Three to Attack a King: When the King Joins the Attack

Good day, chess world!

This is the twelfth game from Capablanca's own Chess Fundamentals book.

This game is a wonderful demonstration of maximising your forces. Even though major pieces are on the board Capablanca marches his king into battle to be the difference maker. It also demonstrates how to use central dominance to convert a material edge.

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Four exercises from the game

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

Exercise 1. White to play (move 39). The heavy pieces are set and the black king sits on g8. Which pawn break rips open the last file in front of it?

Exercise 2. White to play (move 42). Which rook move crashes onto the seventh rank and into Black's camp?

Exercise 3. White to play (move 43). Black has just checked with the bishop. Which king move dodges the check and walks the king into the attack?

Exercise 4. White to play (move 44). Which capture wins the piece and leaves the black king hopeless?

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=c7t3XGkoqRw

Free interactive lesson for this game, with board diagrams and six puzzles, on my website: https://chessexcellence.com/f/chess-attack-how-many-pieces-do-you-need-capablanca-chajes-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