BLOCKADE

ves
NewPerspecti
by

Aron
Ninrzowitsclr

TransI ated by
D r . J o s e p hP l a t z
tus
MasterEmeri
USCF

1980
C H E SESN T T R P R I S1ENSC, .
IA
PENNSYLVAN
CORAOPOLIS,
 s n t e r p r i s el sn,c '
C o p y r i g h1t 9 8 0 ,1 9 8 3b v C h e s E
E d i t o r : B . G . Du d l e y
t s B N 0 - 93 ' 14 6 2 ' 0 7 - X
C o v e rD e s i g n :E - F . W i t a l i sJ, r .
WitlalisBurkeAssociates,
Pittsburgh,PA
Thisis an Engtishtranslationof the 1925 B' Kagan'
Berlin, eclition, This 1983revisionis the third
pflnttng,
Publisher's
Foreword
T h i s i s N i m z o w i t s c hf'isr s t p u b l i s h ebdo o k ,a p p e a r i nign B e r l i na n d L e n i n -
gradeditionsin 1 9 2 5 . H i s c h i e fw o r k , l v l yS y s t e ma, p p e a r etdh e s a m ey e a r
and quickly overshadowed this smallerwork. Copiesof the originaledition
lnc' havebecomevery scarceand the book had neverbeentranslatedinto English.
I wasvery fortunatethat my goodfriend,Dr. JosephPlatz,readilyagreedto
handlethe translationfrom his nativetongueinto English.Nimzowitschis
well known aswriting with considerable verveand complexidiomaticcon-
s t r u c t i o nws h i c hm a k et r a n s l a t i o nesv e nm o r ed i f f i c u l t h a no r d i n a r i l y D
. r.
P l a t zh a sh a n d l e dh i sc h a i l e n g i nt ags ka d m i r a b l y .
"Blockade"to threeof his contemporary
Nimzowitschmakesreferencein
magazine articlesto further elucidatehis points. We haveincludedtransla'
tionsfrom thesearticlesto permittoday'sreaderto havereadyaccess to these
suoplemental materials.
SinceNimzowitschhad completedwriting My Systemprior to this book
thereis naturallysignificantcongruityin concepts.However,I am certain
that today'schessstudentswill welcomethe opportunityof further study of
the writingsof the chessmasterwho hasbeenproperlynamed"The Fatherof
ModernChess".
With reference to the variedspellings of the author'sname,the useadopted
i n t h e o r i g i n a"l B l o c k a d e "h a sb e e nc o n t i n u e di n t h i se d i t i o n .
 By blockadeI referto the mechanical obstructionof an enernypawn by a
piece.This mechanical restrictionof forwardprogressis accomplished
b,
placingone'sown pieceon the squareimmediatelyjn front of the pawnto be
blockaded.For example,in the diag.am,the Blackpawnon d5 is beinqorocK_
adedby a White knight on d4.

Diagram1
A
:

