Let the Pawn Structure Pick the Plan
Good day, chess world!
This is game 7 of Capablanca's My Chess Career.
The fifth game of his 1909 match with Frank Marshall, a match he won by eight wins to one. Capablanca detailed how he never studied the openings but what he had instead was a great feeling for endgames. Capablanca focused on using his endgame skills to make better decisions for the middlegame structure.
In this game the trend carries through Marshall does not want to head to any kind of endgame and plays for sharp tactics. Capa deals with the speculative tactics and converts with fine precision.
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Four exercises from the game
Try to solve each before you watch. Capablanca is Black here and he wins, so every exercise asks for Black's move. A word of warning: the structural moves that set this game up are quiet, and good players would find several of them, so the exercises here test the tactics that the plan produced rather than the plan itself. 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 22). You played g5 to open lines and Marshall grabbed the pawn with his knight. Your rook sits deep on c3. Which capture starts the combination that wins material back with interest?

Exercise 2. Black to play (move 24). White's queen has stepped to g3 to defend the knight on g5 and hold the kingside together. It is not enough. Which capture simply wins the piece?

Exercise 3. Black to play (move 28). Marshall is fighting back. He has checked on b8, your king went to h7, and now e5 is a discovered check along the b1 to h7 diagonal. You must block. With what?

Exercise 4. Black to play (move 38). Queen and bishop against queen, and White has just played f3 to kick your bishop. Where does it go to keep the bind and leave White without a check?

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=3izQY6IA2Ew
The full chess lesson: https://chessexcellence.com/f/how-to-read-a-pawn-structure-capablanca-vs-marshall.html
Capablanca Strategy Course : https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVtlFBDTaYahWI-VcpZOUIGn7ly5R4mYnjoEgg2OOgHn1tzQ/viewform
Logical chess course: https://forms.gle/nEt1DWY5pKGq7T3n6
Capablanca Youtube series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPOO5Irce4Zw