Alberto López Arce

Alberto López Arce (23 April 1907 — unknown) was a Cuban chess player.

Alberto López Arce
CountryCuba
Born(1907-04-23)23 April 1907
Diedunknown

Biography

Alberto López Arce was one of Cuba's leading chess players in the late 1930s. He played for Cuba in the 8th Chess Olympiad in Buenos Aires.[1] On the 2nd board, Alberto López Arce played 15 games, of which he won one (against Povilas Vaitonis) and tied another three. Alberto López Arce was best known for participating in a resonant incident that occurred in the match France - Cuba, which was played in the 11th round. The leader of the Cuban national team José Raúl Capablanca, who claimed first place in the team leaders' tournament, declined to meet his historical opponent Alexander Alekhine (Capablanca was to play black). Against the current world champion on the 1st board played López Arce. Alekhine was furious and forced the enemy to surrender already on the 25th move.[2] As a result, Capablanca managed to get ahead of Alekhine due to the best result shown in the final tournament.[3] A similar “maneuver” was carried out by the Cubans even earlier: in the 6th round of the finals in the match with Estonia, when Capablanca avoided meeting with Paul Keres, although in a group tournament he drew with him.[4]

References
  1. "OlimpBase :: Men's Chess Olympiads :: Alberto López Arce". www.olimpbase.org.
  2. The match ended with a score 2: 2 without a draw: Alekhine — López Arce 1 : 0; Alemán — Gromer 0 : 1; Kahn — Blanco 0 : 1; Planas — Rometti 1 : 0. It is curious that in all parties the struggle ended no later than the 25th move.
  3. "Alexander Alekhine vs Alberto Lopez Arce (1939)". www.chessgames.com.
  4. "View Game". www.365chess.com.
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