Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate

José Raúl Capablanca is renowned for his exquisite positional play and flawless endgame technique. But “The Chess Machine” was also a master of that other way to deliver mate: the attack on the enemy king.

In this groundbreaking work, award-winning chess coach and author Frisco Del Rosario shines a long-overdue light on this neglected aspect of Capablanca’s record. He illustrates how the Cuban genius used positional concepts to build up irresistible king hunts, embodying the principles of good play advocated by the unequaled teacher, C.J.S. Purdy. The author also identifies an overlooked checkmate pattern – Capablanca’s Mate – that aspiring attackers can add to the standard catalogue in Renaud and Kahn’s The Art of the Checkmate. As Del Rosario shows, Capablanca has inspired not only generations of players, but also many of the classics of chess literature.

Easy to read but chock-full of advice for study and practical play, Capablanca: A Primer of Checkmate fills a gaping hole in our understanding of the third World Champion.