Aron Nimzowitsch — Master of Planning Raymond Keene B,T. Batsford Ltd, LondonFirst edition 1974 by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd, First Batsford edition 1991 [New algebraic edition 1999 (© B.T. Batsford 1974, 1999 ISBN 07134 8438 1 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data, ‘A catalogue record for this book is ‘salable from the British Library. All rights reserved, No part ofthis book may be reproduced, by any means, without prior permission ofthe publisher. Typeset by B. B. Enterprises, Brighton snd printed in Great Britain by Creative Print and Design, Ebbw Vale, Wales, foe the publishers, B.T. Batsford Lt, 583 Fulham Road, London SW6 SBY A BATSFORD CHESS BOOK General Manager: Nige Davies Advisors: Mark Dvoreisky, Raymond Keene OBE, Danie! King, Jon Speelman, Chris Ward Contents Explanation of Symbols “Tournament and Match Record, 1908-1938 Aron Nimzowisch - Master of Planning ‘Why write about Nimzowisch? “How I became a Grandmaster ‘A Discussion with Bent Larsen ‘The Inuence of Nimzowisch on Modem Opeting Ply ‘The Duality of Nimzowitsch Fist Steps: Selected Games 1904-1906 Estalished Master: Selected Games 1907-1914 Disaster and Recovery: Selected Games 1920-1925 ‘World Championship Candidate: Selected Games 1925-1928 “The Crown Princ: Selected Games 1929-1931 “The Final Years: Selected Games 1932-1938, Epilogue Index of Openings Index of PlayersExplanation of Symbols bit geass heck brilliant move geod move Interesting move bios move bad move ‘Blunder Whites winning White has ler advantage White has a tight advantage ual position Black bar slight advange Black hat a clear advantage ‘Black is winning Tournament and Match Record, 1904-1934 Tournaments Date Tournament 1904 Coburg - Hauptrier A 1903 Viens (Double Round) Barmen-B Group ‘Munich (Double Round) (Osten! Master Tour Carisbed Hamby ‘San Sobasan aritad San Sebastian (Double Round) Vina (Double Round) St Peterburg - Russian Ch St Petersburg - GM Tour, Gothenburs Sockoim (Double Round) (Copenhagen (Double Round) cars Copenhagen Baden Baden Breslau Marie Now York (Quadruple Round) Berlin Copeatagen Keeskemet Bd Nendo? London = Imperial Ch, Cab (Doable Round) 1927 London = nt. Tour,{65 Tournament and Match Record 1928 1928 1938 1928 199 1830 1930 1930 i 1931 1933 1933 1938 ine Matches Date 10s 908 il 1913, 1920 ops oat toa rox Berlin -Schachgeselschat Bad Kissngen Bern -Tapetant (Double Round) Copenhagen Canad Sen Remo Lich (Liege) Frankfort Main Winertur Bled = Veldes (Double Round) Copenhagen Stockholi (Double Roundy iret Copenhagen (Swiss) Opponent Venue Spann Manich Spielmann Munich Uonbardt Hamburg Alekhine St Petersburg Play-off Bogolubow Stockholm Brinckmann Kiel Double round matches vs. leading Swis players Bem Sabibere Gothenburg Stole Stock mye rer epee cee sgoee [Nimzowitch was never as comfortable in match play ase was in tourna ‘ments an lost more matches than he won. Probably his greatest math Succes was his wih Alekhine, bu hs match was of rina darton * Bem 1951: Double-sound matches agains seven lang Swiss masters Nimzowisch 0 is Nowy x cl Hohner Nimzowitech Vea Nimaowiseh Zimmermann Nimzowitech Grob Nimzowiach Grek Nimzowiech Miche! ° ° Es ‘Throughout this book Ihave included the fll cassables of Ninzowieh's most mporant ouratsets Aron Nimzowitsch — Introduction ‘Aron Nimzowitch was the gret ‘hess thinker as wel a pita for the world championship in the ae 19205 and carly 1930s. His inf ‘ence on Subsequent generations of players has been enormous and his spousal of fis own defence, the ‘Nimzo-Indian, 1 84 246 2 et 26 3 Dei bs, helped to. become, peaps, the most popular and ef Fecuve weapon agaist | d& ‘Suady of Nimaowish's games wi be of imenense benefit fo the ‘hess student who wisest flow 4 thematic strategic line. By doing a, it posible to prepare sich plans for one's own chessboard bres and then cary them ut secure in the hnowledge that the inellectualspadework bas been dope well in advance by a master ofthe Games which are paniculriy valuable in his sense ae the the- ‘mate datesquare