Book Review: Capablanca's Best Chess Endings by Irving Chernev
Want to learn "strategic endgames"? Consider starting here.
First off, suggested rating before reading this book:
1600+ USCF (1400 if you're really diligent). I guess this should translate to about 1500+ FIDE. Or, 1900+Lichess/1600+chesscom.
If you don't know what a chess rating is, this is probably not your best choice. But Chernev has another one: Logical Chess: Move by Move, which is right up your alley.
On to the actual review:
If Irving Chernev were alive today and you asked, he would tell you that Capablanca could do no wrong.
My first introduction to a proper Capablanca endgame came in the pages of Chernev's other very popular book Logical Chess: Move by Move. He gushes with praise for Capa's buttery smooth play, simplicity and elegance, and his acute flair for the "petite combinaision". It almost sounds like hero worship on the 64 squares, and if Capablanca had a singular devotee, it would have been Irving Chernev. It seems sycophantic, but I think it's rather that the personality of the author was so attuned to the beauty of chess that he simply loved the play of those who played the most beautiful moves, which is why the only other player who rises up to the level of praise Chernev contains for Capablanca is Alekhine, who Chernev considers Capa's only contemporary equal.
In fact, one fringe benefit of this book in the midst of the 2020s is the chess culture you'll pick up simply by bathing in the endgames of 35 years of Capa's career that are contained in this book. It seems very likely that Chernev must have limited himself to only 60 games in that timespan as he mined for the highest karat endgame gold he could find. This is a stunning collection of games and endgames, chronologically organized, and you'll meet such characters as Lasker, the aforementioned Alekhine, Janowski, and even a young Samuel Reshevsky.
Modern chess books in general have the unenviable trait of being outdated almost by the time they have already arrived on the shelves, but Chernev's work here predates modern (and spoilsport) chess engines by a few decades. If you're looking for pinpoint, chess-computer engine-approved accuracy, this is simply not the book for you. In Chernev's eyes, any endgame against Capablanca is basically barely equal or even lost for the other player, even if modern computers disprove this opinion. It doesn't even take a computer in some cases to see this: I'm a lowly ~1650 USCF rated player (as of the date of this review) and I found an obvious tactical mistake in Chernev's analysis in Game 38 (Capablanca - Lasker, notes on White's turn on move 37), and he was around US national master strength (~2200 USCF). Turn on Stockfish and a position that Chernev thinks is "slightly better" for Capablanca as black might even be +1 (e.g. way better) for the other guy playing white. Simply by being Capablanca, Chernev believes this gives him an advantage. It's hard not to forgive this, because Capablanca simply won games that any other player would draw -- or even lose!
However, does the dated analysis really matter as to the worthiness of this book among the myriads of other options? I think not. This is a clear and obvious classic by any stretch of the word, not only because of the genuinely excellent selection by Chernev and the variety of endgames (an index in the back on which kind of endgames is welcome), but because the author's enthusiasm for the game is second to none. Chernev will make you like the endgame -- and if not, at least you'll come to appreciate his own character. He considers himself a fly on the wall when watching the games of giants, and he invites you along to witness the greatest player of a generation as he deconstructs positions into their constituent elements, threads the smallest needle into a masterpiece victory, game after game after game (this collection includes 60 of them). Every game really is that wonderful to play through.
One subject that doesn't really show up by name in this book but is clearly a major focus of this book is the "strategic endgame": positions with most pieces traded off, where one side is seeking to win the game, usually by the creation and promotion of a passed pawn (though there is always the possibility of outright checkmating the enemy king with minimal material as well), and sometimes by transposing the game to a theoretical endgame position in which the result is already known. This is a poorly understood (and subsequently often-feared) topic for many chess players, but this book contains 60 endgames for you to peruse by perhaps the greatest endgame player to play the game until Fischer, if not Carlsen. So, if you've never studied strategic endgames, you're in for some valuable lessons.
There are so many endgames to learn if you want to become a strong player, and this book gives you sixty different examples filled with all sorts of ideas you can put into your toolkit on the road to becoming a stronger player. It's an excellent choice if you want to see myriad examples of how to use one extra pawn to win a game. And, due to the chronological nature of the collection, you get to see how Capablanca's play elevated that of his peers who were trying to catch up to him, and the endgames become increasingly complex and the road to victory become increasingly narrower as time moves on. This is an underrated feature of chronological game collections and Chernev's book here is no exception!
Another neat thing, at least to me, reading this book in 2023, is the appearance of Alekhine's commentary and analysis as Chernev relies on him particularly in the New York 1924 games (four of those games from that tournament are featured). The material from that book shared in this one has convinced me to grab that one at some point to play through as well.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to serious players who would like to either improve on their endgames, or who are simply looking for a good collection of Capablanca games to play through (which was the case for myself).
5/5
Is that position really in the book with that claim? Missing f6+ winning the game instantly? Insanity.