Chess Lesson # 90: Capablanca’s Endgame Rule | Chess Endings

Hello Everyone! Chess endgames can be extremely complex and that’s why we should study them as much as possible. There are many rules we can use to guide us through this stage of the game and in this lesson, we will talk about a few of them. The several-moves-in-a-row rule is one of them and you will see how Jose Raul Capablanca puts it into practice along with other concepts such as the take-it-easy rule and the principle of the two weaknesses.

Join to access members-only content and perks:

You can practice and play Chess for free here (affiliate link):

My Book Recommendations:
First tactics book:
Mixed tactics book:
Advanced tactics book:
Advanced tactics book (II):
Carlsen’s book (excellent):
Kramnik’s book (excellent):
Pirc Defense book:
Endgames book:

Entire Game:

Learn how to play Chess the right way from beginner to master level. National Master Robert Ramirez will take you up the pyramid by following a proven Chess training program he has been improving and implementing for over 10 years.

Benefits of Playing Chess:
​- Promotes brain growth
– Increases problem-solving skills
– It exercises both sides of the brain
– Raises your IQ
– Sparks your creativity
– Teaches planning and foresight
– Teaches patience and concentration
– Optimizes memory improvement
– Improves recovery from stroke or disability
– Helps treat ADHD
Chess is an intellectual battle where players are exposed to numerous mental processes such as analysis, attention to detail, synthesis, concentration, planning and foresight. Psychological factors are also present on and off the board; playing Chess stimulates our imagination and creativity. Every single move a player makes is the result of a deep analysis based on the elements presented on the battlefield.

Chess in its essence teaches us psychological, sociological and even moral values. In a Chess game, both players start with the same amount of material and time. The fact that the white pieces move first is considered to be practically irrelevant —especially because a player typically plays one game as white and one game as black. Consequently, the final result of the battle solely depends on each player. It doesn’t matter if you win by taking advantage of your opponent’s mistakes or by simply avoiding mistakes yourself. Truth is that Chess is an extremely individual sport and our defeats can only be blamed on ourselves and no one else. And this, in the end, only benefits us because we learn to be and feel responsible for our actions and never come up with excuses to justify ourselves.

We also learn that when it comes to our victories on the board, our opponent’s mistakes play a more significant role than our own skills. Let’s not forget that a Chess game without any mistakes would be a draw. This way, Chess provides us with another valuable life lesson: be humble at all times.

About National Master Robert Ramirez:

With an outstanding background as a professional Chess player and over 8 years of teaching experience, Robert Ramirez brings both his passion and his expertise to the board, helping you believe & achieve!

Robert Ramirez was introduced to the fascinating world of Chess when he was 5 years old and has participated in prestigious tournaments such as the World Open Chess Tournament and the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Championships. Thanks to his performance, he has earned his National Master title from the United States Chess Federation.

Currently, NM Ramirez and his carefully selected team teach at several private schools in the counties of Miami-Dade and Broward and they also offer private lessons. He says the key to their success as Chess coaches is their ability to adapt to every student and to make lessons fun and interesting for students and even their family members.

98 Comments

  1. I always suspected part of Capablanca's game was to make his opponent think a tooth pulling would be less painful than playing him.

  2. I just don't know what u'r waiting for?
    Too much nonsense!
    Make it simple will you?!! A lot of coach would make it more easy to understand!!

  3. Terrific lesson, thanks. I had a fairly simple plan… put the knight in front of the c-pawn, centralize the king, then advance the a-pawn. This was (obviously!) much more comprehensive, with lots of great ideas.

  4. thaaannnkkkk youuuu soooo much for the link i learn all the game and capablanca give his oponent with 2 isolated pawnsat the beginiing in move 12 13 i learned it by heard thhhaaa,,kk uuuuu sooo muchhh

  5. from the middle game capablanca left him with 2 isolated pawns and then he exchanged queens to enter the end games and exchanged the good knhight of his opponent; I have not yet finished the lessons to see the rules but I think he will play on the colors of the scares now etc; the rapid activity of his knighte etc; maybe he will change the rooks or not but I prefer the position of capablanca more strategic, playing on the colors the oppositions etc hehehhe, if not sorry for my comment I wrote it before finishing the lesson; I just learned the game by heart on the link you shared and I stopped at the position you are going to show without knowing the result by trying to put myself in the place of capablanca if I'm right I'll be proud otherwise I will have learned a lot of things after learning our lesson; thank you sooo much muster; if you have other capabalanca games, tal; anand to tell me you will make me happy if you share their links like that too; I wish you happiness dear brother

  6. My immediate plan would be to try and exchange the bishop for my knight to reduce blacks mobility. If I'm lucky I could give him an isolated pawn as well. There are also some tactical possibilities with my knight. After exchanging the minor pieces I would work toward getting my passed pawn through.

