A Model Capablanca Win in the Carlsbad Structure

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You won't want to miss this very instructive win by World Champion Capablanca! 

Jose Raul Capablanca. © Wikimedia

In this game, we see how Capablanca maneuvers the pieces in the Carlsbad pawn structure, which you can see in the diagram below:

And here's how the structure looks with colors reversed:


Typically, most people (myself included) focus on explaining the plans based on the pawn breaks - from White's kingside attack in the last diagram with Ne5 and so forth, to Black's plans, like the minority attack with ...b5-b4 (the most common plan), the 'Pillsbury Plan' with ...Ne4/...f5, or the central break ...e5. 

However, after studying this game, I've come to realize that, in certain cases, you can play with the pieces instead!

To get the full value out of the game, think about the position below, with White to move.


Try and come up with your plan for White, and then compare it with how Capablanca played in the game, and my notes. 
Now for the full game, against Jacques Mieses:
Jacques Mieses
I hope you found this game enlightening, and that it helps you win more chess games! Now you can see why Capablanca was considered the most accurate World Champion before Fischer by modern chess engines! Actually, back in the late 2000s, Capablanca was even considered the most accurate World Champion of all time by Fritz, if I remember correctly!  

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