It is customary- at leastamongmasters_ to blockadean enemvpasseo

pawn;but to my knowledgeno attempthasbeenmadeto justify the necessity
of this measureon a theoreticalbasis.To find sucha justificationwould
meanthe solutionof the problemt,,Blockade,,.
Onegetsa little closerto an understanding of the problemto which I have
just referredwhen one delvesinto the essential behaviorof the pawn. Un-
doubtedlyone of its specificcharacteristics is its tremendouslust to expand,
the desireto storm forward. The free centerclearlydemonstrates how thts
I tendencyof the pawnto gainin importanceby advancing
For example,let us examinethe followinggameplayedat odds,which
works.
in-
cidentallywaspreviouslyunpublished.
.7- White: A. N imzowitsch
B l a c k :A m a t e u r
P l a y e da t R i g ai n 1 9 1 0
(RemovW e h i t e ' sR a1 , a n dp l a c et h e p a w na t a 3 )
.
1e2-e4 e7-e5
2 Ns1.f3 Nb8_c6
3 Bf1-c4 Bf8-c5
4 c2-c3 Ng8_f6
A s w e s h a l ls e e B
, l a c ki s w i l l i n gt o g i v eu p h i se - p a w n .B u t t h e nt h e W h i t e
-
center becomesmobilized.Thereforeit would havebeenmore prudentto
shout."stop!"to the White pawn-avalanche
by playing4...02_aO. ifrere rof_
lowed:
5 d2-d4 e5xd4
6 c3xd4 Bc5-b6
.l:"* on b4 is nor possibte due to the pawnon a3. This fact weakens
",^1,!,"
!,quKs.oerense.tt the pawnhad
beenon a2, this checkon b4 would give
o r a c kt i m e t o c a p t u r eW h i t e ' sp a w n
o n e 4 . A n d t h a t w o u l db e a n e x c J l l e n t
'"irnce to hinderthe pawn _ as I usedto sayjokingly
movementbecause
wnllein pain- yearsof experience proven
has that a deadparn _ "r*o,
a d v a n caen y m o r e . B u t n o w ,a f t e rt h e m o v e6 . . . B b 6t,h e W h i t ep a w nr o l r c r Position after Black's 11th move:
setsitselfinto motion.
7 d+d5 NcGeT
In showing t h i s l i t t l eg a m ew
, e n o t o n l y e l u c i d a toen t h e p a w n ' sl u s tt o e x .
pandbut we alsohavethe opportunityof seeingwhat is meantby its possible .N t tt'&
t T z t "/Z.z
advance.Hadthe knight retreatedto b8 or movedto a5, it would havebeen
'4.t'&
thrown back.or elsehavebeendisplaced.Thuswe note: Diagram2 %
( a ) t h e t e n d e n c tyo a d v a n coer i g i n a t epsa r t i a l l yf r o m t h e w i s ht o d e m o b r - 72A7, %tt4t
l i z et h e e n e m y .
% ,x
(b) the intentionof stormingforwardwith the pawns,in order- to get +
r i d o f t h e m . A l m o s ta s u i c i d i at e
l n d e n c yd.o n ' t y o u t h i n k ? N o , n o r a I
all, because the pawnin its essence is alsoa blockingunit, it standsin
the way of its own pieces.lt robsthe piecesof their routesjnto enemv 1t od1.b3! Nf2xhl
territory,and thereforeby its advance,its tendencytoward self-destruc. 12 Bc4xlTt Ke8-f8
tion is accomplished throughstrengthand self-assertiveness. To summa- 13 Bc1-95 Resigns.
rize (b): it is the wish to gain linesfor the pieces(rooks!)which were The pawnwhich imprisonsthe opponentwasthe main actor in this smatl
postedin hometerritory by advancing for a breakthrough.And finally drama. But it wasnothingelsethan the wedgeresultingfrom the pawnmarch
(c) it is alsopossibleto form a wedgeby advancing the pawns. e4e5. d4-d5d6. etc.
Now to continuewith the game: To summarizethe fundamentalmotivesof the pawnadvancein the center:
8 e4-e5 (a) demobilizationof the oooonent
The pawns'lustto expand.especially the centerpawns,is so strongthat it ( b ) o p e n i n go f l i n e s
completelysurpasses anothervery importantprinciple,that of development
(for instance,by Nc3). Nc3 would of coursebe weakbecause of the answer {c) restraintthroughwedge-formation
d7-d6and the centeris restrained, sincethe most that could be initiatedis a Now let us look at a differentkind of pawn,an extremelymobileone.the
ljne clearance, mentjonedunder(b). 8ut this would be too little sinceWhite passed pawn, Whileit seemsdifficult to hampera free centerin the longrun,
is entitledto play for a wedge(c) which might leadto a breakthrough.There it is much easierto restrainthe marchof a passed pawn. In anv caseit ii
followed: mucheasierto set rulesfor the lattercasethan for the first one. Whv? Wetl
8.... Nf6e4 the free (mobile)centeris only a singlecaseof a ,,pawnmajority". iheoreti-
B l a c kp l a y sf o r m a t e r i agl a i nw h i l eW h i t ef o l l o w sa n i d e a l i s t icco u r s eh, e callywe may talk about a pawnmajority jn the center,therebeingno reason
wantsto hinderthe development of his opponentby d5-d6,and thus virtually why we can only speakof a playerhavinga pawnmajoritvon one of the
kill the b;shopon c8. In the ensueingstrugglebetweentwo vital forcesof the wrngs,lf, however.our definitionof the free centeris trulv equivalentto a
world, the latterconceptwins out, remarkable enoughbut, as I usedto say pawnmajority in the center.then therewould be - for purpose
jokingly.yet explanatorybecause of instruc-
the gamehad beenplayed- beforethe tlon - the way to "restraina free center,,,a very complicatedprocessinvolv-
w a r ! " N o wl p l a y e d : Ing:
I dsd6 c7xd6 (1) How doesa pawn majoritywork?
10 e5xd6 Ne4xf2
andthecriticalpositionhasarisen. {2) How doesa passedpawnariseout of sucha majority?
{Seethe diagramat the top of the next page) {3) How doesone defendagainsta majority?
{4) What is the reasonfor the greaterstrengthof a centermajority?
(5) Speciatmeasures againsta centermajority.
Nimzowitsch is makingan analogybetweenthe war on the chessboard
and World War I betweenthe twa confederations,and noting that the game we answerthesequestionslet'sput the passed pawn underthe mag-
wasplayed in 7910 before World War l, and these noteswerc beins written ^,.B.efore
"r rylngglassa bit because
the passedpawn is the crystallizedproductof a
after the war. pawnmajority
and assuchit can be understoodmoreeasilythan the more
elasticand complicatedpawn
majority.
 A s I m e n t i o n e ad t t h e b e g i n n i nogf t h i sd i s c u s s i oint ,i s f a i r l yw e l l k n o w n
that passed pawnshaveto be stoppedalthoughtheoreticallytherehas is alsothis optimismwhich givesus the strengthto discovereventhe faintest
beenno
reasonfor it. I havesucceeded in findingone,and althoughI hadoriginarry ravof hopein everybad situation,regardless of how bad it may be. In our
plannednot to publishthis discoveryuntil it appearedin my book 66se for instance we can state that an enemy passed pawnis undoubtedlya
My Syste4
I shallnow revealit in the interestof this treatise.Therearethreereasons: q r e a t e v fi lo r u s . B u t e v e n t h i s e v icl o n t a i n as f a i n t r a y o f l i g h t . T h e s i t u a t i o n
( 1 ) L e t ' sl o o ka t t h e f o l l o w i n gt y p i c a Jp a s s epda w n p o s i t i o n : is suchthat when we blockadethis pawnwe postthe blockadingpieceat the
- *
backof the pawn asseen{rom the enemyside in other words,the block-
sderis safefrom frontal attack.
E F o re x a m P l e :
a ' .
a
D iagram3 t % 7272
a a : 4
Diagram
7"7<7,
% 'x 7.2
Blackhasa passedpawn. This passed pawn is his pride,and thereforeit ap-
pearsnaturalthat the Blackpiecesprotectthis pawn (Nf6,
Bb7) and support
it (Rdg). Now the questionarises:ls it sufficientto hamper pu*n
the nV NOg Black'spassedpawn is on e4; the White blockader,Ne3, ii not exposeoro
and Bf2 or is the blockadeby the knight on d4 necessary? Answei:Against
the passedpawn'sstronglust to expandmildermeasures a rook attack{e8-e3)and is - so to speak- safe.
suchas hamp"ering
by piecesfrom a djstanceare insufficnetbecause typically,n" pr*n "un r,ilf It is jmportantto note that the blockadingpiece,in additionto its obliga-
advanceundersuchcircumstances, in which casetne pawnwiff'pavfoi,n,, ua- tion to blockade,usuallystandsvery well. lf this were not the case,it would
tion with its life. thus d4-d5,B or Nxd4, and now the glack pieces be difficult to refutethe objectionthat it would be wastefulto put a pieceon
in the back.
groundsuddenlycometo life: the gb7 getsan open
diagonaldirectedagarnsr ice,just to guarda pawn. ln realitythe blockadesquares are actuallyexcel-
the enemyking,the rook obtainsan openfile, and,i,. tinigl,,grr, lent posts,first - aswasshownbefore- enemyfrontal attack is impossiore,
" n"* ".*
tral square.We hadfocusedon thjs forcefuladvance(for tin" secondthe blockadesquareis often at the gametime an outposton a rook
Jp"ning;t fin.rt
before{underb), For the pawn,slust to expandthis is an especially file, andthird the blockadingpiecekeepsenoughelasticityto speedto an,
iharacter-
isticgoal. otherpart of the battlefieldif necessaryDiagram'12demonstrates this elas-
Thuswe may say,the first reasonwhich forcesthe blockade tlcrty and its further development; herewe want to be satisfiedat demonstrat-
by logicis ingthe secondcase,that the blockadesquareand outpostscoincide, In rne
this: the passed pawn- as I usedto sayjokingly_ is such, Oung"roi,
"r,rni- Q u e e n 'G s a m b i tB l a c ko f t e ng e t sa n i s o l a t e qd u e e np a w no n d 5 , a n da l t h o u q h
nal that it is by no meanssufficientto haveit *.t"n.a OV
tn" pofi"" tfrffrsu"O it seemsto be somewhatrestrainedby a White pawnon e3, we couldcalrtr
Bf2);.no,this manshouldb€ in jail, thereforecomptetetydeprived
ot'ir, ir".- halfof a passedpawn,its lust to expanciis that great;this is foundedpartially
d o m b y t h e b l o c k a d i nkgn i g h to n d 4 .
in the fact that the pawnon d5 is alsoa centerpawn. d4 is the blockade
(2) The secondreason,to be explainednow, square.Now, White alsohasthe d file and on it a fortified square.Whichone
is strategically aswell asrn,
structionallyof greatimportance;in chess,that whicfrOe-ciOes i s i t ? W e l l ,a l s od 4 b e c a u saec c o r d i ntgo m y d e f i n ; t i o na s q u a r eo n a f i l e c a n
in tfrs finat
measureis optimism. I meanthat it is psychologically importantto trairr only be called"fortified" when it haspawnprotection,herethe pawnat e3.
yourselfin the attitudeof feelinghappy abour A fortified point on a file shouldbe occupiedby an outpostiseemy articleon
small advantages. The begrn.
ner enjoyshimselfonly when he callsout mateto his oooon"-nr openfiles in the WienerSchachzeitung
o, o"rnuu. 1913"1. In this fashiond4 becomes
L l e t t esrt i l l w h e nh e c a nc a p t u r eh i sq u e e n( b e c a u si e
n t h e e y e so f t h e b e g i n n e r strategically importanttwo ways.
this is possiblythe greatersuccess of the two); the .a.tu|, how"ueris alr"aoy
pleased ( 3 ) O n ew o u l dt h i n k t h a t t h e b l o c k a d i nogf a p a w nr e p r e s e not sn l y a t o c a t
and highlysatisfiedif he succeeds in findingevena shadeof an enemy - llmited
pawnweakness in a nook of the left half of the loaiO! The optimis., =- space- measure; one stoppeda pawnwhich wantedto advance, and
h"re *
described, formsthe indispensable psychological A t r a n s l a t i oins i n c l u d e di n t h i sv o i u m ei n A p p e n d i xO n e .
Oasis +orpositionatpiay. tt
8
 s oo n l y t h e p a w ns u f f e r e dn,o t h i n ge l s e .T h i sc o n c e p t i o lna c k sd e p t h . I n r e a t .
Thef-pawnshallbecomepassed, it is the rightful "candidate". And we giveit
ity a wholecomplexof enemypiecesis madeto suffer,largerpartsof the give
thistitle, we him an academicdegree:l\4r.Candidate,{Thusthat pawn in
b o a r da r er e m o v e fdr o m t h e p o t e n t i af lo r f r e em a n e u v e r i nagn, ds o m e t i m e s
a pawn majority which hasno opponentis the "candidate".)And from thrs
the entirecharacterof the enemypositionis fixed, in other wordsthe paraly.
sisis transferred from the blockadedpawn into the terrainfurther back_| we derivethe brief rule: the candidatehaspreference, a rule which is dictated
only by strategic
necessitybut also,as you must admit, by the duty of po-
g i v ea sa s i n g l e x a m p l et h e " F r e n c h "p o s i t i o n , not
1;1eness, (Thusunforgettable for everybodywho callshimselfa polite man,
andwe all do that.) To expressit exactlyscientificallythis presentsitselflike
t 7t % 2 this: the leaderof the advanceis the candidate,the other pawnsonly accom-

