"... 'Chess Fundamentals' ... does not deal so minutely as this book will with the things that beginners need to know. ..." - from Capablanca's A Primer of Chess
"... For let’s make no mistake, what ground Capablanca covers, he covers well. I enjoyed reading Capablanca’s presentation of even well-worn and standard positions. ...
Still, when compared with other instructional books for beginners and intermediate players, Capablanca’s Chess Fundamentals would not be my first choice. Other books cover the same or similar ground with a less confusing structure and more thoroughness. The following works come to mind as equal or in some ways superior: Lasker’s Common Sense in Chess; Znosko-Borovsky’s series of books; and Edward Lasker’s Chess Strategy. Later works that equal or surpass Chess Fundamentals would include Reuben Fine’s Chess the Easy Way and any number of Horowitz tomes.
Capablanca’s work has historical interest and value, of course, and for that reason alone belongs in any chess lover’s library. But there are better instructional books on the market. Certainly the works of Seirawan, Silman, Pandolfini, Polgar, Alburt, etc. are more accessible, speak a more modern idiom, and utilize advances in chess teaching and general pedagogy, etc. ..." - David Kaufman (2007)
https://web.archive.org/web/20131010102057/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/review564.pdf
Hi,
As a beginner, I bought Capablanca's book Chess Fundamentals. This is my first chess book.
I don't really understand how I can learn from this book. The very first part is straight forward, but as I arrived to part 3 "Pawn Final", I got stuck.
For example: what should I learn from example 7 ? For me, this just looks like a tactic problem. There aren't any conclusion or theory added to the position. I feel that I just have the solution for a given position, but nothing that would help me get it in my own games. And the rest of this part of the book is the same thing: a given position, a solution and nothing more. I did not see any "Fundamentals" in this part (same thing in other part of this book).
Maybe this book is not for me, but I have the feeling that I don't have the correct way to study it.