José Raúl Capablanca

(1888 - 1942)

Born in Havana in 1888, José Raúl Capablanca became his country’s chess best player in 1901 and entered the Cuban diplomatic service in 1913. In active tournament competition from 1916 until 1924, he did not lose a match, becoming the world champion in 1921. He had a stroke while watching a game in 1942 and died the next day.He once described chess as “a game of social distinction which taxes the highest efforts of the human mind.”