Capablanca in Scotland

Capablanca made only one visit to Scotland, in September 1919. He was engaged by the Glasgow Chess Club for a short visit to the city.

Under that club's auspices, Capablanca's first exhibition was a simultaneous display on Wednesday, September 24 in the smoke room of Miss Buick's Tearooms at 147 West George Street.

Bailie McNab, the club president, made some opening remarks to the players and about eight spectators, and introduced Capablanca to the assembly.

Play commenced at 6:30pm against 37 opponents, Capablanca winning 35 games and drawing 2, against James Borthwick and James Birch.

Here is one of the draws. Black wins a pawn by a small combination on moves 19 and 20, disrupting Capablanca's kingside. Black continues to play well, accumulating further advantages even though material equality is established again. After 30...Nf6, White is under great pressure and soon loses material, ending up with a pawn for a piece. Birch had several ways to emphasise his advantage, but chose to play carefully, and safely to negate White's potential passed pawn on the queenside. Having done so, he then sets about creating his own passed pawn on his kingside. He had several other opportunities to do this earlier, with combinations of ...h5 and ...g5. However, as played, he still held the advantage. He still had the win in hand at move 57, when ...Nd7 would have won. Instead, he repeated moves for perpetual check.

Capablanca - J. Birch
Glasgow, Simultaneous Display, 24.09.1919

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 d6 6.Bxc6+ bxc6 7.d4 exd4 8.Nxd4 Bd7 9.Re1 Be7 10.e5 dxe5 11.Rxe5 0-0 12.Bg5 Bd6 13.Re1 c5 14.Nf3 Bc6 15.Nc3 Rb8 16.b3 Rb4 17.Qd3 h6 18.Bd2 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 19...Bxh2+ 20.Kxh2 Qxd2 21.Re2 Ng4+ 22.Kg1 Qd6 23.g3 Rd4 24.Ne4 Qg6 25.Nxc5 Qh5 26.Nd3 Qh2+ 27.Kf1 Qh5 28.Ke1 Rfd8 29.Re4 Rxe4+ 30.Qxe4 Nf6 31.Qc6 Rxd3 32.cxd3 Qe5+ 33.Kd2 Qxa1 34.Qxa6 Qb2+ 35.Ke3 Qe5+ 36.Kd2 Nd5 37.Qc4 Qb2+ 38.Qc2 Qxc2+ 39.Kxc2 Kf8 40.a4 Ke7 41.d4 Kd6 42.Kd3 Kc6 43.Kc4 f5 44.b4 Nf6 45.a5 g5 46.b5+ Kb7 47.d5 Ne4 48.f3 Nxg3 49.Kc5 g4 50.fxg4 fxg4 51.a6+ Ka7 52.Kc6 Ne4 53.Kxc7 Nf6 54.b6+ Kxa6 55.b7 Nxd5+ 56.Kc8 Nb6+ 57.Kc7 Nd5+ 58.Kc8 Nb6+ 59.Kc7 ½-½

And here is one of Capablanca's wins, against George Page of Edinburgh.

Capablanca - G. Page
Glasgow, Simultaneous Display, 24.09.1919

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 Be7 6. Re1 d6 7. d4 b5 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Qxd8+ Nxd8 10. Bb3 Bd6 11. Bg5 Ra7 12. Nc3 0-0 13. a4 b4 14. Bxf6 gxf6 15. Nd5 Kg7 16. Nh4 Nc6 17. Re3 Nd4 18. Rg3+ Kh8 19. Re1 f5 20. exf5 Nxf5 21. Nxf5 Bxf5 22. h4 c5 23. Nf6 c4 24. Bxc4 Bxc2 25. b3 e4 26. Rg4 Be7 27. Rf4 Bd6 28. Rf5 e3 29. Rf3 exf2+ 30. Kxf2 Bc5+ 31. Kf1 Be7 32. h5 Bxf6 33. Rxf6 Kg7 34. Rb6 a5 35. h6+ Kg8 36. Re5 Rd8 37. Rd6 Rda8 38. Rd2 Bg6 39. Rdd5 Kf8 40. Rb5 Bc2 41. Rec5 Ke7 42. Ke2 f5 43. Bd5 1-0

On Thursday 25 September, in the rooms of the Glasgow CC, Capablanca played two games against teams of players acting in consultation. Capablanca had the white pieces in one of the games, against J.A. McKee, J. Borthwick and A.J. Neilson. The Glasgow Herald reported that the opponents "soon got into difficulties and lost a pawn with a bad position, leaving the master with an easy task."