  7. Very good endgame instruction. I do need to take your advice and put the endgame in LiChess. One of the things I need to check is if the black king doesn't move to b8 how to proceed from there.

  8. I would try and win on the Queen side 2vs1 pawn. But no idea how

  9. I went on the lichess, did the board aspect as you stated, good tool, thank you. I could not do it, it just turned into draw, I did loose twice. Put stock fish review after I was done. 39 moves later wow. Still good study / training.

  10. So i was not alone losing these endgames, but now i won’t thanks mr robert

  11. I believe white is better, white has an extra passed pawn, which is protected. Black has an isolated pawn. But black has a bishop which could become annoying if rooks get traded off, because it can control both sides of the board unlike our knight. Id find a way to trade off light pieces, cut off the black king, activate my king and push my pawn majority
    16:18 of course its a check because there's only one legal move take the pawn in-passing
    20:05 yeah, I know what it feels to blunder a queen in the endgame because you only have 10 seconds left. Luckily I had 2 passed pawns left and i managed to to win with only 1 second on the clock

  12. I have been trying to complete this end game, man I can not get this to work, I work against the computer but I lose every time. I played it over 100 times. Drew a few, white or black I just can not seem to close it. As you have so poetically stated, end games are where the money is. Just like golf, drive for show, Put for the money. I will continue, thank you for all that you do. May Jesus bless us all. Amen

  13. White is winning. I would create a passed pawn on the a or b file supported by the rook.

  14. My plan would be to promote the pawn on the a file. Trade my knight for the bishop, rook for rook, and checkmate with queen. Exactly how I would achieve this plan is another question.

  15. question in the qb6 sic what if white delays d4 say with nc3 first?

  16. Thanks for your lesson. You never explained the logic behind Capablanca desired position. How does he arrive at these objectives? Regarding that final position at the end of the video: It is really hard to win against best playing computer. I tried 8 times. The position is by no means simple at that point. Preventing the opponents counterplay is difficult. I guess you thought it would be easy. I find it very difficult. I'm not Capablanca or a National Master! I did recognize that white has two outside passers against blacks lone passed pawn on the queens side and so the object was to promote one of those.

    Edit: Ok, further down you described how you approached it. I was able to win with white following that advise. I too had started with moving Rg7 but I did not move my Kc5 and was finding it difficult. Black also plays an alternative move order and then i still get draws and could not win:
    1. h4 Ba2 I have tried several moves but i could not find a way to win. In this case I did not find a way to force a rook trade to simplify the game.

  17. I really don't know why some people disliked …… Dead people's.

  18. 2:35 my plan would be to create a passed pawn on the queen side.. because there is 2 vs 1 situation.
    I will activate my knight and king also.

  19. Looking at the position at the start I think white should taje advantage of the extra pawn on the queen's side and try to push them to promote

  20. Sir, I have a problem. I watched a video and it told me to put pawns on the same colour as the bishop to ‘restrict squares from it.’ However, another person said to put it on different colour as bishop so it won’t get attacked. Which is it sir? Please help

  21. For Pete's sake man get to it already! you talk this thing to death making the same point over and over again, get to it already!

  22. Just fastforward to 7:51 before that he just talks you to death and keeps repeating himself.

  23. I wrote a novella in my notebook: My eval/plan: White has the advantage, I think about +1.5. White has an extra pawn–passed & protected vs Black's isolated pawn. I like the bishop better here and Black's king is slightly closer to the center which is why I have it at +1.5 instead of +2. Just due to the pawns on both flanks with the open center. I like White's rook much better than Black's rook which seems very passive on a7. So my plan would be to blockade Black's isolated pawn by putting the knight on c6 and then try to push the queenside pawns. Also I would like to trade the knight for the bishop if the opportunity arises. I think the king's first job (for White) is to try to keep Black's king from doing anything on the king side but I'm not really sure on the king side plans at all.

    Now on to the rest of the video to learn the actual plan. 😉

  24. I'm currently paused at 3:03 and I would say that White has the better position. Although Black's King is closer to the centre of the board (2 moves instead of 3), White is up a pawn and he also has the Knight to hop around, which is better for getting forks and also for eliminating pawns.

