He was called so because of how good he was in mastering the chess board, his quick moves against opponents and all this while employing the simplest tactics you can imagine. The Human Chess Machine was the man who solely dethroned Emanuel Lasker in 1921. But first let’s look at where the Human Chess Machine originated from and his journey to becoming a top chess player.
He was born in 19th November 1888 in Havana Cuba. Unlike his predecessor Emanuel who was introduced to chess at the age of 11, he learnt to play chess at 4 years of age. His role model was his father who taught him all the tricks he could think of and he quickly absorbed all this. It was not long before he had perfected the skill and his first win was against Juan Corzo 1901. Jose Raul Capablanca won this game at 12 years of age and he was quickly recognized as one of the most natural and talented players of his time.
Like everyone else he too had to get an education. He attended Columbia University where he studied engineering. As a pass time, he continued to play chess while still in campus at the Manhattan Chess Club, New York City. It is at this club that he met the USA champion Frank Marshall whom he beat in a sensational match that had eight wins and 14 draws. He was only 20 years when he beat Frank Marshall, who had previously faced Lasker two years back but had not been able to de-crown him.
Marshall was impressed by this new Cuban player and he urged him to play a match in San Sebastian Spain. This was around 1911 when Spain was a big stronghold for chess champions. He amazed everyone once he walked in the door by taking the crown with over 6wins, 7 draws and only 1 loss. His career as a top chess player had begun and the likes of Schlechter, Nimzovitsch and Rubinstein had to acknowledge this.
With this wins Jose Raul Capablanca was feeling good about himself and felt he could now challenge the champion who had given Frank Marshall a headache. In the same year of 1911 he summoned Emanuel Lasker to a match. Lasker agreed to the challenge but he also put conditions if they were to have a future match. This was a bit too much for the Human Chess Machine; the conditions were about 17 in total and were the reason why this match never happened in that year. Nevertheless his chess career had already taken a hot start and he was now touring the USA for tournaments. He landed in New York for another match which he won by an 11 out of 13. America had already grown accustomed to the Human Chess Machine since he had done previous tours in 1909, playing over 600 games in 27 cities and coming out with a strong 96.4 percentage.
The main struggle of most chess players of that time was keeping a stable income from their career. However things were different for the Human Chess Machine after he received a secure job at the Cuban Foreign Office. And this was the best part, he was being paid to do what he does best; playing chess. Well his main role was to be a brand ambassador for the Country of Cuba; his main weapon as chess at that time.
Jose Raul Capablanca did not disappoint in flying the Cuban flag high; after getting the job he was sent to Saint Petersburg for yet another major tournament. Before reaching this destination he stopped for mini-matches in the towns of Paris, London and Berlin. As expected he won the matches before proceeding to the main event where he faced lead champions like Fyodor Duz-Chotimirsky, Eugene Znosko-Borovky and Alexander Alekhine. He lost a game to Znosko but the rest was a walk in the park.
Even while playing all these other champions, he still craved to have a go with Emanuel Lasker who had given him tough conditions before. This long awaited opportunity came in 1914 when he met Lasker officially at the St Petersburg Chess Tournament. This time Lasker could not give any conditions since this was an open event; he had to face his new challenge finally.
It was an epic contest between these two excellent chess gentlemen. While Lasker started off with a shaky play in the tournament, Jose Raul on the other hand started off with a strong lead. Even when Lasker tried to salvage more points to stay ahead, the Human Chess Machine was on his way to a shining victory. However tables turned in favor of Lasker at the second finals. He was able to bring down the Cuban’s strong lead, which startled him that he was unable to concentrate on his next match with Siegbert Tarrasch. As the sad tale went, Lasker finally scooped the tournament prize by beating Frank Marshall.
Though he never got to face Lasker head to head at the St Petersburg Tournament, his loss at the title still pained him. But this did not bring down his determination to face the champions. He finally decided to play the card Lasker had hinted before; drafting conditions for future plays which to his amazement were agreed to by many top chess players; including Lasker.
Getting to play Lasker was a really interesting story on its own. 1920 seemed to be the year that The Human Chess Machine would finally face the opponent he wanted all along. However Lasker had not been able to play in 1920 thus he did a very astounding thing; he stepped down his title as World Champion and gave it to Jose Raul Capablanca; not by virtue of a physical match but because the Cuban player had proven his mastery and prowess on the chess board.
But this was not enough to the Cuban chess champion; the match had to happen. And it did in 1921, and as he had longed for all those years, he finally beat Emanuel Lasker.
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