COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY HARCOURT, BRACE & WORLD, INC. © 1949 BY OLGA CAPABLANCA All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Seventeenth Printing PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA...

Chess Fundamentals was first published thirteen years ago. Since then there have appeared at different times a number of articles dealing with the so-called Hypermodern Theory. Those who have read the articles may well have thought that something new, of vital importance, had been discovered. The fact is that the Hypermodern Theory is merely the application, during the opening stages generally, of the same old principles through the medium of somewhat new tactics. There has been no change in the

First Principles: Endings, Middle-Game and Openings The first thing a student should do, is to familiarise himself with the power of the pieces. This can best be done by learning how to accomplish quickly some of the simple mates. 1. SOME SIMPLE MATES Example 1. —The ending Rook and King against King. The principle is to drive the opposing King to the last line on any side of the board . In this position the power of the Rook is demonstrated by the first move, R - R 7, which immediately confines

Further Principles in End-Game Play We shall now go back to the endings in search of a few more principles, then again to the middle-game, and finally to the openings once more, so that the advance may not only be gradual but homogeneous. In this way the foundation on which we expect to build the structure will be firm and solid. 9. A CARDINAL PRINCIPLE In the position shown above, White can draw by playing P - Kt 4 according to the general rule that governs such cases, i.e. to advance the Pawn

Planning a Win in Middle-Game Play I shall now give a few winning positions taken from my own games. I have selected those that I believe can be considered as types , i.e. positions that may easily occur again in a somewhat similar form. A knowledge of such positions is of great help; in fact, one cannot know too many. It often may help the player to find, with little effort, the right move, which he might not be able to find at all without such knowledge. 17. ATTACKING WITHOUT THE AID OF KNIGHT

General Theory Before we revert to the technique of the openings it will be advisable to dwell a little on general theory, so that the openings in their relation to the rest of the game may be better understood. 20. THE INITIATIVE As the pieces are set on the board both sides have the same position and the same amount of material. White, however, has the move, and the move in this case means the initiative , and the initiative, other things being equal, is an advantage. Now this advantage must b

End-Game Strategy We must now revert once more to the endings. Their importance will have become evident to the student who has taken the trouble to study my game with Janowski (Example 53). After an uneventful opening—a Ruy Lopez—in one of its normal variations, my opponent suddenly made things interesting by offering the exchange; an offer which, of course, I accepted. Then followed a very hard, arduous struggle, in which I had to defend myself against a very dangerous attack made possible by

Further Openings and Middle-Games 31. SOME SALIENT POINTS ABOUT PAWNS Before going back to the discussion of openings and middle-game positions, it might be well to bear in mind a few facts concerning Pawn positions which will no doubt help to understand certain moves, and sometimes even the object of certain variations in the openings, and of some manœuvres in the middle-games. Example 63. —In the position of the diagram we have an exceedingly bad Pawn formation on Black's side. Black's Q B P i

GAME 1. QUEEN'S GAMBIT DECLINED (Match, 1909) White: F. J. Marshall.          Black: J. R. Capablanca. I had played this defence twice before in the match with good results, and although I lost this game I still played it until the very last game, when I changed my tactics. The reason was my total lack of knowledge of the different variations in this opening, coupled with the fact that I knew that Dr. E. Lasker had been successful with it against Marshall himself in 1907. I thought that since Dr

[1] The value of the initiative is explained in section 20, p. 77 . [2] See page 37 . [3] See page 13 . [4] Full score and notes are given in My Chess Career, by J. R. Capablanca (Game No. 11). [5] This position is elaborated under Example 50 (p. 80 .). [6] We give, from now on, games and notes, so that the student may familiarise himself with the many and varied considerations that constantly are borne in mind by the Chess Master. We must take it for granted that the student has already reached