The Square in Front: How to Play Against an Isolated Pawn

Good day, chess world!

This is the ninth game in Capablanca's own Chess Fundamentals, and it is the model game against the isolated queen's pawn. Playing White against Richard Teichmann, Capablanca does not chase the pawn. He plants a piece on the square in front of it, trades the right pieces, and grinds the fixed weakness down in the ending. The square in front of the isolani is the real prize.

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Four exercises from the game

Try to solve each before you watch. Capablanca is White here and wins, so every exercise asks for White's move, the blockade-and-convert method against the isolated pawn. 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 18). Black has an isolated pawn on d5. Which knight move takes the blockade square directly in front of it?

Exercise 2. White to play (move 20). Which knight leap hits e7 and forces the black king out of its shelter?

Exercise 3. White to play (move 23). Which quiet pawn move takes e4 away from Black's pieces and cements the bind?

Exercise 4. White to play (move 29). Which rook move offers a trade that steers straight into a winning ending?

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=gRjRhe3y-5Q

Free interactive lesson for this game, with board diagrams and six puzzles, on my website: https://chessexcellence.com/f/isolated-queens-pawn-strategy-how-to-blockade-capablanca-teichmann-1913.html

Free Capablanca notes (PDF): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfVtlFBDTaYahWI-VcpZOUIGn7ly5R4mYnjoEgg2OOgHn1tzQ/viewform

Free study sheets from my Logical Chess Move by Move series: https://forms.gle/nEt1DWY5pKGq7T3n6

See the whole Capablanca's Chess Fundamentals series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLYil0efSf2As