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Jose Raul Capablanca vs Eugene Znosko-Borovsky
"The Hole Truth" (game of the day Oct-25-2012)
London (1922), London ENG, rd 5, Aug-05
Queen's Gambit Declined: Orthodox Defense. Main Line (D63)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 30 times; par: 71 [what's this?]

Annotations by Geza Maroczy.      [67 more games annotated by Maroczy]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jun-13-03  bishop: An amusing game. Capa does not hesitate to give up Bishop for Knight as he sees that Black will have to play ...b5 and weaken the c5 square. 16...g6 was not good, better was Nhf6.
Feb-03-07  MORPHY MARVELLOUS: I studied this game with fritz 9, and basically every move that capa was making was fritzs first choice, unbelievable! He really was the chess machine.
Apr-14-07  gambitfan: quite similar to the wonderful miniature Shamkovich vs Anguiano, 1978
Jul-12-09  ughaibu: Interesting annotation at move 22, the possibility of Capablanca being short of time so early in the game existed!
Jul-12-09  visayanbraindoctor: <ughaibu: Interesting annotation at move 22, the possibility of Capablanca being short of time so early in the game existed!>

This could be the first documented case of Capablanca getting into time trouble at move 22 before the 1927 WC Match (?!) (Why should Maroczy say so if it weren't true?)

<MORPHY MARVELLOUS: I studied this game with fritz 9, and basically every move that capa was making was fritzs first choice, unbelievable! He really was the chess machine.>

Even his contemporaries and post WW2 masters before the advent of computers say that Capablanca hardly made any mistakes. Now that there are computers, they likewise tend to agree. IMO if half of Capablanca's games were totally unknown, and they were portrayed in the internet with computer engine analysis as though they were happening live, and people did not know who it was who was playing, chess pundits will soon be hailing a new prodigy who has the extraordinary capacity to play like a machine. Some of Capablanca's games were fantastically complex, but especially in his prime, he would regularly wade through them without committing outright errors, squeezing positions out of every advantage that he could get.

Sep-07-10  copablanco: Computer chess software do not make moves. They in fact "poll" moves assigning them points in their degree of success, and go with the highest point score move or they "poll" a text database for historical best moves.
Combinative chess is still the domain of human creativity.
Sep-07-10  tonsillolith: <Computer chess software do not make moves. They in fact "poll" moves assigning them points in their degree of success, and go with the highest point score move or they "poll" a text database for historical best moves.>

Sounds like you have a little catching up to do regarding computer chess. You know, cars don't "move"; they simply use a controlled combustion process to convert chemical to kinetic energy.

Regarding the game: Ouch. After 21. Nc5, that's NOT where you want Capablanca's knights to be!

Oct-27-10  mirai ishizuka fan: Impossible !! How can Capablanca play SO simply and still crush his opponent ???? it's always a pleasure to see his games, Genius ! Hands up if anyone disagree with me
Oct-25-12  waustad: Yes, the dark square weaknesses were rather extreme here.
Oct-25-12  newzild: A great game by Capablanca, although spoiled somewhat by Znosko-Borovsky's poor play. Shuffling the queen back to her starting square (move 14) is hardly the best way to aid development and Black's willingness to play his Q-side pawns on the same coloured squares as his Bb7 is odd.
Oct-25-12  ughaibu: Another game in which both players apparently value the appalling looking black queen bishop more highly than the wonderful looking white knight on c5. It's very difficult to explain why Fischer's capture of Petrosian's bishop was so surprising to Najdorf.
Oct-25-12  Abdel Irada: I never fail to be amazed at Capablanca's apparently innate ability to make even his strongest opponents look like fumbling schoolchildren.

Strangely, he missed the first tactic at the first opportunity, but so weak was Black's position by then that he had another chance, and this time put it into effect and began the lethal attrition of the queenside.

Oct-25-12  Razgriz: Capablanca sure did abuse the hole that the b pawn left. He managed to outpost 2 knights and make life a living hell for black.
Oct-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  HeMateMe: Pun means...?
Oct-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  SteinitzLives: Tell the hole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you . . .
Oct-25-12  Abdel Irada: For those who wondered: The pun refers to the hole in Black's pawn structure on c5 that Capablanca ably provoked and exploited.
Oct-25-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: White will soon win a rook...and black's pawns are meat!
Oct-25-12  Marmot PFL: If black's play seems weak (and it is), remember, the game was played 90 years ago. Players like Lasker and Capablanca were way ahead of their time.
Oct-25-12  Benjamin1981: You might be right Marmot PFL but Znosko-Borovsky was also past his peak in 1922, he really wasn't one of capas main competitors. In chessmetric terms this was a game between a 2850 and a 2480.
Oct-25-12  brankat: It certainly did take Mr.Z.Borovsky a while to resign :-)
Oct-25-12  Bdellovibrio: Wasn't it Znosko-Borovsky who wrote the book called "Capablanca's mistakes" , or something along those lines, to which Capa retorted "I tried to write a book called 'Z-B's Good Moves' , but abandoned the project due to lack of material!"

Or was it someone else?

Oct-25-12  Shams: <Bdellovibrio> That is the story as Soltis told it, though Winter chides him for not sourcing it. http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/...

As he notes, there was a 1939 version with Capablanca being replaced by Euwe. Sounds like the story is apocryphal, although Znosko-Borovsky did write an article on Capablanca's games, four wins and three losses (not a flattering cross-section of his record).

Oct-25-12  brankat: Znosko held a grudge for 17 years.
Oct-25-12  rapidcitychess: He was pinned down most the game.
Apr-25-21  jussu: Wondering about Maroczy's "Obviously Black was afraid of Ba6" comment. After a random reasonable move, say, 15... Nhf6, I don't see what is to be gained by playing 16. Ba6, even if it did not lose a piece to 16... b5.

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