Esteban Canal
Encyclopedia
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
vian chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player who had his best tournament results in the 1920s and 1930s.
Birth and life
Born in Chiclayo, PeruChiclayo
Chiclayo is the capital city of the Lambayeque region in northern Peru. It is located 13 kilometers inland from the Pacific coast and 770 kilometers from the nation's capital, Lima...
, he moved to Italy in the 1920s and remained there.
As a chess player
Canal was placed second at Trieste 1923, tied for second at Merano 1926, tenth at Budapest 1929, tied for tenth out of 22 at Carlsbad 1929, tied for seventh at Rohitsch-Sauerbrunn 1929, second at Budapest 1932, tied for fourth at Bad Sliac, first Budapest 1933, fifth at Mähritsch-Ostrau 1933, and tied for first at ReusReus
Reus is the capital of the comarca of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague...
1936. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was tied for second at Venice 1947, tied for sixth at Bad Gastein 1948, tied for second at Venice 1948, and tied for twelfth at Venice 1949.
Canal had an even record against World Champion Max Euwe
Max Euwe
Machgielis Euwe was a Dutch chess Grandmaster, mathematician, and author. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion . Euwe also served as President of FIDE, the World Chess Federation, from 1970 to 1978.- Early years :Euwe was born in Watergraafsmeer, near Amsterdam...
. He won in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1948:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Ne2 Bg4 8. c3 Bc5 9. Ng3 Nh5 10. Nf5 Bb6 11. d4 exd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. h3 Bxf5 14. exf5 Nf6 15. Bxc6 bxc6 16. Be3 Ne4 17. Rc1 Re8 18. g4 Qf6 19. Qa4 Qe7 20. Rfe1 Rad8 21. Rxc6 Rd6 22. Rxd6 Nxd6 23. Qc6 Rb8 24. Qxd5 Qd7 25. Bf4 h6 26. Ne5 Qa4 27. Nc6 Rf8 28. f6 Re8 29. Re7 1-0.
Canal played his most famous game, sometimes called the "Peruvian Immortal
Peruvian Immortal
The Peruvian Immortal is the name given to a spectacular chess game played by the Peruvian master Esteban Canal against an unknown amateur in a simultaneous exhibition he gave at Budapest in 1934...
", at a simultaneous exhibition
Simultaneous exhibition
A simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players. Such an exhibition is often referred to simply as a "simul".In a regular simul, no chess clocks are used...
in 1934. In just 14 moves he sacrificed
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....
both his rooks
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
and his queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
to finish with Boden's mate
Boden's Mate
Boden's Mate is a checkmating pattern in chess characterized by bishops on two criss-crossing diagonals , with possible flight squares for the king being occupied by friendly pieces. Most often the checkmated king has castled queenside, and is mated on c8 or c1...
.
National teams
Canal played in one Chess OlympiadChess Olympiad
The Chess Olympiad is a biennial chess tournament in which teams from all over the world compete against each other. The event is organised by FIDE, which selects the host nation.-Birth of the Olympiad:The first Olympiad was unofficial...
, representing Peru on board 1 in 1950 at Dubrovnik. FIDE made him an International Master in 1950 and an honorary Grandmaster in 1977.