The 1927 World Championship Match was a fiercely contested clash of chess styles. Jose Raul Capablanca had a straightforward playing style which, combined with his famously precise endgame play, was his recipe for success. Alexander Alekhine, on the other hand, preferred creating complexities and oftentimes employed risky attacks in route to his victories. Capablanca was a heavy prematch favorite based on his dominating record against Alekhine in their previous encounters. However, in 1927, the Russian challenger adopted a more conservative approach at the chessboard and came out on top in what would be their only World Championship Match.
The position below comes from Round 11 of the Capablanca – Alekhine 1927 World Championship Match. A beautifully complex game resulted in a rare high level chess position with four queens on the board! In fact, Capablanca (white) has just promoted a pawn into his second queen with 65. a8=Q. However, this achievement is short lived as Alexander Alekhine now has a pretty mate in 3. Can you spot Alekhine’s (black’s) game winning combination?
Black to move mate in 3 from Round 11 of the Capablanca – Alekhine World Championship Match played on 10/7/1927 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Chris Torres is a nationally renowned scholastic chess coach working in the San Francisco Bay Area. His classes have attracted players of strengths ranging from rank beginners to world champions. A chess professional since 1998, Chris is widely recognized as one of the main driving forces behind the explosion in popularity and sudden rise in quality of scholastic chess in California. Chris Torres served as the President of the Torres Chess and Music Academy from 2005-2020 and currently is recognized as a correspondence chess master with the United States Chess Federation. Since 1998 Chris Torres has taught 6 individual national champions as well as led multiple school teams to win national championship titles. In addition, Chris Torres has directed and taught at 10 different schools which have been California State Champions at chess. In 2011 and 2012, several former and current students of Chris Torres have been selected to represent the United States at the World Youth Chess Championships. Mr. Torres’ hobbies include playing classical guitar and getting his students to appear on the national top 100 chess rating lists.
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