WEBVTT 00:00.750 --> 00:01.460 Hi there. 00:01.470 --> 00:04.980 In this lecture we see Capablanca playing against surveillance coa. 00:05.310 --> 00:08.030 He is the author of many witty chess quotations. 00:08.040 --> 00:09.510 I'll check them out. 00:09.880 --> 00:10.770 They're really great. 00:10.770 --> 00:14.520 So this is in 1924, the New York tournament, round six. 00:14.520 --> 00:18.810 So D four from Capablanca plays E six. 00:18.810 --> 00:23.400 So this kind of invites a French defense transition if E for D five. 00:24.690 --> 00:25.830 So very interesting move. 00:25.830 --> 00:29.280 But it also avoids the Dutch defense Staunton gambit. 00:29.280 --> 00:33.000 So E four is quite a strong gambit against the Dutch defense. 00:33.000 --> 00:38.040 So E six is quite a popular choice of botvinnik and also Simon Williams. 00:38.910 --> 00:41.310 So if you know the French defense, this is an interesting move. 00:41.310 --> 00:53.220 We have Knight every f5c for Knight of six, Bishop G five, Bishop E, 79c3 Toms Castles e3b6. 00:53.370 --> 01:00.060 Bishop D Free Bishop B seven White Castles, Queenie eight, Queen E two and now 94. 01:00.600 --> 01:03.990 So this is an interesting points of the game. 01:03.990 --> 01:11.640 I mean, we've Capablanca is Queen E two, he doesn't mind 94 and in fact, there seems to be a kind 01:11.640 --> 01:14.130 of strategic threat of damaging the structure. 01:14.130 --> 01:16.860 Capablanca welcomes this Bishop takes e seven. 01:16.860 --> 01:19.560 He welcomes the doubling of the pawns. 01:19.950 --> 01:24.900 It's not such a big deal in the context of the position and what's going on here. 01:24.900 --> 01:29.880 Black is locking up a strategic pawn brain e four by occupying e four here. 01:29.880 --> 01:32.250 And actually this is an inaccuracy. 01:32.250 --> 01:37.230 92c free bettor would have been queen size E seven it seems. 01:37.470 --> 01:44.880 So the lock and key over E four is held and for example Rook AC one why it doesn't incur structural 01:44.880 --> 01:51.060 damage if not in st C three there's rook take C free and this position should be about even the way 01:51.060 --> 01:51.990 it's played. 01:53.040 --> 01:58.080 Maybe it's interesting to double the pawns of a positional player and say, Look, I've achieved this 01:58.080 --> 02:01.590 against Capablanca, but let's look at what's happened here. 02:01.590 --> 02:03.630 Why has the E4 break? 02:03.810 --> 02:07.050 The E4 break will expose this pawn on E six. 02:07.050 --> 02:13.650 It gives white a semi-open foul first A four is played though and we have Bishop takes a free giving 02:13.650 --> 02:17.450 up the bishop voluntarily if d6e4. 02:17.460 --> 02:18.330 Let's have a look at this. 02:18.330 --> 02:20.550 This would be to White's advantage. 02:20.940 --> 02:22.650 Why is a small advantage here? 02:22.650 --> 02:28.590 So Bishop takes a free queen takes a free now 9c6 rook fb1. 02:28.590 --> 02:33.990 If white plays E four here it's thought a small advantage for white overall. 02:33.990 --> 02:40.410 Baruch fb one, Rook eight and now Queen H Free Rook f six. 02:40.680 --> 02:41.460 F four. 02:41.460 --> 02:47.310 So this locks down against E five and the pawns are at least harmonious with the bishop. 02:47.310 --> 02:48.920 The bishop is not a bad bishop. 02:48.930 --> 02:50.790 It's in harmony with these guys. 02:51.120 --> 02:51.930 This one blocks it. 02:51.930 --> 03:00.690 In 95 we have Queen 3d6 rookie, one, queen DD seven, and it's looking at the A pawn as well. 03:00.690 --> 03:04.380 So kind of tying down this rook so we have double pawns there. 03:04.380 --> 03:11.280 Is this that bad though, After E four is it that bad F takes e4 Queen takes e4, Black has to do something 03:11.280 --> 03:19.560 about H seven so g6g3 We have king F eight, King G to Rook have seven. 