domination Against Marocay fom Bled 1931, the superlative. demonstation of food Knight agains bod Disbop Sesinst Henneberger at Wintenbur 1931, the srangultion against Tarakower "in Nimsowisch's rates tournament tumph at Crise “1928, andthe rathless Master of Planning explosion of doubled _ pawns Spun the to times world cham Dionship challenger Bopoljubow from that sae tourament An atsolte masterpiece of planning ‘van his game agaist Levenfish Tt ths inspired many subsequent ge rations of masters and grandis [Nimzowitsch-Levenish (Casta 191 French Defence [With ewo bishops fortwo highs, and a conga pen majority, Bek ‘roby fel confident inthe out ime of this game. But Nino ftseh proves tthe opposing cen tte ne liability Bocuse the squares In front of tare weak, inviting in ‘son by Bckading knight The bishops, teked behind the pawns, are never given chance Not Stiely tue!" Nimaowiteh ina ‘ertely allows the Bishops 10 = ape, but then proceeds co domi fat therm wth his ight on open Board Lete62 dd d5 30505403 B65 BAS R67 6 OS Natur prope ing to exchange _bishors “for nights Guha? 7 0-0" WheAron Nimzowitsh- Master of Planning Tone$ 8 Dees Babs 9 Whs+ Ger 10 wHrs dds 11 aes ees 1 Bets oe 13 WSs 95 14 ps imate Nimzowitsch, 8 2806 bxe6 Dexl6 Oa06? 9.316! 10 Des Bd6 11 axeS xcs 12 Ags WIS Ta Baxfel And. the other one Tate 14 Was ‘A common device in Nimzow: ischs games. "The idea is. t0 ‘weaken Black's kingside, 1.6 15 Wer Has 16 D4? 0-0 17 Heel Ete8 18 HI 206 19 £4 05 20 ed 30 Was! 20.208 21 exds ed ‘Black gives up a pawn 0 smash the lockade and ring his prelates 10 Iie 22 Bed Wy7 23 dees 23” 23.Bixe6 24 Wa6 She 25 Za gS 26 63 Bad 27 Baad exad 28 ‘Was Zee 20 ai Ze2 3013 8b7 31 Eds eS With seroas threats, eg 32 at ho 33 Wel £05, of 533 Was Wag6 34 Hxa6 and, once again, 34, 5 and Black pene: tates to Wie’ g2squae 72 W0H Te ning of he bishos IF now Satna 33 Wail We7! 34 D6 ad thee sno answer to 38 Bef sccompanied by 4th discovered chock Can ‘system really teach. you to spot sariaons ike this one? 32-7 33 WaT What follows now Tout Ba 34 Hd3 208 3S ire xt? 36 Wat? Bes 37 Ba 10 1 Why Write About Nimzowitsch? ‘Avon aewisch ‘November 1886 twas one of the work's leading Grandmasters for a period extend ing over a quarter ofa century, and for some of that time he was the ‘obvious challenger for the work! ‘championship. Nimzowitsh, bow ‘ever belong to tat select group of player (which includes Rubinstein, Keres and Reshevsky) who were bot grated the opportunity for ‘aris reasons, to playa math for the word tte at the time. when they had rected the peak of their form, “Aside from his praca! achievements Nimzovitch wat 3 iret and profound choss thinker, Sccond only to Stent and his tworks ~ Die Blctade, My System find Chess Prat ~ established his feputation as one ofthe father Fi {es of moder chess, "Yet Nimzowitsch as not re cxved the recognition tn the Eng Tshespeaking. world that he de Server Some masters have run thei own publicity campaigns with reat sk, but Nimzowisch's Srorks were uncompromising and Saffered rom the dmadvarape Bat they dio cover the most se esfl phases of his eareer Weal now 4 few fous Nimzowitseh eames, sich as tho blockade Sesina PTohner, or the Zugewang ame vers, Simsch, and these Paricular” games ace repeined Spain and apain wo the deviment of ther equilly spectacular master pieses I seems to me a waste tat {hese hetical games shouldbe pined ad infinitum whenever Fomeone hae 10 site something Shout Nimzowitac, when so mich Super anknown aerial des ex "Asan indication ofthe extent, or cttersse, of our knowledge’ of Nimaowiach U would like 10 quite whether we even understand How w spel his name, T have seen Nimovitech, _ Nicmzowisch, Nimzoviteh, and Nimzoveh. The English tration of Praxis as seid fora compromise and wses versions) and. Gy)! T have opted version () because that is the way” Nimzowitsch wrote his town tame afer the Grest War Before then he used version (i 50 Imagine thats ls vali Al ther ‘versions are quite simpy incoret ‘At the age of then came seross MY System and, without realy