Diagram
5
z 7Z"il.
t/lz,',Ft
t%
t ,ry vlz
panyit, thusf2-f4f5, then 92"94-95

...h4with symptomsof paralysis),

and f5-f6. ln casethe Blackpawnsstand
on 96 and hb (seeDiagram7 below)then f4, 93 (not h3 at oncebecause
h3, 94 and f5. How simple! And yet how
of
,raaz oftenone seeshow weakerplayers.facedwith the positlonin this diagram,
'8,
7 %
tz lz 71,, % % %
% %t
The pawnse6 and d5 are thoroughlyblockadecj,
Blackpositionasa consequence
and note that the entrre
hasan uncomfortablefixed character,
Diagram7 / L % %t
bishopand the rook are prisonersin thejr own campl lf White had a oassed
tne
% %
"ffi'
p a w no n h 4 , h e w o u l da l m o s th a v ew i n n i n gc h a n c edse s p i t eh i ss u b s t a n r i a l %2.,.
',tu
m a t e r i adl e f i c i t !
We now askour readerto turn his attentionto the pawn majority, Diagram
% %
6 presents
sucha pawn majority. We seethreeWhitepawnsin conflictwirn
advance the g-pawnfirst, but then followsg7-g5and the pawnmajorityhasno
value, I haveoften askedmyselfwhy the lessexperienced playersstartwlth
92-94.This fact can be explainedvery simply. They are uncertainwhether
'ztltztT"Tzrtv
t they shouldbeginleft (f4) or right (h4) and in thjs dilemmathey decide-
likea goodcitizen- to choosethe goldenrule of the compromise,

D iagram6 'D/'".'try%% And now let's look briefly at the extremelycomplicateddefensive

against
a majority.
struggle

A resultof the just developedrule is that the way to counteractthe har.

moniousdevelopmentof a passed pawn is to pushtowardthe candidateso as
D*'.27t'r*7K ro makeit somewhatimmobile, Oncewe havesucceeded
datebackward(by forcinga companionto advance)then the blockadeof the
in makingthe candi"

onceproud candidatecannotbe preventedany longer,and then it will not be

A pawn majorityon the king side l o n gu n t i l i t f i n a l l yf a l l s .A s a n e x a m p l eo f a f i g h t a g a i n sat m a j o r i t yI p r e s e n t
heremy gameagainstTartakowerfrom the Copenhagen Six N4aster Tourna-
A healthy pawn majority,but not an irregularone, must resultin a passed m e n t1 9 2 3 .
p a w n . " N o t h i n ge a s i etrh a nt h a t l " , o u r f r i e n d l yr e a d ew
r i l l s a ya t t h e f i r s r
glanceat Diagram6, Very true, but I want to be permittedin this instancero (SeeDiagram8 at the top of the next page)
f o r m u l a t ea r u l ew h i c ha S c a n d i n a v i a u n d i e n coef m i n ec a l l e d , , u n f o r q e t t a b l e ; , B l a c kh a s2 a g a i n s1t o n t h e q u e e ns i d e W ; h i t eh a sa p a s s epda v v ni n t h e
o n ew h i c hs h o u l ds t i c ki n o u r m i n d si i k ea V i e n n e swe a l t z . T h e r o a dt o r n r s center,\a/hichhowevercan be stronglyblockadedby Bd6. (Oneshoulddif-
r u l el e a d sb y w a y o f a s m a l d l e f i n i t i o nor f t h e t h r e eW h i t ep a w n so n t h e k i n g rerentiatebetweenstrongand weakblockade.A blockaderwhich can be
s r d ea, t p r e s e nnt o n ei s " p a s s e d ,h, ,o w e v eor n eo f t h e m i s u n d o u b t e d llye s s e a s i l ya t t a c k e d
a n dc a n o n l y r e c i e v lei t t l eo r n o s u p p o rftr o m i t s c o m r a d e s
hampered than the others. I referto the f-pawn;at leastit hasno opponent. n a sl i t f l ee f f e d . )

