José Raúl Capablanca (November 19, 1888 – March 8, 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. He is often considered to be a candidate for the greatest chess player of all time. In 1919, Capablanca overwhelmed the strong Serbian Borislav Kostić in a match at Havana with five straight wins, whereupon Kostic resigned the match. In 1920, Lasker saw that Capablanca was becoming too strong, and resigned the title to him, saying, "You have earned the title not by the formality of a challenge, but by your brilliant mastery." Capablanca wanted to win it in a match, but Lasker insisted that he was now the challenger. They played a match in Havana in 1921, and Capablanca defeated Lasker without losing a game. Source: Capablanca's Chess Biography on Wikipedia.