How the Russian princess conquered the world famous chess king, or the most brilliant game of Jose Capablanca

When they met in 1934 at a reception at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, Princess Chegodaeva was probably the only one to whom the name of Jose Raul Capablanca did not say anything. She was not interested in chess and did not know that he was a world-famous grandmaster. He was called a chess genius and they said: “Mozart is in music, Capablanca is in chess.” At the time of their meeting, Capablanca was 46 years old, Chegodaeva was 35. Both had families. But from that day on, they never parted.

Jose Capablanca used to win since childhood. At 4 years old, he first won a chess tournament with his father. Everyone was surprised at his abilities and called him a child prodigy, because the boy was self- Continue reading →