10 11
 T ':,.1 W h i t e : holdsbackthe c-pawnand at the sametime prepares an actionwhich uproots
the blockadeon d8. With a passed pawn on the b file this possibilitywouto
/,- '.,//,. lr
'..t'I N imzowitsch not havebeenavailable to him. Therefollowedl
t,/t
',t/1Xg
35....
The king threatenedto marchto h6r Kg2-f3-94-h5-h6.
h7"h5

Diagram
8 36 h3h4 Rd8-s8
l:z 37 Rcel-c8 Rs8-d8
3€l2-t4l Be5d4
t *+ Bl a c kI
39 g3g4 h5x94
t-
40 h4h5
5 Tartakower T h e u p r o o t i n g !T h e B l a c kb l o c k a d e r{sK a n d R ) w i l l n o w b e d e c i s i v e d
l vi -
T h e r ef o l l o w e df r o m t h e d l a g r a m m epdo s i t i o n : virtedby the passedpawnon h5.
23 Nagc2! a6a5 40 .... Bd4b6
24 a2-a3 41 h$h6 Ke7-f8
The advanceof the candidateis beingthwarted. 42 Rc8xc3 Kf8-s8
24 .... Ne7-f5 43 Rc3c8 Kg8-h8
2 5 R d1 . d 3 1 44 Kg2.s3 Rd8.s8
To continuethe pressure againstthe candidatewith Rd3'b3; the ideal To makethe blockademoreeffectiveby Bd8,
would naturallybe to coaxthe a-pawnto advance(a5'a4)sincethen the 45 Rc8-eg
blockadeon b4 would be possible.Howeverhereit would be unrealistic to Slippingbehindthe barrierwhich Blackhad hopedto erectby Bd8. Now
play for that. The realisticprocedureis to "hope" that no passed pawnwill mateis threatenedby hGh7, and thereforeTartakowerresigned.
be createdand at the sametime still be preparedin the eventthat a passed
pawndoescomeabout. Thereforethe Whitepiecesstandreadyin an emer- With a bold leapwe'll turn our attentionnow to the fight againsta major.
gencyto blockadeby Rb3 the passed pawn b4 if it shouldariseanyway. ity in the centerwithout botheringwith the restof the "majority" problems
25 .... Rb8-c8 {otherwise this writing would extendinto infinity). Heretoo, aswith every
W i t ht h e i n t e n to f d r i v i n ga w a yt h e N c 2s o a st o e f f e c t i v e lpy l a c eh i so w n othermajority,we seeourselves threatenedwith the possibilitvof the forma-
knighton d4; but correctwasthe blockadeof the White passedpawnby Nd6. tion of a passedpawn. To makethingstougher.new threatsappear,the be-
26 Bflg4! Rc8xc2 ginningof an attackagainstthe castledking {the centerasa weaponof aggres-
27 Bg4xl5 bSb4 s i o n ! )i n t r o d u c etdh r o u g hw e d g ef o r m a t i o no r o p e n i n g
o f ! i n e sa n dd e m o b i l i .
The blockadeby Bd6 wasnecessary. Therefollowed: zation. I believethe followingpositionsof the mainactorsarecharacterislc.
. 28 a3xb4 a5xb4
29 d$d6, T
The passed pawn'slust to expand,which herehascreateda more fortui- '&t %g'tzt
tous basis,namelythe fact that the Rc2 is hanging.
29 "" Rc2-c3! %t7z'lfut
',r41 %
Not Bxd6because
of Rxd6,etc. D i a g r a m9 7,2 7
30 Rd3xc3 b4xc3?
e i s t a k et ;h e b i s h o ps h o u l dh a v ec a p t u r e dB
T h e d e c i s i vm . l a c ks h o u l dh a v e
% 7t
,ry,% 7,2 7
72..,
a passed pawnon the b file and not on the c file; the further courseof the
g a m ew i l l s h o ww h y , t %a7z
7l +
31 dedT Ks8'f8 ./ HH
32 Rb1-b4! Bd8-a8
It makesno difference;whateverBlackdoeshe is lost. W h i t en o t o n l y t h r e a t e ntsh e u s u a l f o r m a t i oonf a p a s s epda w ni t h r o u g na o -
vanceof the candidatee5-e6)but also
33 s2-s3 KJ8-e7
on f6, after the reply
the wedgeformationf5-f6. This wedge
34 Rb4-c4 Ra8-d8 97.96,would havethe disastrous effectfor Blackthar
I h ec a s t l e p
dositron w o u l db e c u t o f f f r o m t h e m a i na r m v .t h e c o m m u n i c a r t o n
35 Ksl-s2 on the 7th rank would be interrupted(the
B l a c ki s l o s tb e c a u steh eW h i t er o o k c a nk i l l t w o b i r d sw ; t h o n es t o n e .l t BlackrookscLrtoff from protection
12 13
o f t h e p o i n t s9 7 a n d h 7 ) . T o a v o i dt h i sw e d g ef o r m a t i o nB, l a c kp l a y sf 7 - f 6 , the brilliancyGiersing- Kmochpublishedin Kagan'sNeuesteSchachnach-
afterwhich Whitecreatesa passed pawnon e6 andtherebyobtainsa powerfLr ichten!) and I reachedthe followingposition:
p o s i t i o n aald v a n t a g eA.s I s a i da t t h e b e g i n n i n gI ,o n l y m a r k e dt h e p o s i t i o no f
the most importantactors.Thus,if there had beenmore pieceson the board, Bl a c k :
the Blackpawnon f6 could be usedasa targetin orderto force openthe g
e e e a s i l yc o n c l u d teh a t i t i s n o t d e s i r a b lfeo r B l a c k
f i l e ( g 2 - g 4 - q 5T) .h e r e f o rw
g r Giersing

to oermitthe two pawnsto advanceto the sth tank; they shouldhavebeen '11
t,
stoppedon the 4th rank. Diagram t t t .
t *u
...
'tta .L :.2.:t. 7/., % 7,t Wh itei
7;
''::/../z Nimzowitsch
D i a g r a m1 0 ,'../z /2 lt
t t'/& , Whiteto moveand win

t ,/./l ',///z t//.. Whitedoesnot havecompletematerialcompensation for the missingpiece,

