A pawn down, and never worse
After the queens leave the board Capablanca is a pawn behind with rook and bishop against rook and knight, and by any material reckoning he should be defending. He is not, and the reason is coordination. A rook and a bishop are both long-range pieces, so any open file or diagonal serves both of them, and either can cross the board in one move when the action switches wings. A knight is a fine piece on a secure central outpost, but Marshall has no such square, and every time the play jumps from the king-side to the queen-side the knight needs three moves to follow. Capablanca simply keeps making the position more open and more double-edged, gets his rooks to the second rank where they and the bishop all bear on the same squares, and Marshall's extra pawn never gets to do anything at all. In your games, when you choose which minor piece to keep, ask whether the position will be open and whether the play will switch wings.
A Queen's Gambit Declined, and a bishop finally freed
Capablanca chose a Queen's Gambit Declined that transposed toward the Semi-Slav, a system he liked for the middlegames it produced rather than for any theoretical reason. His standing problem in these structures is the light-squared bishop, hemmed in by its own pawns, and his solution is the plan he called the key to the defence: exchange a pair of pieces to relieve the space disadvantage, then play b6 and Bb7 so the bishop breathes on the long diagonal. Once that bishop was free and the queens came off, the character of the game was set, and the pawn Marshall won along the way mattered less than the pieces he was left holding.
Black is a pawn down. Who is better?
The queens have just come off. White has an extra pawn and a knight; Black has rook, bishop and the more harmonious pieces. This is exactly the position where a material count gives the wrong answer. Stop and assess before you read on.
White is a pawn up with a knight against a bishop. Why is Black not worse here?
Ask which pieces can reach both wings quickly, and whether the knight has a secure central square to work from. Think, then reveal.
Reveal the assessment
Black's method (Capablanca)
- Keep it open. Open files and diagonals suit rook and bishop and starve the knight.
- Switch wings. Play is thrown from one side to the other, which long-range pieces do in one move.
- Double on the second. 34...Rdd2 puts both rooks on the seventh and paralyses White completely.
White's problem (Marshall)
- A knight without an outpost. No secure central square means the knight is always travelling.
- An extra pawn that does nothing. The pawn never advances usefully and never defends anything important.
- Pieces a move behind. Every time the play changes wing, the knight arrives late.
Open it, switch wings, then double on the seventh
Capablanca converts an inferior material count in three moves of judgement. First he keeps the position open, avoiding any simplification that would give the knight a stable home and preserving the lines that serve his rook and bishop. Second he switches wings, the pawns and rooks operate on the king-side, then suddenly on the queen-side with b5 and a6, and each switch costs Marshall tempi because the knight cannot follow quickly. Third he doubles on the seventh, 34...Rdd2 is the move the whole ending was heading toward, and with both rooks on the second rank and the bishop covering the escape squares White is simply tied up. The extra pawn is never relevant, and by 39...Rg2+ and 40...Rh2 the position is decided. In your games, use the same order, keep the position suited to your pieces, force the play to change wings, and finish by doubling where the defence cannot answer.
