José R. Capablanca defeated Arnold Aurbach in the second game of their exhibition match at Paris to take the contest by a 2-0 score. Aurbach, with the White pieces, chose the Scotch Opening, and the game followed well-known paths until Black's 11th turn, when the Cuban opted for 11...Bd7, a move that does not appear in our card index. The French player, seeking to punish Black's novel idea, soon sacrificed a pawn via 15.Nf5 Be5 16.Rfe1 Rxb2 17.Qh3, having an eye toward a powerful King-side attack. But Capablanca, acting with his accustomed coolness, put a quick end to White's hopes with the calm 17...g6, a move leading to the exchange of several pieces and leaving Black with both a material and a positional advantage in the resultant heavy-piece endgame. Black gained a second pawn at the 24th move and stood ready to collect further booty when White resigned three moves later.
Capablanca appears to be in top form at the present time and has acquitted himself marvelously well in recent months, defeating Aurbach, Mieses, Teichmann, Alekhine, Tartakower, Reti, and others in exhibition play. We rate his chances of winning the coming St. Petersburg tourney as at least equal to those of Rubinstein and Dr. Lasker, the former inactive for more than a year now and the latter for more than three. To best the Cuban at his current strength will require a mighty effort indeed.
We append the second game of the Capablanca-Aurbach exhibition match.
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