"t/.2 "//.,, /./.2.: but his positionalsuperiorityis so greatthat one is definitelyinclinedto pru-
t: fer White. Besides the protectedpassedpawnon e5 and the strongpositionof
the White king in the center,the positionaladvantage liesprimarilyin the sad
positionof the Blackrook. This rook is chainedto a pawnand thereforesen-
I n t h e p o s i t i o no f D i a g r a m1 0 ,w h i c ha g a i no n l y s h o w st h e m a i na c t o r s , tencedto completepassivity.I applieda procedureinvolvingcombinations
Blackhasmoreor lessfixed the candidateon e4. Without hopeof everbeing whichdoesnot represent the strongestcontinuation.To judgethe text con-
"sacrifice"his majority. He movesf4-f5,
ableto forcee4-e5,Whitedecidesto tinuationfrom the point of view of our book we will analyzeit very briefly
and now the respective knightsentrenchthemselves on e5 and e6. With many beforewe showthe positionalway to victory.
pieceson the boardthe knighton e6 could initiatea strongattack.but posi-
T h e g a m ec o n t i n u e d :
t i o n a i l yt h e B l a c kg a m ei s g o o d ,a n dt h e b l o c k a d i nkgn i g h to n e 5 i s v e r yp o w '
erful (seemy explanationin (2) above)sinceit preventsthe approachof the 58 f4f5 s6xfst
Whiteattackingforces,for instancepreventingthe queenfrom goingto 94 or 59 Ke4xf5 Rh8-f8t
a rook to f3, etc. 60 Kfs.e4 Rf8.f7
T h e B l a c kr o o k h a sc o m eb a c kt o " l i f e " . B u t i t i s j u s tt h i s n e wr o o k p o s i -
We haveseenin everyfight againsta pawnmajoritythe first stepis hamper- tron which makespossiblethe combinationwhjch now begins.
i n g , F i n a l l yt h e i d e a cl o n s i s tosf a b l o c k a d e . 61 b+b6'
The desireto stop a mobilepawnmassis in itselfunderstandable; however, Againthe proof of the pawn'slust to expand!
the fact that it seemsoccasionally necessary to blockadepawnswhich are al- ot ..-. Ba7"b8
m o s ti m m o b i l ei s p u z z l i n gT. h i sh a p p e npsa r t i c u l a r lwy h e no n ew a n t st o l f h e a c c e p ttsh e p a w n6 1 . . . 8 x b 6t h e n6 2 e 6 t K x e 6 6 3 R h 6 1 .
m a k es u c ha p a w nt h e t a r g e t .l s e eD i a g r a m1 l ) , 62 Ke4d5 Rf7-e7
63 e5-e61!
A n d n o w I w i l l g i v ef o u r e x a m p l etso i l l u s t r a tw e h a t I h a v es a i di n t h i s m o n -
Comparethe note to White's61st move,
o g r a p h .A l l f o u r e x a m p l easr ed e r i v e fdr o m m y l a t e s pt r a x i st,h e N o r d i cl \ 4 a s -
63 .... Kd7-c8
t e r T o u r n a m e ni n t A u g u s t1 9 2 4( C o p e n h a g e nA)l.t h o u g hi t w a sv e r vs t r o n g-
64 Rh2-t2 Re7-e8?
Johner, w h o o n l y recentlw y o n a h e a do f R u b i n s t e iann dT e i c h m a n inn B e r l i n , This attemptto separate king and pawnfrom eachother endsfataily,jusr
w a st h e r e f, u r t h e rA l l a nN i l e s s o nt h, e g e n i atlh e o r e t i c i aDnr . K r a u s et ,h e s o l i c l asin a moviebecause theretoo the attemptto separate the two loversis narsh-
y o u n gm a s t e rK s i n c h ,K i e r ,e t c .- | s u c c e e d ei nd w i n n i n gw i t h 9 % p o i n t so u t l y p u n i s h e dT. h i s i s n a t u r a l l ya n e c e s s i tayso t h e r w i steh e a u d i e n cw
e o u l oa s x
o f 1 0 ! | b e l i e v ien a l l s i n c e r e ttyh a t t h i sg r e a vt i c t o r vh a st o b e c r e d i t e dto mV T o rt h e i rm o n e yb a c k .
d e e p eur n d e r s t a n d i on fgt h e e s s e n coef t h e b l o c k a d e Il n e v i t a b l iyt h a p p e n e d
65 Rr2.I7 Re8-dgt
t h a t i n t h e d i f f i c u l tb l o c k a d pe r o b l e mes n c o u n t e r eI dt o o o c c a s i o n a lflayi l e . i ,
66 Kd5"c6 Rd8-e8
b u t t h a t h a p p e n evde r yr a r e l ya, c t u a l l yo n l y i n t h e f o l l o w i n ge n d g a m e .
67 b6b7t Kc8'd8
I n t h e s e c o n dr o u n dt h e e x c e l l e nm r i e r s i f l(go n eo n l y h a st o t h i n k o i
t a s t eG
14

