The Long-Range Pair: How Capablanca Won a Pawn Down

Good day, chess world!
This is the fourteenth game in Capablanca's own Chess Fundamentals.
Did you know that Bishops and Rooks speak the same language ?! Knights on the other hand struggle to communicate with Rooks. This game is shows how to use the better communication of the long range pieces. bishop can outclass a knight by switching sides.

Capa was Black against Frank Marshall, and goes a pawn down on purpose. Then lets his long range bishop and his rooks on the seventh rank do the work while Marshall's knight is left a step behind everywhere. Material is not the point when your pieces reach across the whole board and your opponent's cannot.

If you are enjoying my posts take a look at the lesson link on my website and consider signing up for the free daily lessons with the links below.

Four exercises from the game

Try to solve each before you watch. Capablanca is Black here and wins, so every exercise asks for Black's move, the technique that made a pawn deficit irrelevant. The answers are in the full game at the bottom, in the video, and in the website lesson linked below.

Exercise 1. Black to play (move 15). White has pushed d5 to open the centre. Which knight move keeps everything coordinated and heads for a strong square?

Exercise 2. Black to play (move 18). White has just played Nd4, hitting the queen. Which centralizing queen move holds everything and keeps the initiative?

Exercise 3. Black to play (move 20). Which rook move plants a pig on the seventh rank?

Exercise 4. Black to play (move 24). Which rook lift brings the second rook toward the seventh to finish the job?

Play through the full game with my notes here:

Questions, or a move you would have played differently? Tell me in the comments. Good day, chess world.

Watch the video and go deeper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vz2N6xlt5B4

Free interactive lesson for this game, with board diagrams and six puzzles, on my website: https://chessexcellence.com/f/rook-and-bishop-vs-rook-and-knight-endgame-marshall-capablanca-1918.html

Free Capablanca notes (PDF): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVtlFBDTaYahWI-VcpZOUIGn7ly5R4mYnjoEgg2OOgHn1tzQ/viewform

Free study sheets from my Logical Chess Move by Move series: https://forms.gle/nEt1DWY5pKGq7T3n6

See the whole Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYil0efSf2As