The Attack That Should Not Have Worked: Capablanca's Pawn Storm

FM amazingatlas14 Oct 2026389 viewsEnglish (US)

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Capablanca throws his queenside pawns at a castled king and the engine says the attack is not sound. Raubitschek defends well for ten moves, then cracks, and the finish is a rook sacrifice and a quiet move.

Good day, chess world! This is game 4 of Capablanca's My Chess Career.

The return match with Robert Raubitschek from New York in 1906. This game is another demonstration of how to handle opposite side castling positions.
It is also a very good demonstration of the risks that a young Capablanca was willing to take.
Raubitschek castles queenside and Capablanca storms that king with his c and b and a pawns. Lets be clear that the silicon monster Stockfish does not approve and the storm was not objectively sound. Around moves 21 to 26 Black was close to winning. What the pawn storm did was set a new problem on every move, and after ten of them Raubitschek finally picked the wrong one.
Capablanca finished with a rook sacrifice and a quiet rook move that is prettier than anything the engine suggests earlier. That is practical attacking chess, and it is worth more to a improving adult player than a clean game would be.

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Four exercises from the game

Try to solve each before you watch. Capablanca is White here and he wins, so every exercise asks for White's move. The first one is a defensive resource in an attack that has gone wrong; the last three are the combination that ends it. The answers are in the full game at the bottom, in the video, and in the website lesson linked below.

Exercise 1. White to play (move 25). Your attack has run out of pawns and the engine says Black is better here. Your rook on c5 is attacked by the queen. Which rook move keeps every white piece pointed at a8 instead of retreating?

Exercise 2. White to play (move 30). Black has just taken on f2 and threatens to queen the d-pawn. This is the moment the game turns. Which rook move defends and attacks at the same time?

Exercise 3. White to play (move 32). Black's king is on a8 behind a pawn on a7 and a rook on b8. Which sacrifice tears that shelter apart?

Exercise 4. White to play (move 33). Black has recaptured with the queen on a7 and you are a rook down. Do not check. Which quiet rook move forces mate?