1914, when he lost it to Blanco, won it back in 1918, and lost it to Blanco again in 1920.

Havana quickly turned into a three-player race for first, but the eventual outcome would not be decided until the very last round. ROUND 1 saw Capablanca score the only win of the round with a game awarded the first brilliancy prize (J Corzo vs Capablanca, 1913). Marshall began slowly, drawing his first four games, three of them against the bottom half of the field. By ROUND 4, Capablanca was 1.5 points ahead of Marshall and 1 point ahead of Janowski. In ROUND 6, Janowski scored his only win against Capablanca (Janowski vs Capablanca, 1913), briefly taking the lead by a half point until he lost to Marshall in ROUND 7. By the end of ROUND 9, Marshall and Capablanca were still tied for the lead and Janowski had slipped to a full point behind the leaders. The ROUND 10 game between Marshall and Capablanca (Capablanca vs Marshall, 1913) turned out to be the pivotal game of the tournament, although first was still in question right through the final round. In ROUND 11, Capablanca could only obtain a draw against Jaffe. Janowski lost to Chajes, and this put him out of the race for first. Marshall drew with Corzo in ROUND 12, keeping Capablanca's hopes alive. Capablanca beat Janowski in ROUND 13, staying within striking distance of Marshall if things aligned properly. Janowski did his part in ROUND 14 by beating Marshall in his second crucial game of the tournament (Janowski vs Marshall, 1913). All Capablanca needed for an equal first with Marshall was to win his final game with Kupchik, but he only achieved a draw (Kupchik vs Capablanca, 1913), and his last chance to catch Marshall was lost.

             Ma Ca Ja Ch Ku Ja Bl Co 
1 Marshall   XX 1= 01 =1 =1 1= 11 =1 10½
2 Capablanca 0= XX 10 1= 1= 1= 11 11 10
3 Janowsky   10 01 XX 01 1= == 11 1=  9
4 Chajes     =0 0= 10 XX 10 10 0= 11  6½
5 Kupchik    =0 0= 0= 01 XX 10 01 11  6½
6 Jaffe      0= 0= == 01 01 XX 01 =0  5½
7 Blanco     00 00 00 1= 10 10 XX =1  5
8 Corzo      =0 00 0= 00 00 =1 =1 XX  3