L.-
 68 Rf7-d7mate. 35 Ra1-fl Kb7-c6
d f 6 4 . . . R e 8 ?t o, u g hr e s i s t a n cweo u l dh a v eb e e np o s s i b lw
I n s t e ao eith 64... 36 Rf1-f5
K d 8 ;h o w e v eW r h i t ew o u l dh a v eh a da c l e a rw i n ( s e eD i a g r a m11 ) i f h e h a d F i r s tW h i t eb r o u g h t h e r o o k t o f 5 a n d h i sk i n gi n t o a n a t t a c k i n g
positoin.
blockadedwith 58 Rh2-h6. Therecould havefollowedl As far asthe other rook is concerned,it is very happyon a5 because it has
58.... Kdl-e7 kept its elasticityand may very well marchoverto the f file at the right mo-
59 f4-f5 g6xf51 m e n t . B u t i t w o n ' t e v e nc o m et o t h a t . T h e R a 5a n dt h e B l a c ka - r o o kh o l d
60 Kert-f4!! eachother in balance;thereforethe Whitef-rook only hasto deajwith one
A n d B l a c ki s h e l p l e sasg a i n st th e t h r e a tg 6 t , f o r e x a m p l e : counterpart(with one rook) and hereit provesitselfto be the strongerone,
60.... Ke7-t7 partiallybecause it alreadyoccupiesthe f file and partiallybecause it is sup-
61 s5-s6t Kt7-97 portedby the king, But what I want to especially point out is the readiness
62 Rh6xhTt Rh8xh7 of the Whitea"rookto leaveits blockadingpositionand go onto the f file as
63 g6xh7 K97xh7 soonas it is necessary. The fight for the f file revolves aroundthe conquestof
U Kt4xls Kh7-s7 a point of entry on f6, f7 or fg for the rooK.
65 Kf5-e6 Ba7-b8!
Therefollowed:
66 b5.b6 Ks7"{8
36.... Ra1-e7
67 KeGdT Bb8xe5
37 h2-h4 Ra8-a7
68 bebT
38 h4h5 Re7-eo
A n d w i n se a s i l y .
39 Rf5"f8
The next exampleshowshow much the blockaderis ableto keepits elastic- T h ee n t r y . ( O r i g i n a l lW
y h i r eh a dp l a n n e dh S h 6 . H a dB l a c kp l a v e d3 9 . . .
ity. h7-h6,therewould havefollowed Kh4 with g2"g4-g5.)
39.... s7-s6
%e'/z '/Lt
Bl a c kI 40 h$h6 sosS
I A l l a nN i l s s o n 41 Rt8.b8 KcdcT
t % 7t % 42 Rb8xb5
43 Ra5a4
Re6xh6
Rhef6
D i a g r a m1 2 t /tut% 7z
'rfu. 44 Rb5-a5 Kc7-c8
ltu'r&
t"/2, 45 Ks3s4 h7.h6
lz 71,, 46 Ra4-a2
47 Ra5xa6and won in b4 moves.
Ra7-t7

% 7'. .Fr
n, White: In the followingvery instructiveexamplethe failureto establisha blockade
N imzowitsch is punishedby free play of the pieces.
white: Kinch B l a c k :N i m z o w r t s c n
White hasthe betterpositionasa5 and d5 are vulnerablepawnweaknesses;
Playedin the Nordic lVasterTournament1924
the first one paralyzes the mobility of the Blackrooks,the latterthe mobility
o f t h e B l a c kk i n g ( t h eW h i t er o o k p o s i t i o nf 5 f o r c e st h e d e f e n s i vpeo s i t i o n 1 d2-d4 t7-t5
Kc6, not Ke6which would be wreckedby Re5t). Thuswe must makeuseof 2 e2-e4 I4xe4
? Nb 1 - c 3 Ns&fG
the correspondingly greatermobility of our own forces. lt is clearto every
e n d g a mpel a y e rt h a t t h e W h i t ek i n gw i l l f i n d r e w a r d i nagc t i v i t yo n t h e k j n g Bc1-95 Nb8-co
A n d n o w K i n c h o l a y e da n i n t e r e s t i n gn e w m o v e j h e t o o k t h e k n i g h t
wing,but what happenswith the Whiterooks? Shouldthey occupythe f file? ^
og5xf6 e7xf6 and made a regLllargdmbit out
W e l l ,t h e nt h e b a c k w a r a d - p a w nw i l l a d v a n c ea,n d i n t h i sw a y B l a c kw i l l r i d of the game,
himselfof his weakpawnand willeven get a passed pawn. lf howeverone 5 Bg5xf6 e7xf6
wantsto useone rook to blockadeon a5, then the other rook could hardly 6 Bfl-c4 f&f5
w i n a n y l a u r e los n t h e f f i l e c o u l di t ? 7 Ns1-e2
P r e f e r a b il seN h 3 .
H o w e v etrh e r ef o l l o w e d :
7 .... Ncdas!
33 Ra2-a5 Kd7-c6 8 Bc4-b3 Nasxb3
34 Kt2-s3 KcGbT 9 a2xb3 Od8-s5
16
17
 9...d5would be refutedbY Nt4. 23 b3xc4 Ba6xc4
24 Nd3-c1 Bf&b4!
B l a c kI Not only strongerthan Ba6 but alsoin conformitywith the requirements
/.a.a.15]!L
r':/t .?.
, LtL'.,/t Nimzowitsch
o f t h e p o s i t i o nw h i c h
" c a l l sf o r m o b i l i t y . "
25 Ra7xb7 Re&f8t
.7,:z 2
'//r.t H e r eB l a c ks t u m b l e st h, o u g hh e w i n sa p i e c eh, e w i l l b e p u t i n c h a i n sb y
D i a g r a m1 3 /rrrrrrrrrrrrt. E force,which makesit a sin againstthe spirit of the blockade,(As waspointed
7,,, .fl,,t2 out,White logicallyshouldperishthroughBlack'sfree play with the pieces
t t a lt /2..;, Whitel
w h i c hW h i t ep e r m i t t e dt h r o u g hh i sf a i l u r et o b l o c k a d e . I)n t h e s p i r i to f t h i s
play with the piecesBlackshouldplay (insteadof 25...RfSt) 25
;tut l.:.zEsl,fu S. Kinch
unrestricted
...9b4-d2l 26 Kf2 (The only move,as Rfgt threatenedmate.)26...RfSt with
a decisiveking hunt, 27 Kg3 Bel l 38 Kh3 BeOt 29 94 h5 30 Rb5 (30 RxcT?
hxqt 31 Ks2 Bdst 32 Ksl Bf2t 33 Kfl Bq3t) 30..,Bxs4i 3'l K92 Bxe2
K i n c ht o m o v e
32 Nxe2 Rf2t 33 Kgl Rxe2,etc.
In the diagrammed positionWhiteculd play to blockadethe Blackpawn We returnto Diagraml4 after White's25th move,
majorityon the king'swing,perhapsthrough 10 93 togetherwith establishing
a k n i g h ot n f 4 , f o r e x a m p l 1e 0 9 3 B e 7 1 1 N f 4 G 0 1 2 A d 2 d O 1 3 G 0 - 0 a n d

