Joseph Conrad: Capa fan
Joseph Conrad and José Raúl Capablanca
A recent column by the erudite Jeffrey Meyers reminded me that Joseph Conrad was a chess enthusiast and specifically a great admirer and student of Capablanca. Conrad, the enigmatic Anglo-Polish merchant naval officer, had originally been a subject of the Russian Tsars, whose empire incorporated Poland at that time. He rose to become one of the most impressively enduring craftsmen of the English novel in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Conrad only started to learn English at the relatively late age of twenty and his resonant unfamiliarity with his adopted tongue lends a startlingly original, if somewhat stilted, edge to his prose style.
Conrad’s speciality was exploration of the darkness concealed in the recesses of the human soul, a suicide attempt by the young Conrad having gone hopelessly wrong, he lived, however, to a ripe old age in rural Kent, just outside Canterbury, in his chosen country. One can almost detect W.S. Gilbert’s jingoistic refrain from his nautical operetta, HMS Pinafore in the background: “in spite of all temptations, to belong to other nations, he is an Englishman…” And so Conrad was, by 1889, having put the Russian-ruled Poland of his youth well behind him.
Devotees of Grand Guignol space opera will recognise Nostromo, the title of one of Conrad’s most celebrated novels, and also the name of the gigantic space vessel in the intergalactic horror film Alien. The two, book and spaceship, are linked by the concept of cargo. In Conrad’s hands the eponymous anti-hero Nostromo (derived from the Italian, meaning our man) deliberately conceals a stolen cargo of silver, which turns out to be lethal for him. The movie sees the Nostromo taking on board, as inadvertent cargo, an equally lethal, quasi-indestructible, alien life form, which first throttles, then injects and finally, in its embryonic new life format, bursts forth from the flesh of its paralysed victim, and then begins to hunt down the Nostromo’s crew.
As testimony to his enduring relevance, another notable Conrad title, The Secret Agent, offers frightening insight into the black heartlessness of late 19th century urban terrorism. The novel was later adapted as a cliffhanging thriller, Sabotage (1936) directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
One scene from that film was shot at Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, still a popular restaurant, closed during Covid, but hopefully to reopen later this year, under the aegis of famed restaurateur, Jeremy King. In fiction Simpson’s was patronised by Sherlock Holmes, and in real life it was the haunt of such Victorian chess luminaries as Howard Staunton and Thomas Henry Buckle (see my previous column), thereby becoming the traditional home of British chess.
In 1979 Conrad’s most famous novel, Heart of Darkness, was adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into the napalm-singed movie Apocalypse Now. With its helicopter gunships soaring to the theme of Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries”, and the bloated Marlon Brando as Conrad’s murderous Kurtz, lurking at the horrific epicentre of the primeval jungle, Apocalypse Now garnered the prestigious Palme d’Or, plus no fewer than eight Oscar nominations.
In Conrad’s original novel, we are introduced to the naval Captain Marlow, who tracks down Kurtz. Marlow reappears playing chess in Conrad’s novel Chance, and it is widely believed that Conrad modelled Marlow on himself. One Archibald Dukes, a medical officer serving on the Torrens, sailing from the UK to Australia in 1891-1893, records playing chess with the Polish first mate (Conrad himself). Having blundered away his queen, the most powerful piece on the board, the doctor tried to resign, but Conrad would have none of that and insisted on continuing to the inevitable checkmate.
In the Canterbury museum The Kit, one can still observe two of Conrad’s chess sets and a book by the chess genius Capablanca, My Chess Career, published by Bell and Hyman in 1920 and signed by Conrad himself. Conrad had pasted in some newspaper chess columns over the advertisements at the back of this evidently beloved book. Among other Conrad memorabilia, there is also Howard Staunton’s Chess-Player’s Companion, a small homage to the Shakespearean scholar and the only Englishman ever to have been considered as World Champion.
Conrad also used chess for unorthodox but imaginative purposes. In the biography My Father, written by his son Borys, the story is related of the chess code developed by Conrad during the First World War:
“When I re-joined him he said: ‘Look here, Boy, in case you should get yourself “knocked in the head” I should at least like to know where your remains are disposed of out there. He then explained a code he had devised by means of which I could let him know approximately what part of the front I was on, without running foul of the censor. Many years before he had taught me to play chess and he now gave me a pocket chess set and said that we would play games by post. Certain moves, not relating to the games in hand would, when used by me, to indicate squares which he had ruled on his war map. Then he escorted me to my car, shook me vigorously by the hand and said: ‘Be off now, Boy — Bless you.’ This was in November 1915.”
Conrad’s second son, John, also relates in his memoir Times Remembered, how his father used to summon him to play chess in the middle of the night, at moments when his reserves of literary energy were flagging:
“People have said ,when I have told them of this recollection , that my father was being rather selfish in getting me out of bed, but it never struck me in this way. I was flattered that he should ask me to get up and play chess with him in the ‘small hours’. There was no compulsion about it but there was a special kind of novelty in sharing the shadows surrounding the pool of light on the chessboard, a silent communion punctuated by the occasional click as a move was made or a ‘check’ called. I realised fairly soon that the mental effort of playing chess helped my father to realign his thoughts so as to overcome an ‘impasse’ for the arrangement of words or the construction of a phrase to convey some subtle meaning.”
No actual games of chess played by Conrad have come down to us. But we do know that Conrad admired Capablanca, who won the World Chess Championship in 1921.
