CHESS
FUNDAMENTALS

BY

JOSÉ R. CAPABLANCA

CHESS CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

NEW YORK

HARCOURT, BRACE & WORLD, INC.
LONDON: G. BELL AND SONS, LTD.

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

PREFACE

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 fundamentals. The change has been only a change of form, and not always for the best at that.

In chess the tactics may change but the strategic fundamental principles are always the same, so that Chess Fundamentals is as good now as it was thirteen years ago. It will be as good a hundred years from now; as long in fact as the laws and rules of the game remain what they are at present. The reader may therefore go over the contents of the book with the assurance that there is in it everything he needs, and that there is nothing to be added and nothing to be changed. Chess Fundamentals was the one standard work of its kind thirteen years ago and the author firmly believes that it is the one standard work of its kind now.

J. R. CAPABLANCA

New York

Sept. 1, 1934

LIST OF CONTENTS