Capablanca's student: María Teresa Mora Iturralde

by Polina Karelina
2/4/2021 – The success of “The Queen’s Gambit” inspired a lot of comparisons between real chess players and Beth Harmon, the hero of the Netflix series. This in turn led to plenty of stories about women players from the previous century. One such player was María Teresa Mora Iturralde, the only student José Raúl Capablanca ever had, and the first woman to win the Copa Dewar, the equivalent of the Cuban National Championship. | Photo: Source https://www.ecured.cu/Mar%C3%ADa_Teresa_Mora_Iturralde

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A Cuban Chess Champion: María Teresa Mora Iturralde

Maria was born on October 15, 1902, in Havana. Her father introduced her to chess when she was very young, and in 1913, when she was eleven years old, she played her first tournament, at the Havana Chess Club. Though it was her first tournament she already must have been reasonably strong because she won it. In 1915 she won the Intercollegiate Championship in Havana, and then continued to achieve numerous successes.

Capablanca was so impressed by Maria’s talent, that he offered to teach her directly, and she became the only person who has ever received lessons from him. In My Chess Career, published in 1920, Capablanca writes:

There was in Habana a young girl of from twelve to fourteen years of age who interested me a great deal. Not only was she intelligent and modest in every respect, but what is more to the point, she played chess quite well (I believe that to-day she probably is the strongest lady player in the world, though only fifteen or seventeen years old). I offered to give her a few lessons before I sailed. My offer was accepted, and I decided to teach her something of the openings and the middle-game along general principles and in accordance with certain theories which I had had in my mind for some time, but which I had never expounded to anybody. In order to explain and teach my theories I had to study, so it came about that, for the first time in my life, I devoted some time to the working of the openings. I had the great satisfaction of finding that my ideas were, as far as I could see, quite correct.

Thus it happened that I actually learned more myself than my pupil, though I hope that my young lady friend benefited by the dozen or so lessons that I gave her. It came about that I thus strengthened the weakest part of my game, the openings, and that I also was able to prove to my own satisfaction the great value of certain theories which I had evolved in my own mind.

Picture of the young Maria Teresa from the "Revista Cubana de Ajedrez", September-October 1923, p 15. Source: Chesshistory.com

In addition to chess, Maria Teresa also had a great passion and talent for music, mastering the violin and mandolin. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences and later worked for the Ministry of Education, where she also played first board for their chess team in local team tournaments.

In 1922, Maria Teresa won the Copa Dewar, the strongest tournament in Cuba, and the inofficial Cuban National Championship. In 1938, she also won the Cuban Women’s National Championship and defended that title for 22 years until she retired from chess in the 1960s – in all these years no other women player in Cuba could compete with her.

 

Maria Teresa and Capablanca (center) in Buenos Aires 1939 | Photo source: Ajedrezpinal.com

In 1939, she participated in the Women's World Championship in Buenos Aires, which was played parallel to the Chess Olympiad 1939.

Chess: A life-long passion | Photo source: Ajedrezpinal.com

20 women fought for the title and Maria Teresa finished seventh with 11.0/19. Vera Menchik won the title with 18.0/19, two points ahead of Sonja Graf, who finished second with 16.0/19.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.e3 5.Bg5 5...0-0 6.Bd3 c5 7.0-0 cxd4 8.Nxd4 Out of theory 8.exd4 8...e5 9.Nb3 9.Nde2 dxc4 9...e4 10.Bc2 dxc4 10...Be6 11.cxd5 Nxd5 12.Nd4 11.Nxe4 10.Bxc4 9...Be6 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Nxd5 Qxd5 12.Qe2 Qd8 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.Nd2 Rd8 15.Nf1 15.Nf3 15...f5 16.e4 f4 17.b3 Nd7 17...Nc6 18.Bb2 Nd4 18.Bb2 Nf6 19.Rac1 Qb8? 19...Qa5 20.Nd2 20.Bc4 Bxc4 21.Qxc4+ Kf8 22.Rxd8+ Bxd8 23.Qc5+ 23.Qe6! Be7 24.Bxe5 23...Be7 24.Qxe5 Qxe5 25.Bxe5 Nxe4 26.Bxf4 Bc5 26...Rd8 27.Rxc5! Nxc5 28.Bd6+ Kf7 29.Bxc5 After the exchange, white has a clear advantage in the endgame. a6 30.b4 Rd8 31.a4 Rd1 32.a5 Ke6 33.g3 Ke5 34.Kg2 Ke4 35.Ne3 Rd7 36.Nc4 Rc7 37.f3+ Kd5 38.Ne3+ Ke6 39.Bb6 Rc3 40.h4 Rc1 41.g4 g6 42.Kg3 Rb1 43.Bc5 Ke5 44.Nc4+ Kd5 45.Nd6 Kc6 46.Kf4 Rh1 47.Kg5 Rd1 48.f4 Rxd6 49.Bxd6 Kxd6 50.Kf6 Kc6 51.f5 gxf5 52.gxf5 Kb5 53.Ke5 Kxb4 54.f6 Kxa5 55.f7 b5 56.f8Q b4 57.Kd4 Ka4 58.Kc4 a5 59.Qf3 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Mora Iturralde,M-Trepat de Navarro,D-1–01939D40World Women

