Carlos Torre Repetto

Carlos Jesús Torre Repetto (Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, November 29, 1904 - Mérida, Mexico, March 19, 1978) was an International Grandmaster of Mexican chess.

Biography

Title of great international master awarded to Carlos Torre Repetto in 1977.

At the age of six, he learned the movements of the pieces. In 1915, his family moved to New Orleans (Louisiana, United States). There, he became a student of Edwin Ziegler Adams, a well-known chess player, then vice president of the New Orleans Chess, Checkers and Whist Club. During the years 1925-1926, he was invited to participate in several international tournaments: Baden-Baden, 1925 (tenth place); Marienbad, 1925 (third place); Moscow, 1925 (fifth place); and Chicago, 1926 (second place). That same year, he wins the Mexican championship. In October 1926, he suffered a nervous breakdown, for which he was forced to retire from chess for life. The International Chess Federation (FIDE) awarded him the title of International Grandmaster in 1977 a year before his death.

Torre Repetto had a very short chess career: at just twenty-one years of age he withdrew from international tournaments, when many experts thought he could have aspired to the world title. There has been a lot of speculation about the sudden retirement of him. It was rumored that Torre Repetto suffered a disappointment in love, although in an interview he pointed out that it was due to financial difficulties.

In the time of Carlos Torre there was no reliable method to measure the relative strength of a chess player. If a retroactive Elo is calculated, the figure of 2560 is reached, similar to that of Spielmann and Tartakower, slightly higher than that of Réti and Grünfeld and below the three world champions of the time: Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca and Alexandre Alekhine.

The results obtained by Torre against these three greats were one game won and two draws: he beat Emanuel Lasker, got a quick draw against Alekhine and, after a difficult defense in an ending with less chance, he also tied with capablanca. The percentage of him versus masters of strength similar to the "big three" was 63%. This was a characteristic of Torre: he obtained the best results from him the stronger his rivals were and repeatedly fell against the weaker ones. In all the games, he always highlighted his positional style of play, with great tactical ability.

Carlos Torre wrote the monograph called The development of chess skill, which was first published in Russian. From there one of his best-known phrases is obtained: «The development of our ability does not consist in becoming knowledgeable in the openings and skilful in the endings, because there is no development without harmony... We must mainly insist on playing all the game phases equally well; that is, to play chess».

The chess figure that most influenced him was that of Emanuel Lasker. When referring to Lasker, Capablanca and Alekhine, Torre maintained great respect and recognition for all of them, although the trend towards greater admiration for Lasker is perceptible.

Torre, about the three greats of his time

Alekhine

Referring to Alexander Alekhine, he opined: «He was the best calculating variants; no other champion could match him in depth of calculation. He had an enormous capacity for work and a prodigious memory ». When he met him, Alekhine was a staunch fighter and still had no alcohol problems.

Capablanca

“I got the impression that he was playing with a view to the end; I saw, or felt, what had to be done in any position”, he said when referring to José Raúl Capablanca, an opinion that other teachers shared and share.

Lasker

About Emanuel Lasker, he said that “he was a player that was both practical and rational at the same time. His style was more similar to Capablanca's than Alekhine's. He was practical and, at the same time, finely intuitive, which allowed him to save time and energy and made it easier for him to play fast, and thus, he remained at a top level well into old age ».

Legacy

Contribution to opening theory

Carlos Torre is recognized as the inventor of a system known as Rook Attack, very popular among some chess players. It is characterized by the moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5, 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bg5. Tigran Petrosian, the ninth world champion, was a specialist in this opening.

Carlos Torre also introduced the Mexican Defense (also known as the Two Horses Tango Defense or Tango Defense), which he first used in the game against Friedrich Sämisch in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 1925. This defense consists of the moves: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?

The mill

The mill or shuttle consists of a combined bishop and rook action on the opposing king. It was used for the first time by Carlos Torre in a game against Emanuel Lasker, which is used as an example in various chess books.

