José Raúl Capablanca: Most instructive chess games 1919-1928

What you’ll learn
The ability to play “simple positional chess” and reduce complexity
The ability to appreciate what Bobby Fischer described as a “Light touch” and find the right move very quickly
The ability to appreciate Boris Spassky’s view that Capablanca was the best player of all time
The ability to improve and appreciate endgame play

Requirements
Know how the chess pieces move

Description
José Raúl Capablanca was a Cuban chess player who was the world chess champion from 1921 to 1927.

His games are among the clearest of the World champions to understand the fundamentals of positional play and endgame mastery.

This course checks out his most important games from early in his career between 1919-1928 and so covers his period of games leading up to becoming World chess champion and beyond.

We further examine the “Human chess machine” reputation following our first installment for the years 1919-1924. Capablanca lost to Chajes in 1916 and only later to Reti in 1924. This period of being unbeaten in “serious” games i.e. not Simul or Exhibition games, led to Capablanca being nicknamed the “Human Chess Machine”

Between 1916 and the Reti loss, Capablanca played in three tournaments. This was a total run of 44 games before Reti defeated him. He also played two matches against Kostich and Lasker where he played 19 games without a loss. This lifts the unbeaten run to 63 games. Factor in the exhaustion of playing many simuls, and this becomes even more impressive.

The course provides an objective analysis of the games without too much bias for the winner. The concept here is that with the “truth” of games we can use such games to really improve our play to the maximum. We can also pick up opening theory, middlegame tactics and strategy, and of course endgame strengths through the inspiration of the key Capablanca games chosen in this course. The course bypasses the hundreds of Simul games Capablanca played – perhaps they can be in another course in the future. Instead, the course focuses on the most important tournament and match games of the time period the course has scope for.

In the process of creating the course, Kingscrusher himself has experienced more powerful confidence for endgame transitioning and “small combinations” – and believes any attentive student will too – and finds many inspirational concepts and philosophies to enrich your chess through game example after example.

Who this course is for
Beginner to intermediate players who want to improve their chess in all phases of the game