ISBN: 9788470051241 - Torneos Retrospectivos Serie Capablanca Lake Hopatcong 1926 (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. 150 pages with diagrams, tables and index. Octavo (8" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's pictorial wrappers. First edition. The tournament was a cozy affair and served basically as an exhibition for Capablanca and a tune-up for his busy year in 1927. He won four out of his first five and then drew the rest of the way to coast to first place. His games were strategically impressive but a bit joyless very much like Raymond Chandler's description of him as playing "beautiful and remorseless chess, almost creepy in its silent implacability." You play over his games like you might play through some training video. Probably his most impressive game of the tournament was the win over Kupchik in which he engaged in prophylactic play to stop Kupchik on the kingside and then seamlessly ground him down on the queenside. An intriguing match-up against Géza Maróczy was marred when Maroczy, in time trouble, declined a rook sacrifice that he should have accepted. In the tournament's brilliancy prize game, he sacrificed a pawn out of the opening against Edward Lasker and then smoothly outplayed him. Probably not too much should be made of Abraham Kupchik's second place finish. Kupchik was a decent positional player but he benefitted from uncharacteristically weak performances by Marshall and Maróczy, who both seemed to hit their decline at the same moment. The two of them, however, put together a fascinating contrast of styles in one of their last encounters. This was the game where Maróczy thought for 45 minutes on his third move solely because he sensed that Marshall, normally a 1.d4 player, had some trick up his sleeve. Marshall did but Maróczy found a seamless refutation. (Chess dot com) Condition: Some edge wear with title page repaired at head edge else very good.…

Paperback. Condition: Fine.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. The wraps are a bit rubbed. Internally clean and tightly bound. One small sticker. The first pageis a little loose. Spanish text. Our orders are shipped using tracked courier delivery services.