• Blancas: Carlos Torre Repetto, Mexico Mexico
• Black: Emanuel Lasker, GermanyGermany
• Year: 1925
• Location: Moscow, Soviet Union

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 c5 4.e3 cxd4 5.exd4 Be7 6.Nbd2 d6 7.c3 Nbd7 8.Bd3 b6 9.Nc4 Bb7 10.Qe2 Qc7 11.O-O O-O 12.Rfe1 Rfe8 13.Rad1 Nf8 14.Bc1 Nd5 15.Ng5 b5 16.Na3 b4 17.cxb4 Nxb4 18.Qh5 Bxg5 19.Bxg5 Nxd3 20.Rxd3 Qa5 21.b4! Qf5 22.Rg3 h6 23.Nc4 Qd5 24.Ne3 Qb5

The millposition after 24.(...)

25.Bf6 Qxh5 26.Rxg7+ Kh8 27.Rxf7+ Kg8 28.Rg7+ Kh8 29.Rxb7+ Kg8 30.Rg7+ Kh8 31.Rg5+ Kh7 32.Rxh5 Kg6 33.Rh3 Kxf6 34.Rxh6+ Kg5 35. Rh3 Reb8 36.Rg3+ Kf6 37.Rf3+ Kg6 38.a3 a5 39.bxa5 Rxa5 40.Nc4 Rd5 41.Rf4 Nd7 42.Rxe6+ Kg5 43.g3 1-0

However, Torre gave a very unconventional opinion of this game: «I don't consider it a good game, we both made several mistakes; that was one of my worst games and also Lasker's worst."

Books published

Carlos Torre wrote a chess essay in March 1926, which was originally published in Russian under the title Kak Formiruyetsya Shakhmatist by the Krolenko Publishing House in Leningrad. In English it was published under the title Development of Chess Ability in New York, 1926. This essay was the basis of a small book also published by Torre under the title Development of Chess Skill in Buenos Aires, 1944. However, it is in another of his books, the titled The Chess Tournament for the Championship of the Mexican Republic, which was published at the beginning of 1928, where Torre el pedagogo shines in all its splendor.

Famous quotes

• « The development of our ability is not that we become aware of the openings and diestros in the finals, because there is no development without harmony... we must strive mainly to play all the parts of the game equally well, that is, play chess»

• "If we always play better than before: the opening more accurately, the medium game more consciously and the end accurately; if we intend to do our calculations with more correction, produce a masterpiece, our internal efforts will translate and our progress will surpass the most lynching dreams... »

• "The strength that accumulates must produce progress, and of this kind, our continuous and growing effort will develop our ability in progressive reason"

• "The virtue of the great teachers is effort to conscience"

• «The effort to consciousness and knowledge walk parallel»

• "The most admirable combinations of the great teachers are the culmination of direct and simple plans. These brilliant combinations, which fill our being of the highest sense of well-being, do not happen to the fact: they are the product of evolution”

• "To seek conscience, to be sincere, to want, that is development"

• "Goddess doesn't want him didn't give him brains" (so often he used to designate those who never learned from his mistakes)

Notable Games

• Carlos Torre Repetto against Edwin Ziegler Adams, New Orleans, 1920, French Defense, 1-0
• Carlos Torre Repetto against Fred Dewhirst Yates, Marienbad, 1925, 1-0. According to the Tower itself, it was his best departure.
• José Raul Capablanca against Carlos Torre Repetto, Moscow, 1925, French Defense, 1/2-1/2. In a lower end, Carlos Torre managed to force the boards against the world champion.
• Carlos Torre Repetto against Alexander Alekhine, Baden-Baden, 1925, 1/2-1/2
• Frank James Marshall against Carlos Torre Repetto, Baden-Baden, 1925, Mexican Defense, 0-1
• Carlos Torre Repetto against Emanuel Lasker, Moscow, 1925, Attack Torre, 1-0. First “molino” or “lanzadera”.