José R Capablanca, Chess Fundamentals has been my top recommendation for beginning chess players for more than a decade. It was first published one hundred years ago (1921) and then converted to algebraic notation in 1994.
Capablanca wrote this book the year before he became the third World Chess Champion, and it was published after.* It offers clear and straight-forward instruction on the most important elements of chess strategy and tactics. I particularly like his sequencing of the instruction: first, some elementary checkmates against a lone king; then basic pawn endings; and then winning positions in the middlegame (really forced checkmates); and finally some general opening principles. That is chapter one. Then he continues with a repeating cycle from the end back to the beginning, each time the material becomes slightly more advanced. The last part of the book contains some of his games played on the road to becoming the World Championship contender. The annotations reveal some of his thoughts during the games, and analysis of the key positions.
I must qualify my praise by noting two problems with this book: one minor and the other a source of terrible frustration. Capablanca wrote this book in an era when "he" was considered a neutral pronoun, and when many people assumed that women simply did not play chess. Some of his language will irritate some readers.
The other problem is more severe. The original text is no longer protected by copyright. Consequently there are hundreds of editions, many of which are available on Amazon. I am posting this review at the edition that I bought, and that most readers should want. However, you might be reading it in reference to any of dozens of other editions that I strongly recommend against. Likewise, you can read many other reviews that criticize one of the poor editions, but Amazon puts all of the reviews together. A negative review about another edition might seem to be criticizing this edition.
There are Kindle copies that are images of the text and advertised incorrectly as algebraic. There are editions without the diagrams. There is an "improved" edition by a modern grandmaster that revises the original text and leaves out Capablanca's games. It can be very difficult to be sure that Amazon’s product information is correct.
My advice: make sure you are getting the 1994 algebraic edition. The 1994 edition even corrects an error that Capablanca made in his original edition, but otherwise leaves his words intact.
*Technically, Lasker conceded the championship in 1920 while Capablanca was finalizing the manuscript and insisted that he was the "challenger" in the match in 1921 to determine the title.
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