E.L '%
h2-h4;then wherewould Black'swinningchancesbe in spiteo{ the extra
pawn? Perhaps in an attemptto breakthe blockadeby 97-95?(After 10 93
Be7 1'1Nf4Oh6 12 Ad2 s'.l Hardly,because it would loosenup Elack'spo-
wasthe
% 7,,
sitiontoo much. Therefore
r i g h tw a y t o e q u a l i z e .
the blockade which we havesuggested D i a g r a ml 4 7z%
'"/.H.N&
The flankingmaneuverwhich takesplacein the gameis likewisegoodand t4, "'/r.
fine.
10 0-0 Bf8-e7
",/&,7Za
11 t2]131 0-0!
12 f3xe4 f5xe4
13 Rflxfgt k7xl8 As statedbefore,Blackplayed:
14 Nc3xe4 25 .... Re8-f8t
W i n n i n gb a c kt h e g a m b i pt a w nb u t l e a v i ntgh e o p p o n e nw
t iththebishop 26 Kfl-sl
pair and the freergame. And now,justa littlelate:
26.... Bb+d2
Therefollowed: There followed:
14.... Og5-e3t
27 h2-h3 Bd2xcl
15 Ne4-t2 d7.d6!
28 Ne2xcl RfS"flt
N o t d 7 - d 5w h i c hw o u l dw e a k e ne 5 .
Bc8-d7 29 Ks1-h2 RfIxcl
16 Ne2-93
3 0 Rb l x c T
17 Ks1'f1
Blackhardlyhasa forcedwin,
Probably thentoo the bishops
betterwasOd3although themselves.
assert
Ra8-e8!
30 .... Rc1-c2
17....
31 Kh2's3 Bc4d3
B e c a u seea r l i eWr h i t ef a i l e dt o b l o c k a d teh e o p p o n e nht e i s b e i n gj u s t l y
p u n i s h e idn s ot a r a st h e o p p o n e n t 'psi e c e h s a v eg r e a tm o b i l i t y , 32 Rc1xc2 Bd3xc2
18 Ra1xa7 Bd7-bst 33 Ks3-f4 Ks8-f7
19 c2-c4 Bd$a6 34 Kf'l-es Bc2-b3
35 d4-d5?
20 Ng3-e2 dGds
The methodical further advance Kd6 wouid probably have led to a draw.
21 Dd1-d3 Qe3xd3 After the text move White will be starved to death.
22 N{2xd3 d4xc4

18 19
 KIl-e7
36 s2-94 Ke7-d7 ly go overto the attackwith f5, 95, f4 which is much lessforcefulthan an at-
37 hlh4 Kd7-e7 tackwith a realmajority. Therethen threatensa wedgeformation (through
"laterally"
38 g4g5 Ke7-d7 t+f3l and openingof lines{by f4xf3) with possibleconquestof the
39 h4-h5 Kd7-e7 (not frontally)denudedPe3, Howeverto recognize a majorityassuchmeans
40 h5h6 g7xh6 to undertakesomethingagainstit. Therethereforefollowed:
12 Nf3.h4! Nd7-b8
41 g5xh6 Ke7-d7
42 Resigns. To preventNf5.
13 q2-s3! Nfde8
The logicalconnections of the blockadingeventsmanifestthemselves extra-
14 Nh3s2! f7.f5
o r d l n a r i l yi m p r e s s i v ei lnyt h i sg a m e .( T o g i v ei t a n a m e ", C r i m ea n d P u n i s h -
15 h2.h4
ment".)
And Black'sking side,which is seeminglyreadyto march,is paralyzed.Af-
ter a few more movesthe impedimenthad beenconsolidated into a blockade
Beforewe get to the next examplewe will first givean explanationwhich {bv N f4} I
shouldclarifythe meaningof the qualitativemajority. A majority,suchas
threepawnsagainsttwo, must,of course,be impeded;in this sensetoo we Similar,althoughmore difficult,wasthe casein the gameNimzowitsch-
mustcall a majorityof thosepositionsin which the pawnmajorityon one Olsonfrom the Nordic MasterTournament.After 1 f4 c5 2 e4 Nc6 3 d3 q6
wing is of a subjective
nature, a positionwasreached,which, includinge7-e6and d7-d5,wascalledby
"the battleof the king'swing versus queen's
l n m y g a m ea g a i n sBt e r n s t e iant K a r l s b a 1
d 9 2 3{ l h a dt h e W h i t ep i e c e s ) , Schmidt the wing". Whitehas
afterthe moves: in d3, e4, 14 a k ind of side-center,
the opponenthasa corresponding position
1Ns1-f3 Ns8-f6 on the left wing. Therenow camemy entirelyrrnprecedented attemptto im-
2 d2.d4 d7.d5 mediatelyhamperthe mobileenemyqueenwing (thrcugh4 c2.c4)because I
3 c2-c4 e7-e6 recognize this wing asa majority(of the subjective
typc). For a detailedex-
4 Nb1-c3 planationof this surprisingmove I may be permittedto referto the January
Bf8-e7
5 e2-e3 o0 issueol Kagan'sNeuesteSchachnachrichten."
6 a2-a3 a7-a6 The followingexample.which by the way actuallyhappened, showshow
7 c+c5 c7-c6 difficult problemsofrestrictioncanbe. In his new booklet,lndisch,Dr.far-
I b2-b4 Nb8-d7 takowerpresentsa gamewhich wasplayedbetweenus in the Copenhagen
9 Bc1-b2 Od&c7 '1923.(Whiter
l,ilasters
Tournamentin Tartakower,Black: Nimzowitsch)
10 Od1-c2 eGe5
I d4 Nf6 2 Nc3 d5 3 Bg5Nc6, and he makesthe followingremarkr"Typica!
11 G0.0 e$e4 ly Nimzowitsch!Seeminglyanti-positional because in the Oueen'sPawnopen-
Ingthe importantc-pawnis blocked,but this strategyin the spirit of lively

r g a ',,&Ilflt
playwith the piecescannotbe simplybrushedaside."