The other game was a different matter. Capablanca's opponents were John R. Longwill and William Gibson.

John R. Longwill joined Glasgow CC in 1889, was secretary from 1892 to 1895, president in 1905 and became honorary president in 1935. He was champion of the club in 1896 and 1900, and West of Scotland champion from 1899 to 1902. After 1902 Mr Longwill took little active part in competitive chess, but he made numerous appearances in the Richardson team for almost forty years, and returned from retirement in the early 1930's to assist his club during a lean period. [BCM 1944, p 182/3]

William Gibson [17-05-1873 to 27-03-1932] won the Scottish championship nine times between his first victory in 1907 and his final win in 1931. This record would only be bettered by two players: J.M. Aitken (10) and W.A. Fairhurst (11). Gibson, a lawyer by profession, won the West of Scotland Championship fourteen times and that of the Glasgow Chess Club fifteen times. He participated in various British tournaments during his most active period, including the British championship.

The Glasgow Herald of 26 September reported "They played a Ruy Lopez, which resulted in an early exchange of pieces, with a slight advantage in their favour. Capablanca would probably have had little difficulty in drawing, but played instead for a win, allowing his pawn position to be compromised. The consultants found the right lines, and won a good ending." This against someone who was already considered to be one of the finest exponents of endgame play.

It is thought that this game was the first ever loss by Capablanca in a simultaneous display with clocks.

Gibson & Longwill - Capablanca [C76]
Glasgow, 25 September, 1919. Clock game (1 of 2)

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.0-0 Bd7 6.c3 g6 7.d4 Bg7 8.Be3 Nge7 9.Re1 0-0 10.Nbd2 h6 11.Nf1 Kh7 12.Ng3 f5 13.exf5 Nxf5 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxa4 16.Qxa4 Bxe5 17.Rad1 Bxg3 18.hxg3 Qf6 19.Qc2 Rae8 20.Bf4 Re6 21.Re2 Rfe8 22.Rde1 Rxe2 23.Rxe2 Re6 24.Qd3 Qe7 25.Kf1 Rxe2 26.Qxe2 Qxe2+ 27.Kxe2 g5 28.Be3 Kg6 29.g4 Ne7 30.g3 c5 31.f4 Nd5 32.c4 Nb4 33.a3 Nc6 34.Kd3 Kf6 35.Ke4 Ke6 36.Bd2 b5 37.Bc3 Ne7 38.f5+ Kf7 39.f6 Nc8 40.cxb5 axb5 41.Kd5 b4 42.axb4 Nb6+ 43.Kxd6 cxb4 44.Bd4 Nc4+ 45.Kc5 Nd2 46.Kxb4 Nf1 47.Kc4 Nxg3 48.b4 h5 49.gxh5 Nf5 50.b5 g4 51.h6 Kg6 52.Be5 Nxh6 53.b6 Nf7 54.Bc7 g3 55.b7 1-0

Glasgow Chess Club members

The five persons seated nearest the camera, from left to right, are: Carrick Wardhaugh, who was active in Glasgow and Scottish chess circles; Dr Ronald Cadell Macdonald, winner of the Scottish championship on six occasions and a noted correspondence chess player; James Borthwick, Scottish champion in 1903, he bequeathed his chess library to the Glasgow CC; William Gibson (on left of chess board), and James A. McKee, twice Scottish champion.

Note:
Miss Buick's Tearooms were operated by Margaret Buick. Apart from her premises at 147 West George Street, she also had another tearoom at 19a Renfield Street, Glasgow. She married William Gibson, the chess master mentioned above, in 1916, but continued to run the business as 'Miss Buick's'.

Sources:
Glasgow Herald, 25 September 1919, p. 8; 26 September, p. 13.
Glasgow Herald, 19 November 1988, p 20 - article by John Linklater.
Scottish Chess, Nrs. 108 and 109, January and March 1989 - articles by John Linklater.
The Falkirk Herald, 8 October, 1919 (game against J. Birch).
BCM 1942, p 182/3.

Alan McGowan
Historian, Chess Scotland

Amended 24/3/2020