John Conrad recalls that his father decided to take him in hand and improve his son’s game, so two or three times a week after dinner they got out the chessmen and board and spent a couple of hours playing through the games in Capablanca’s book. Father and son played through every game in the book, with Joseph reading out the moves, and stopping where Capablanca had made a comment, so that they could write down their own observations.
“At the end we would compare notes and argue over various alternative moves. My father‘s comments were very similar to those in the book but sometimes there were wide divergencies of viewpoint and we would play the variations through, making notes of our reasons for our moves.”
In lieu of a game by the literary giant, there follows an elegant Capablanca masterpiece, which, crowned by a queen sacrifice to force checkmate, was instrumental in his victory over Emanuel Lasker in the 1921 World Championship Match in Havana.
Jose Raul Capablanca vs Emanuel Lasker
World Championship Match, Havana, 1921, game 11
Notes by Capablanca, augmented in italics by Pancho*
- d4 d5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 Nf6 4. Bg5 Nbd7 5. e3 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. Rc1 Re8 8. Qc2 c6 9. Bd3 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd5 11. Bxe7 Rxe7 12. O-O Nf8 13. Rfd1 Bd7
I do not consider the system adopted by Dr. Lasker in this game to be any good.
- e4 Nb6
…Nxc3 would have simplified matters somewhat, but it would have left Black in a very awkward position. The text move, by driving back the bishop, gains time for the defense.
- Bf1 Rc8 16. b4
To prevent c5, either now or at a later stage. There is no Black bishop and White’s whole plan Is based on that fact. He will attempt, in due time, to place a knight on d6.
16… Be8 17. Qb3
White might have played a4 at once, but wanted at first to prevent the Black Queen from coming out via d6 and f4.
17… Rec7 18. a4 Ng6 19. a5 Nd7 20. e5 b6 21. Ne4 Rb8 22. Qc3
Qa3 at once was best. The text move gives Black a chance to gain time.
22… Nf4 23. Nd6 Nd5
Had the White queen been at a3 Black could not have gained this very important tempo.
- Qa3 f6 25. Nxe8
This bishop had to be taken, since it threatened to go to h5, pinning the Knight.
25… Qxe8 26. exf6 gxf6
To retake with either Knight would have left the e-Pawn extremely weak.
- b5
With this move White gets rid of his Queen’s side Pawns.
However, this was not an immediate priority and loses momentum. White has stronger responses in both, 27. Nd2 Nf8 28. Ne4 Rg7 29. Nc3 Nf4 30. g3 Rd8 31. a6 f5 32. b5 cxb5 33. Nxb5; and, 27. Bc4 Rbc8 28. Ne1 Nf8 29. Qf3 Nxb4 30. Qxf6 Nd5 31. Qg5+ Qg6 32. Qd2.
27… Rbc8 28. bxc6 Rxc6 29. Rxc6 Rxc6 30. axb6 axb6 31. Re1
Bb5 was better.
31… Qc8 32. Nd2
This was my sealed move and unquestionably the only move to keep the initiative.
32… Nf8
…Rc3 would have been met by Qa1.
- Ne4
The White Knight stands now in a very commanding position. Black’s game is far more difficult than appears at first glance and I believe that the only good system of defense would have to be based on …f5, after …h6, driving back the White Knight.
33… Qd8 34. h4 Rc7
This might be said to be the losing move. Black had to play …h6 in order to be ready to continue with …f5, forcing the White Knight to withdraw.
- Qb3
White’s plan consists in getting rid of Black’s powerfully posted Knight at d5, which is the key to Black’s defense.
35… Rg7 36. g3 Ra7 37. Bc4 Ra5
An inaccuracy: 37… Rd7 38. Qf3 Kg7 39. Nd2 Qc8 40. Qg4+ Kh8, is more resilient.
- Nc3 Nxc3 39. Qxc3 Kf7 40. Qe3 Qd6 41. Qe4 Ra4
Neither one of us had very much time left at this stage of the game. Black’s alternative was …Ra7, which would have been met by d5, leaving Black with what in my opinion is a lost position.
- Qb7+ Kg6
If 42… Qe7 43. Qc6 wins.
42… Kg6? is a weak move. Black is most likely doomed but, 42… Kg8 43. Qc8 Kg7 44. Bxe6 Ra7 45. h5 Qb4 47. Re3 Rd7 48. Qa8 b5 49. Kg2 Qc5, holds the defences a while longer.
- Qc8??
A blunder, dropping much of his advantage. After, 43. h5+! Kh6 (43… Kxh5, leads to a forced mate) 44. Qf7 Qd8 45. Bxe6 Rxd4 46. Bb3 Rd7 47. Re8 Rxf7 48. Rxd8 Kg7, White is winning.
43… Qb4 44. Rc1 Qe7
Black’s game was now hopeless; for instance 44… Qa3 (best) would have prolonged the game a few moves only. 46. Rc7 would always win.
- Bd3+ Kh6 46. Rc7 Ra1+ 47. Kg2 Qd6 48. Qxf8+!! Black resigns 1-0
48… Kh5 (48… Qxf8 49. Rxh7#) 49. Rxh7+ Kg4 50. f3#
Pancho* is the pet name for our friendly Stockfish 17.1 engine that assists the analysis of our game’s moves.
Ray’s 206th book, “ Chess in the Year of the King ”, written in collaboration with Adam Black, and his 207th, “ Napoleon and Goethe: The Touchstone of Genius ” (which discusses their relationship with chess) can be ordered from both Amazon and Blackwells. His 208th, the world record for chess books, written jointly with chess playing artist Barry Martin, Chess through the Looking Glass , is now also available from Amazon.
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