undeesupding it very moch, I Played rough all the. complete10. Why Write about Nimsowsiseh? ste and was overwhelmed in a fray which [hope sil fect some ‘ofthe readers when they see Nit pwitsch's masterpieces fom this volume Here are two of the games fom My Sistem ‘which impresed me ‘when Ifist sud the Book, The {allowing is a consultation game Played simultaneously with thee thers Mandel Brod, Paulsson a ‘Nimaawitsch Uppal 1991 Mimgonsok Defence To avoid confusion 1 should ‘point ou har his game appears in Some German language books fand Inthe one-volume translation from German into English of Pachan’s Mork on the midlegame!) a "Beratende = Nimcowitsch. There is wo contradiction involved. for "aertende” isthe, German word meaning ‘consulation partners Led c6 2 as a5 3 0516 4 205 ts 5 xs WaT 6 o& Abt A iiiane conception which enables im ht successfly for contol ‘of the vital d5 square, 7) Sxbl 0-008 cxd8 On 85 Nimzowisch plonped 25 followed bye? Baud 9x6 Wreb 10 0-0 6 Bi he3 e712 Wea a5 13 Ber WaT 14 Kea bs 18 Wz Hes 16 Del eT 17 OA Tha 18 Wed 5 19 Het g& With the cote secure Nimzowtach undertakes. power fal wing diversion. 20 Oe shxcS 21 HacS By 22 We2 hs 23 2 Not 23 ahs ef, 2306 24 od wt 25 a5 6 26 bs c6 27 DI WHT 28 is oa ie 29 Wed 30 Het fag? 31 dng Herb 32 Bet g3133 hugs hugs 4 4 OF course, 34 Bags Bugsy 35 dg3 would be hore for White Baie 35 Le 0S 36 Zh es 37 dags yo 38 Wel Ong 9 Hugs Bit 40 Ens Zea 31 GE Bagh 22 Bus Wer 23 bho Wires 44 ez Was White resigns. Compare the finish of the (game with that of Dez del Coral Potrosian on page 106 £ BR [Nimzowitch-Rat Dresden 1926, English Opening Awarded the price forthe Best played game tein 1 cf 65 2.048 O46 3 Oe3 dS 4 xd Ends § ef Tbs 6 hos 06 7 0-0 kes 8 3 489 Sind cxas 10 Get a6 11 2g) ha 12 14 0-0 13 es he 142A? HS 1S Kael he6 16 ed WeT 17 ex exfS 18 hI! A wonderful ies, White has in mind the manoeuvre EhI-P-S 5. in conjnetion with WHS, a8 8 tmcthod of asauling the position of Black's king. When ist read My Stem Twas so impressed by this ame that { delibertely created Stustons my next fe games there the move Sight was pos "Sle inthe ele hat this mystical ferent would somehow result i a mimo increase of energy ia ty position, respective of what ver ese may have bees happening fom the Board tthe time. 18.847 19 D2 oe8 20 Bet Eyed U1 Tve2 Dah 22 DRS 26 23 'WhS 96 24 Whé y7 25 WD ‘Another bilan ea. The eat 10 the depawm fore Black to wih draw ether his queen or his King's bishop from the. defence of his Kingside, 26.teS 26 ba 6 27 ‘Whe Back again and with redou Bld strength. 27-88 Or 27.516 28 2ig5 ho 20 Oh7e~ 28 Hest O17 if 28.-BxeS 29" fxe5 Waes 30 Wace or 28. 29 94 begs 3015 Wes 31 for Wado 32 Wxho mate ‘These beautiful variations are just. si indication of what Nimzowiech fi 29 xf? WaT 30 igs We 31 Brel dine8 32 Welt A decisive hange of front. 32.633 WeT> ‘Ens 3st! Who’ would expect the death blow to come from this (quane? IF Black plays 34.2465 he SS mate a follows: 35 S06 WS 36 Why Write about Nimsontch? 19 Wes nT 37 Giese hs 38.8! In view ofthis, Rubinstein elects Surender apiece but that t00 Is ‘obviously without hope 4.47 35 WegTs OxgT 36 bet For the record he fina moves ‘were: Mbne6 37 219 66 38 Ces Ber 39 Ded S17 40 43 a8 41 Bas Be? 42 Le7 des'43 D6 M6 Hind gS 4S HS gh 46 eS 10 1 would ike to ste here that ‘my book sin no way intended as. 2 feplacement for” Nimzowitsch's (Chess Prauls and My Sytem, in fact i sould te rad in conjanc tion ith these two volumes fom the: great man's own hand, OF ‘ours it ha not been posible t9 ‘void touching om the same round se Nimzowitach covers hms, bat ‘where this has occurred (asi the ase with his famous ictories gains P.Jfner, Dresden 1926, oF fgsinst Simisch, Copenhagen 1523) T have adopted a completely different standpoint from that taken by Nimzowisehhimsel Nimzowitschs own Books stop at 1928 This 6 unfortunate, since the period of his pretest successes, ton fe had claim to be the own12. Why Write about Nimsowitch? prince of the chess world (owing fealty only to the then champion, ‘Aleknine) etn a