03:19.560 --> 03:23.790 And now there's a structural campaign being played here, in fact. 03:24.180 --> 03:26.520 So what would you play with White in this position? 03:30.470 --> 03:37.610 Why kind of aims to dice up black structure of fraud so incur structural damage of h five and ready 03:37.610 --> 03:45.740 for dynamic play along the H file we have d five and Capablanca actually takes what seems to be an absolutely 03:45.740 --> 03:50.540 brave decision that he's going to dissolve his double pawns if he takes. 03:50.540 --> 03:51.550 But what about this pawn? 03:51.560 --> 03:52.970 Isn't it a backward pawn? 03:53.330 --> 03:54.830 Isn't that an exploitable weakness? 03:54.830 --> 04:00.800 This is a big question here, even because one is committing now to simplification by taking taking 04:00.800 --> 04:03.410 on simplification committed to. 04:03.500 --> 04:10.460 And we can see there are cases here, examples where maybe black gets to torture the backward pawn. 04:10.670 --> 04:14.570 However, there are advantages of White's position. 04:14.570 --> 04:21.590 H five is played Rook six so Black is getting ready for Rook six But if black taken then these pawns 04:21.590 --> 04:22.700 are pretty dice. 04:23.450 --> 04:26.600 These pawns at age seven, H five and D five. 04:26.600 --> 04:28.310 And this would be very unpleasant. 04:28.460 --> 04:31.670 This would be to White's advantage as example. 04:31.670 --> 04:36.080 So Rook have six H takes h takes rook h one. 04:36.230 --> 04:41.960 So now King F eight Rook c six is not possible here because the the pieces are curable. 04:41.960 --> 04:42.650 Bishop Be fine. 04:42.650 --> 04:43.250 Thanks very much. 04:43.250 --> 04:48.350 Winning so King F eight and now a rook on the seventh. 04:48.350 --> 04:49.580 This is quite powerful. 04:49.580 --> 04:53.630 Rook C six which seems dual purpose, defend and attack. 04:54.560 --> 05:03.020 And now we have a really great move g four So here if the rook takes it would abandon g six and give 05:03.020 --> 05:05.660 white two connected pass pawns. 05:05.750 --> 05:13.640 So black treads with care with C four and we have now a move which is very, very powerful. 05:13.640 --> 05:16.100 G five we have 90 free check. 05:17.330 --> 05:21.760 KING Free and black goes badly wrong here, in fact, very badly wrong. 05:21.770 --> 05:24.380 Black's only chance really to try and draw. 05:24.380 --> 05:33.080 This is Knight D one it seems now that dance hits C free and G six is still protected. 05:34.310 --> 05:36.950 And for example Rook six, King G seven. 05:36.950 --> 05:40.370 This looks as though it's dangerous for Black Knight. 05:40.370 --> 05:44.630 B two is a very accurate move here. 05:44.870 --> 05:53.060 And it turns out this position, for example, is going to be about even after nine d free check. 05:53.090 --> 05:56.300 This should be about even this is a very accurate way of playing things. 05:57.020 --> 06:02.720 So 91 was the way he's play and if white plays king G4 ouch nine have to check. 06:03.380 --> 06:06.860 So again, it seems as though this is a very accurate way of playing it. 06:06.860 --> 06:11.600 So Rook six King G seven in the main line of this at five might be two. 06:11.610 --> 06:12.140 Bishop be one. 06:12.140 --> 06:21.110 Let's look again if King G for here G takes a five check, Bishop takes 90 C four check. 06:21.110 --> 06:22.970 White's only got enough for equality. 06:22.970 --> 06:25.040 It seems so anyway. 06:25.040 --> 06:29.420 So that is an exploitation of C three without losing at least. 