  25. It seems that endgames should be the first to be mastered if you're an amateur. I studied endgames here on your channel and from more than 1 year being stuck in 1700, I reached 1800 in just 2 days. Thanks

  26. Haven't watched it yet, but…
    Not yet on lesson 60 but after a couple of end-game disasters taking some time for that.
    Not too sure what constitutes "a plan", but :
    Black's Q-side looks vulnerable, so letting the N 'take a look' is tempting:
    N-d4 threatens the B immediately, though if B stays where it is, N on c6 would fork B&R & could combine with R on 8th rank to threaten much worse.
    Only white pawn vulnerable to B is protected by the K, so can perhaps leave that while black's R is babysitting the P on c7? Or should the K get closer to the action: black square in the centre?
    Later (first?), suspect white should try to get a passed pawn on the Q side.

  27. White has pawn majority on queen side but black has a powerful bishop with an open field. Centralize the knight and find a way to target the pawn island. If you could trade knight for bishop do it.

  28. Why do you put in so much energy when saying the letter “T” ?

  29. Thank you for this other great video! You are a great coach. Your explanations are so clear and easy to understand. In this endgame, I will have exchange my Knight for the Bishop without thinking further down the road. I am a big fan of Capablanca. I love its "take it easy but surely" approach. I also like your comments to RedGamin23 which is "Do not push the passed pawns until we improve our pieces position". I lost too many endgames because I did not follow this rule.

  30. Can you please shed some light on the thought process for reaching this ideal position with Ke3 Rc3 Nd4 and pawn formation with b4 f4?
    Because for me I only saw Nxf6 and create a "2 weakness" situation. How do you learn this style of thinking of "control" and actually knowing it will be fully controling rather than "cashing in on what is visible on the board right now"?

    *I understand you did mention controlling up to 5th rank and that may answer the 1st part of my question but… Maybe naive but why would even controlling up to 5th be so good for us, and how do you know which positions this concept can apply to and which not? 🙂

  31. Amazing lesson,amazing person . You are a gem in chess community

  32. It took me 34 moves to checkmate Black while setting up Stockfish level 8 on lichess, as you said. Feeling proud of myself now, all thanks to you. You're a great chess teacher. Glad that I finally found you here. Currently I'm binge watching your valuable lessons. 🙏 Love from 🇮🇳

  33. In fact after Kd4 by Capa, this is a mistake…Bb5 skewers the rook to the Knight on e2.. Moving the rook to c3 allows …Bxe2 Re3+ Ke6 Rxe2 Rxa3. and the position is even.

  34. 20.10 I Suggest to go on Rf5 R×f5 Nd6+
    Thats Simple too..

  35. My ideas for a plan:
    Try to create a passed pawn on the Queen side – I am a pawn up.
    Place your king side pawns on dark squares or try to exchange the knight against the bishop
    or place the knight before the black c-pawn on c5 (or c3?)
    The white king should go to the queen side.
    Try to cut off the black king from the queen side.
    Do NOT exchange rooks.
    Probably too many plans for a single game😀

  36. Repeating a position two times may be a bit dangerous. Your opponent might prove it was the same 10 moves before 🤪

  37. could you make a playlist evaluating endgame positions? i struggle a lot evaluating endgames 😅

  38. Right or wrong, at 2:42 my initial reaction is to put pressure on the isolated pawn at c7, activate my king and push the white queenside pawns.

  39. Hi I've you video and I like them ! The pirc and kings indians as black! But I have trouble playing the king's Indian defense ! I castle kings side and fall into trouble

  40. I think in this position, black is slightly better as the bishop can roam freely and has no pawns in the middle of the board to obstruct it

  41. Your endgame videos are very instructive. After mastering tactics (relatively by a lot for my elo) I am now going to try to get better at endgames and this is a part of my training plan.

  42. I played it Stockfish level 6
    Ne5/Rb7/Bd5/Nd7/Ke8/Nc5/Ra7ect….

  43. Very helpful advice here with the 'many moves in a row' and the 'keep it easy' principles. My initial plan was to simply trade the pieces and bet on the extra pawn, but I know better now. Winning the endgame in Lichess required a few attempts, there are secrets to explore in that position too. Thank you!

  44. Most of your videos are great, but this is outstanding to me. So many new ideas, so many tactical tricks.
    Would be really nice to see some more of these Capablanca endgames 👏

  45. my plan:
    nd4 – centralizing and bringing it to the queen side to help
    rc3 and b4 – keeping my pieces in good shape.
    finally try to do sth with my knight, create a pass pawn at the right moment.

    And also thank you, love from Vietnam

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.