the else of is ‘ative Terry career Although te did continue to write for mags 2ins he ceased 10 update his major ‘works. In this sense, then, 1 hope that my book will come to be te ‘garded as" continuation of is Chess Pras covering. the. yeas 1928-1934, Fortis period I have made iberat ase of Nimzowitech’s ‘wn notes which would otherwise have languished forgen in the ges of tow defunet magazines or hess columns, which are only fessile. to" bibliphles Indeed, tmost of these later games have never appeared in Eaglsh "To repeat ~ 1 stongly recom rend hat this book should be read In conjanetion with My Sytem and Chess Pras for, in many eases, 1 have Felt superfluous 1 requte at length hs ideas which appear in ‘hose excellent volumes. The Eng: lish wansation of My Sytem i, by and larg, very good and makes 3 brave effort to caper the spint of Nimzowisch's original Germsn, but unforanately, the sim eannot he said ofthe taslation of Chess Praxis which I id a poo, mined tors of Nimzowitec's orginal If you have no atemative read the ‘ealtion by all meats, but if you possess the moret smattering of German 1 urge you to read the ‘rpinal.tn well worth the eff. Tn this book the eansltions from ‘My. Sytem and. Chess Praxis are largely my own. Note that “Chess Prats isthe tide used inthe Eng Tih eon of Die Praxis Meines Stems which should tally be rendered as “My System in Prac tice” or possibly "My System in Operon’ "Apart from the wansations of INimzowitsch's own works the oly ‘tier English language publition to have appeared concerning Ni Zowitch was 2 book by Reinfeld ‘Which came out inthe fate 1940s, ‘That war almost thirty year 360 snd think the time for reap. pra i spe. To be honest Fost that Reifel alo skated round some ofthe deeper ies involved im Nimaowisch’s play by concen trating, im hs collection on the Imase's more obviusy state cexpleis. Thre does exist a work published at oughly the sare ine SS Reifelds effort which does onsiderbly more justice to Nin ‘zowitsh. This iby B. Nielsen, but {tis writen in Danish, 2 ‘How | became a Grandmaster’ (Exrets fom a brief and conto- ‘eral aunbiogrphy published by Nimzowstach in 1929 @ Rusian booklet) An argument on atopic of prac sical mparance: which age in life le the most suited to a fire ae ‘quaintance with the principles of these? 1 was eight years old when fist became acquainted with chess. Yet in spite ofthe fot that T made im mediate progress "and "appar ly!) continoed inthe sme ‘Side later on, T now boldly main fain that my chess development Would have proceeded mere ha ‘moniously, and moreover more ‘ainlesly, if Thad famed the {Eme notin childhood but in ado lescence. The render will s000 3 certain that my development up ‘at 1906 (1 was born in 186 in Riga) was extemely one-sided: & strong combinatve ability at he expense of positional ply. This could have been avoided witht ty drawbacks, merely by waiting 2Vitle and teaching me 10 play ‘hose ta more matures. At this point should ike wis use with the reader a» queston which nck neither general interest ‘ora special interest forthe teacher of ches How aout elociating the Sstitde which anderen the sup Posey ational demand thats hid should Hf posible, never frase a minute of hs ie but cram self with endless aes? I this demand stems solely fom a feling of solctude owards the ch then ‘way. Latin (fr example) stl {aught in Wester schools and why Aloe our of dy i bourgeois rope (og i the venerable Fa sity oF Lave!) coast almost en frely of ballast useful ono one, whic is ruthlessly Brshed aside the minute examinations ae aver? ‘And why — to turn again fom the fw student tothe chi at lemen- tary scoot ~ why are all boring and tedious things, such a the leaming of any som of “principles? and “element, considered ghty propitious for" child, when an ult would show revision if ex. pected” to concer himself with Sch unatresting maters? May. we describe a feature of ompestic fe which will Rep us, perhaps, o fad our bearings inthe fatter arise? In central Europe, In pety-bourgeois etc, there Widespread "view that women