06:29.420 --> 06:37.010 But Black played a five and in fact, it does seem like a terrible weakness for a positional player 06:37.010 --> 06:38.510 like Capablanca to have. 06:38.810 --> 06:41.690 But there's something magical about this position. 06:41.690 --> 06:52.790 I mean, truly magical that this weakness is swapped swapping cards for a dangerous passport potential 06:52.790 --> 06:55.580 and dangerous king to contribute to the rook on the seven. 06:55.580 --> 07:06.350 FRANK So Kaplan actually plays Bishop takes a five fantastic move if King G4 and Rook take C three. 07:06.350 --> 07:09.230 Yeah we have this which is the advantage as well. 07:09.230 --> 07:11.030 But Bishop takes is great. 07:11.570 --> 07:17.420 Now G takes is played black horn insert rook take C free check because of King G for protecting F5. 07:17.420 --> 07:19.700 That's going to be to White's big advantage. 07:19.700 --> 07:21.380 White's getting two pawns there. 07:21.560 --> 07:25.970 So G takes a five and you might think, well, what's the problem for black? 07:25.970 --> 07:28.370 Black is tapping into the back of pawn. 07:28.370 --> 07:31.820 This is why positional players shouldn't have backward pawns right? 07:31.820 --> 07:35.540 But we can build on our strengths in the position. 07:35.540 --> 07:39.500 The rook on the seventh and our past pawn are two strengths. 07:39.500 --> 07:45.650 We can build on those two strengths and swap our weakness to amplify our strengths. 07:45.650 --> 07:48.980 So what is the move to to play here for 200 points? 07:50.490 --> 07:54.570 It's a brilliant concept and it made me fall in love with end game. 07:54.930 --> 07:55.860 Advantages. 07:55.860 --> 08:00.300 This particular game inspired me to check out Capablanca more broadly. 08:00.810 --> 08:01.650 In fact, so. 08:01.650 --> 08:04.530 King Jeffrey, I thought, this is beautiful and dynamic. 08:04.530 --> 08:06.420 So Rook, take C free check. 08:06.510 --> 08:11.010 The king is getting very aggressive and it's another pawn sacrifice employed here. 08:11.490 --> 08:16.240 So we're trading off also this weakness to further amplify the past pawn. 08:16.260 --> 08:19.620 The rook on the seventh because now the king is super aggressive. 08:19.770 --> 08:24.870 So rookie for king of six with major concrete threats like a mate threat. 08:25.140 --> 08:28.440 So King G eight to put that on board. 08:28.440 --> 08:31.310 Rook Tasteful rook check and mate. 08:31.320 --> 08:34.760 So King G eight rook G seven check. 08:36.330 --> 08:38.190 King H eight rook tanks. 08:38.190 --> 08:38.940 C seven. 08:38.940 --> 08:45.630 So gaining a tempo because now again rook eight and will be mating so black has to address that. 08:45.870 --> 08:46.950 And black's pawns. 08:47.190 --> 08:51.840 They're starting to fall off like ripe apples, so equal on pawns right now. 08:51.840 --> 08:54.540 But the superiority of the pieces is apparent. 08:54.570 --> 08:58.370 Rookie for King f6 again threatening to checkmate. 08:58.380 --> 09:00.480 So check King E five. 09:01.050 --> 09:01.950 Rook G six. 09:01.950 --> 09:03.120 And now G seven. 09:03.120 --> 09:03.720 Check. 09:03.870 --> 09:05.000 We have King G eight. 09:05.010 --> 09:06.750 If Rook takes G seven. 09:06.840 --> 09:09.960 This is this is a one king and pawn ending here. 09:10.320 --> 09:13.530 So for example, King IV seven, King C six, King E seven. 09:13.530 --> 09:16.260 We will play King C seven here to hide this pawn. 09:17.550 --> 09:22.770 And if King E six, King B seven here can be found. 09:22.800 --> 09:26.730 King takes a seven, King takes the four, king takes B six. 09:26.880 --> 09:28.800 And we've got loads of time to queen this pawn. 09:28.800 --> 09:29.910 There's no interruption there. 09:30.240 --> 09:32.130 So King G is played. 09:32.280 --> 09:37.020 Rook takes a seven, rook g one king takes the five. 09:37.020 --> 09:39.600 So this is a winning endgame. 