- WhiteMikhail Botvinnik
- BlackJosé Raúl Capablanca
- WhereRotterdam
- WhenNovember 22, 1938
- EventAVRO tournament, round 11
- Result1–0, White won
- OpeningNimzo-Indian Defense (E40)
- Length41 moves
The AVRO tournament of 1938 brought together the eight strongest players in the world. It was sponsored by the Dutch broadcaster AVRO and presented as a way to find a challenger for world champion Alekhine, although it had no official standing. The players traveled between different cities in the Netherlands, and round 11 was played in Rotterdam on November 22.
It was the last game between Botvinnik and Capablanca. Capablanca was already in poor health during the tournament and died in 1942. A few days earlier they had drawn with the colors reversed, and back in 1925 the fourteen-year-old Botvinnik had beaten Capablanca in a simultaneous exhibition.
The players
Mikhail Botvinnik (1911–1995) was 27 and the first world-class player to come out of the Soviet Union. Ten years later, in 1948, he became world champion, and he held the title in three separate periods. He was also an electrical engineer and a pioneer of computer chess, and as a teacher he had pupils such as Anatoly Karpov, Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik.
José Raúl Capablanca (1888–1942) from Cuba was world champion from 1921 to 1927, famous for his endgame technique and his fast play. Between February 1916 and March 1924 he didn't lose a single competitive game. Botvinnik considered Capablanca's book Chess Fundamentals the best chess book ever written.
The game move by move
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Play like Botvinnik
Guess the moves Botvinnik played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.
The moments that decided it
The end
Why the game is famous
The game is a textbook example of the power of a passed pawn. The pawn on e6 ties down Black's pieces, and when the queen blockades it, Botvinnik lures the queen away with a bishop sacrifice. Kasparov wrote that the game was judged the most brilliant of the tournament and worth two first prizes, and that it was even suggested that, by analogy with the Immortal and the Evergreen games, it should be called “peerless” or “classical.”
It was also a kind of passing of the torch. Capablanca had been world champion in the 1920s, and Botvinnik became world champion ten years after this game. This was their last meeting at the board.
The whole game with notes, as text
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 The Nimzo-Indian Defense. Black pins the knight on c3. 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 White gets doubled pawns on the c-file, but they soon come undoubled. 6… c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Ne2 b6 10. O-O Ba6 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. Bb2 Qd7 13. a4 Rfe8 14. Qd3 c4 After the game, Botvinnik suggested 14…Qb7 instead. 15. Qc2 Nb8 16. Rae1 Nc6 17. Ng3 Na5 The knight is on its way to the outpost on b3, but from there it can't help when White advances in the center. 18. f3 White prepares e4. White wants to use the pawn majority in the center to gain space and then attack the king. 18… Nb3 19. e4 Qxa4 Black wins a pawn on the queenside while White rolls forward in the center. 20. e5 Nd7 21. Qf2 g6 22. f4 f5 23. exf6 En passant: the pawn on e5 captures the f-pawn that has just moved past it. 23… Nxf6 24. f5 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Re8 26. Re6 Rxe6 27. fxe6 Now a white passed pawn stands on e6, two steps from becoming a queen. 27… Kg7 28. Qf4 Qe8 29. Qe5 Qe7 According to Graham Burgess, 29…h6 was Black's best try. The move played gives White a combination that wins at once. 30. Ba3 The bishop is sacrificed to lure the queen away from blockading the passed pawn. 30… Qxa3 Black has no choice. Otherwise the pawn goes on with 31.e7. 31. Nh5+ Another sacrifice, and it has to be accepted: the knight forks the king and the knight on f6. Black's knight can't take, because the queen on e5 pins it to the king. 31… gxh5 32. Qg5+ Check, and at the same time the knight on f6 is attacked. On the next move the queen takes it, and White has the piece back. 32… Kf8 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 34. e7 The pawn is one step from promotion. Black is a knight and a pawn up, but now e8=Q+ is threatened. 34… Qc1+ 35. Kf2 Qc2+ 36. Kg3 Qd3+ 37. Kh4 The king walks up the board to escape the checks. 37… Qe4+ 38. Kxh5 Qe2+ 39. Kh4 Qe4+ 40. g4 Qe1+ 41. Kh5 The checks have run out. White threatens Qf8#, and 41…h6 is met by 42.Qg6+ Kh8 43.e8=Q+, with mate soon after. Capablanca resigned.
PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "AVRO tournament, round 11"] [Site "Rotterdam"] [Date "1938.11.22"] [Round "?"] [White "Mikhail Botvinnik"] [Black "José Raúl Capablanca"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E40"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 d5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 c5 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Bd3 O-O 9. Ne2 b6 10. O-O Ba6 11. Bxa6 Nxa6 12. Bb2 Qd7 13. a4 Rfe8 14. Qd3 c4 15. Qc2 Nb8 16. Rae1 Nc6 17. Ng3 Na5 18. f3 Nb3 19. e4 Qxa4 20. e5 Nd7 21. Qf2 g6 22. f4 f5 23. exf6 Nxf6 24. f5 Rxe1 25. Rxe1 Re8 26. Re6 Rxe6 27. fxe6 Kg7 28. Qf4 Qe8 29. Qe5 Qe7 30. Ba3 Qxa3 31. Nh5+ gxh5 32. Qg5+ Kf8 33. Qxf6+ Kg8 34. e7 Qc1+ 35. Kf2 Qc2+ 36. Kg3 Qd3+ 37. Kh4 Qe4+ 38. Kxh5 Qe2+ 39. Kh4 Qe4+ 40. g4 Qe1+ 41. Kh5 1-0
Sources
- Chessgames.com, Botvinnik–Capablanca 1938
- Wikipedia: Botvinnik versus Capablanca, AVRO 1938
- PGN Mentor, Botvinnik.pgn
The moves compared in three sources (Chessgames, Wikipedia, PGN Mentor): identical, 81 half-moves. Capablanca resigned after 41.Kh5. The date, round and city (Rotterdam) from Wikipedia. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.
Updated November 6, 2026
Mikhail Botvinnik has the white pieces, José Raúl Capablanca the black.