When he was only four years old he showed his love for the game, when he defeated his father in a game they had. When visiting Havana with his father next year he played with experienced players in the country. At the age of 12 he was a champion in Cuba and at 23 he reached that category at a Pan-American level. In 1911, after his spectacular victory in San Sebastián, Capablanca tried to have a match to win the world title with Emmanuel Lasker, the champion at that time. Due to different issues, among them the First World War, the meeting between them was delayed for a decade.  It was on March 21, 1921 when he was the World Champion in Chess, title he had until 1927.He had a short life and died at the age of 53, on March 8th, 1942, when watching a chess match in New York. 

Emmanuel Lasker

He was born on December 24th, 1868 and dies in New York on January 11th, 1941.He was a chess player, mathematician and philosopher, world champion in chess from 1894 to 1921.He got the title when he was 25.