09:39.720 --> 09:41.640 We have King d6c2. 09:41.640 --> 09:43.500 d5c1. 09:44.310 --> 09:45.810 C seven, Rook one. 09:47.150 --> 09:47.690 Rooks. 09:48.000 --> 09:48.320 Sorry. 09:48.770 --> 09:49.710 Kings six. 09:49.730 --> 09:51.100 Rook takes a four. 09:51.110 --> 09:53.330 And after six, the game ended here. 09:53.450 --> 09:56.360 If the game continues with Rook dd four, then D seven. 09:56.660 --> 09:57.750 This is crushing. 09:57.770 --> 10:06.080 So, for example, King takes five and we're just going to go and improve on King position to see eight 10:06.290 --> 10:07.720 and queen are pawn. 10:07.730 --> 10:10.940 Thanks very much as example. 10:10.940 --> 10:12.440 So the game ended on D six. 10:12.440 --> 10:14.840 So this is an absolutely fascinating game. 10:14.840 --> 10:22.220 There are many iconic games where Capablanca embraces what seems to be structural defects and more modern 10:22.220 --> 10:24.410 positional grandmasters like Adams. 10:24.740 --> 10:26.510 Not so much, actually. 10:27.140 --> 10:30.500 There are some sometimes some technical downsides as we see here. 10:30.740 --> 10:35.630 There was actually a technical downside of the backward pawn, but it required precision to exploit 10:35.630 --> 10:36.120 that. 10:36.140 --> 10:43.340 So Capablanca in this game managed to just he's playing the position ready and this is a very it's a 10:43.340 --> 10:50.270 good position overall if we look at overall and what's happening here, that these these double pawns 10:50.270 --> 10:54.500 aren't particularly weak and they're being dissolved here. 10:54.500 --> 10:58.430 Black's trying to transition them to a backward pawn. 10:58.430 --> 11:04.490 So black was banking on the backward pawn, perhaps, but otherwise White is brewing up an attack with 11:04.490 --> 11:05.540 H five. 11:05.720 --> 11:08.420 If black doesn't do anything, if black doesn't do D five. 11:08.570 --> 11:13.250 White's got this attack building up with h5h1 and the H files dangerous. 11:13.250 --> 11:18.080 So this was what seemed to be it should have been in a in a sense. 11:18.080 --> 11:22.640 You can see Todd had been banking on this back with pawn. 11:22.640 --> 11:26.150 But yes, what can the backward pawn be swapped to? 11:26.150 --> 11:35.420 There are other advantages at play here, so it was swapped for this amazing King march into the opponent's 11:35.420 --> 11:36.140 position. 11:36.140 --> 11:41.450 Basically, we've traded a weak pawn to improve on King. 11:41.780 --> 11:45.230 In the end games there are subtle end game, distinct advantages. 11:45.290 --> 11:51.830 Capablanca showed time and time again like an aggressive king, like pass pawns, and they often outweigh 11:51.830 --> 11:53.030 being material down. 11:53.030 --> 11:57.620 Rook on the seventh locks down the opponent's king, restricts the opponent's king. 11:57.620 --> 12:02.360 So yes, this is an absolutely brilliant concept, an inspirational one for me. 12:02.360 --> 12:03.620 So I hope you enjoyed this. 12:03.620 --> 12:06.410 And also check out my cover bank, of course, for more game examples. 12:06.410 --> 12:08.240 This inspired me to check out Capablanca. 12:08.240 --> 12:12.970 I've got two camera bank courses to check out so you might want to check out more positional games account 12:13.050 --> 12:13.360 blank. 12:13.370 --> 12:20.570 But he's an absolute icon and it showed he's not afraid to take on structural weaknesses shortly after 12:20.570 --> 12:21.320 an opening. 12:21.320 --> 12:22.790 It's what you do with them after. 12:22.790 --> 12:24.140 That's what counts. 12:24.140 --> 12:27.350 Can you trade them for other advantages which are winning? 12:27.440 --> 12:29.480 OC has so much.