Chess Fundamentals

José Raúl Capablanca, the Cuban world chess champion, explains the game from the ground up. Unusually, he begins not with openings but with the endgame, showing how to mate with few pieces and how to win with pawns, because, he argues, a player who understands the endgame understands the value of each piece. He then turns to the middle game, planning, attack and defence, and finally to the openings, illustrating his principles with annotated games, including some of his own victories.

Capablanca (1888–1942), famous for the clarity and ease of his play, published the book in 1921, the year he won the world championship from Emanuel Lasker, and it is still recommended to improving players. For puzzles of a different kind, many based on the chessboard, read Dudeney's Amusements in Mathematics.