Maria Teresa with Mikhail Botvinnik and other players of the 1950 Women's World Championship | Photo source: Ajedrezpinal.com

During the Chess Olympiad 1939 World War II broke out and for the next ten years there was no Women's World Chess Championship. But in 1950, Maria received an invitation from the president of the FIDE to compete in the Women's World Championship 1950 in Moscow. It was a 16-player round robin which Ludmilla Rudenko from the Soviet Union won with 11.5/15.

Maria Teresa finished 11th with 6.0/15 but with this performance she obtained the Woman International Master title. In the following game, Maria drew against Elisaveta Bykova, who finished third and three years later became Women World Champion.

 
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1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.h3 0-0 8.Nge2 Bd7 9.0-0 a6 10.g4 10.Qd2 10.f4 10...Rb8 11.Ng3 11.f4 11...b5 11...e5 12.f4 Ne8 12...b4 13.Nce2 Bxg4?! 14.hxg4 Nxg4 15.Bd2 Bxb2 16.Rb1 Bg7 13.Qd2 b4 14.Nd1 Bd4 15.c3 Bxe3+ 16.Nxe3 e6 17.f5 Qg5 17...Qh4 18.Kh2 18.Rf2 Nc7 19.Raf1 18...bxc3 19.bxc3 Ne5 19...Nf6 20.d4 cxd4 21.cxd4 Nc6 22.Rf2 e5 23.dxe5 Nxe5 24.Bf1 Bb5 25.Qd4 25.Bxb5 Rxb5 26.Raf1 25...Nc6 25...Nf6 26.Qc3 Qf6 27.Qxf6 Nxf6 28.fxg6 28.Rd1 28...fxg6 29.Bxb5 Rxb5 30.Raf1 Nd7 31.h4 Rxf2+ 32.Rxf2 Nce5 33.g5 Nd3 33...Nc5 34.Kg2 Ra5 35.Nd5 Ned3 34.Rc2 Rb2 34...N7e5 35.Rxb2 Nxb2 36.Kg2 Kf7 37.Nd5 a5 38.Kf3 Ke6 39.Kf4 Nd3+ 40.Ke3 Nc1 41.Nc3 Ne5 42.Kd2 Ncd3 43.Ke3 Nc5 44.Nge2 Kd7 45.Nd5 Ke6 46.Nef4+ Kf7 47.Nc3 Ne6 48.Nfd5 Nc4+ 49.Kd3 Ne5+ 50.Ke2 Nd4+ 51.Ke3 Nc2+ 52.Kd2 Nd4 53.Ke3 Nc2+ 54.Kf2 Nd4 55.Nf4 Ne6 56.Nfe2 Nc5 57.Ke3 Nc6 58.Nd4 Ne5 59.Ndb5 Ke6 60.Nc7+ Kd7 61.N7d5 Ke6 62.Nf4+ Kf7 63.Kd4 Ne6+ 64.Ke3 Nc4+ 65.Kf3 Nd2+ 66.Ke3 Nc4+ 67.Kf3 Nd2+ 68.Ke2 Nxe4 69.Nxe4 Nxf4+ 70.Kf3 Nd5 71.Nxd6+ Ke6 72.Nc4 Nc3 73.a3 a4 74.Ke3 Nb5 75.Kd3 Kd5 76.Nb6+ Kc6 77.Nxa4 Nxa3 78.Nc3 Kc5 79.Ne4+ Kd5 80.Nf6+ Ke5 81.Nxh7 Kf5 82.Nf8 Nb5 83.Ke3 Nd6 84.Kf3 Nf7 ..... (109) ½–½
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Bykova,E-Mora Iturralde,M-½–½1950B25World Women9

In 1962 Maria Teresa took part in an international radio match and won against Anita Sanchez from Columbia. It was Maria Teresa’s last competitive encounter before retiring.

Maria Teresa Mora Iturralde died on October 3, 1980 in Havana.

Links

Vera Menchik: A biography


Polina Karelina is the best woman player from the Bahamas. She is currently studying computer science and business, and her chess was inspired by Susan, Judit and Zsofia Polgar.

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