72t7z x, 2 To this I would like to saythe followingrNc6 wasnot at all playedper-

tainingto "play with the pieces".The movewassolelyto counteractthe
'15
Diagram /,fl.t//z a d v a n cee2 . e 4w h i c hw o u l do p e nl i n e sa n dt h u sf r e eW h i t e ' sq a m e .H a dI
+ + / t .a 'A
f,Y lH translationof that note follows:
6lZ
a q * ttufr.& ^-As
'"dKtng
4 c2.c4
this move is not inspircd by the hope of preventingd7-cl, or only of
it difficult, it needsa specialexplanation. Black wants to force the
outld up e7.e5
d7-d5. After suchwork is done he will have thoughts of im-
A p o s i t i o nh a sb e e nr e a c h e idn w h i c hW h i t eh a sa s u b j e c t i vm
e a i o r i t yo n proving
hisattack-formation on the qLteen'swing by an eventualNd4 in order
the queenside,BJackon the king side. Why? Because the pawnon e4 is ':,use pressure
"more" p6yed. lin the c filel on the pawn on c2 after Nxd4 c,xd4 havebeen
t h a nt h e p a w no n e 3 a n do n t h e o t h e rh a n dt h e p a w no n c S i s , , m o r e The te^t move prevents thispossibleextensionof the play on the
t h a nt h e p a w no n c 6 , l f o n ew e r et o g i v eB l a c ka f r e eh a n d ,h e w o u l dq r a o u a r - 'lueen's
wing. The hole on d4 seemsto be nonessential.
20
21
played4...e7-e6at once,e2-e4could be the response.Thus,the strategyof
obstructionI SuPPlement
How interesting that this motivecould haveescaped Tartakowerwho plav\
with so much routineand battleexperience.Or could it be just the fault ot Followingthe wish of my esteemed publisherMr- B. Kagan,who is so well
the "routine" that he missedthe "finer" pointsin this instance? in the entire chess world, l'll add somegamesrelatingto the blockade
known
procedures.
After the next moves,4 e3 e6 5 Nf3 Be7 6 Bd3 h6! 7 Bh4 b6! the trencl andalsosomenew examplesof my
which wasdirectedagainste2-e4wasfurther strengthened. 8 O0 Bb7,and I beginwith an oldergame,playedin the mastertournamentat Ostende
pronouncedexamplesof the
now I threatenthe combinationalmoveNe4with interesting pell-mellcombi- 1907,;hich I considerto be one of the most
nations. accomplished impediment of a qualitativemajority'
successfully .l
No.
W h i t e v: a nV l i e t B l a c k :N i m z o w i t s c h
We havenow arrivedat the end of our explanations.We lookedat the 1 d2-d4 d7'd5
problemof obstructionfrom differentsidesand we becameconvincedhow 2 Ngl't3 c7'c5
muchstrategyis represented by a fight betweenmobility on one sideand the 3 e2'e3 e7'e6
tendencyto obstructon the other, 4 b2'bg Ng&J6
5 Bf1'd3 Nb8-c6
T h e p h j l o s o p hhye r ed e v e l o p eids e n t i r e l yn o v e a l n d i t i st h e r e s u l o
t f man! B{8-d6
6 a2'a3
yearsof research, this appliesespecially to the justificationof the duty to 7 Bc1'h2
b l o c k a d eF. i n a l l yI w i s ht o g i v et h i sg u i d i n gp r i n c i p l teo t h e a l e r tc h e s s p l a y e r i
The White developmentis directedagalnstan intendedfreeingadvance
Stop everypawnwh ich wantsto advanceunderthe sl;ghtestpretext,every into a block-
passed pawn,everypart of the center,everyquantitativeor qualitativemajor- e6e5. Thusobstruction. No wonderthat this latercrystallizes
(A
ade. White knight laterposted on e5) Becausein the spirit of our essay
ity, stopthem! Firsttry it goodnaturedly.with mild measures (as3...Nc6for
light obstruction is only an introductorystep,but the climax is the blockade'
instancein my Copenhagen gameagainstTartakower).after that let your
7.... G0
rightouschess-fury swellto a mightycrescendo!The climax,the idealof
8 0-0 b7.b6
everyactionto obstructis and remains- - - - - -
9 Nfle5! Bc8-b7
10 Nbl-d2 a7-a6l
the Blockade!
11 12-14 b&b5!
Blackestablishes counterplavon the queen'swing by recognizing his pawns
'i924 thereasa qualitative majority.
Dresden
12 d4xc5!
An excellent move which had only the one iault that van Vliet didn't un'
A. N imzowitsch
derstandit. But the annotatorof the Ostendtournamentbook alsosuffered
a slmilarfate. Teichmanngavethe text movea ? ApparentlyTeichmanncon'
sidersthe incriminatingmoveasa surrenderof the center. But that is not the
case,only White shouldhavecontinuedcorrectly.
12 .. Bd6xc5
13 0d1-f3 NfGdT
A betterand more consistentmoveis not apparentto me. Blackwantsto
getrid of the blockaderNe5 in orderto mobilizehis own centerpawns
14 Ne5xc6 Bb7xc6
( S e eD i a g r a mi 6 a t t h e t o o o f t h e n e x t p a g e )
15 Of3g3
This and the next moveare mistakes.
, h i c hc o u l db e a c c o m p l i s h e d
W h i t es h o u l dh a m o e trh e B l a c kc e n t e rw
t h r o u g h1 5 b 3 - b 4 !B b 6 1 6 N d 2 - b 3a n dB d 4 o r N d 4 T h e b l o c k a d e position
22 23
 *' -6 1 a r eo p i n i o n si n c h e s s l l
'A c.9, 19 ele4 od8-d7
7/tA7,zt. L t ln orderto answer94-95with e6-e5l
20 Rd1-el e&e5!
ltall,, 1.7.,/..7 21 l4-ts
D i a g r a m1 6 t,,,gt/,t
'/..,t /, After 14,..Bxc6
/t llz lt /t*'t

t",za ,f,w7//. 2*71,tt

"4.Allt
x
.Hfr.8 t t'/,tu 'L
D i a g r a m1 7 i"..&''/Ltt
with a pieceon d4, thus achieved, would not be easilyshakenoff by f7-f6 ancl
% z
t%a%"lt
e6-e5because after f7"f6, Ohs, or Oh3 would becomeunpleasant.On the
other handthe Blackb-pawn,which wasfixed by b3-b4,could becomea tar- 7Nt,.X,
get for an attack. For instance15 b3-b4Bc5-b6 16 Nd2-b3Od8-e7 't7 -
N b 3 - d 4B c G b T 1 8 a 3 - a 4( a nn o w 1 8 . . . 8 x d 41 9 B x d 4O x b 4i s n o t p o s s i b l e
b e c a u soef t h e d o u b l eb i s h o ps a c r i f i coen h 7 a n d9 7 ,t h u s :2 0 B x h T t K x h T Whitehasa qualitativemajorjtyon the king'swing Threat:94-95after a
21 Oh5t Kg8 22 BxgTKxgT 23 Og51 Kh8 24 Rt3l ot l7...Bb6xd4instead oueenmoveand h2-h4.
of BcGbT 18 e3xd4. ln the positionthus reachedthe pawnon c2 is back- 21 .... NfFhT
ward and not worth much,the sameappliesto Bb2 but theseweaknesses The plav which now follows,i.e.to Jorcea delayof 94-95(afterh2-h4)
couldonly be uncoveredby the maneuver of the knightd7 overb6 to a4 or untilthe king hasfled is an admirableexampleof the fight againsta qualita
c 4 ,a n dB l a c k- d u et o h i so w n u n s a f e k i n g ' sp o s i t i o n( W h i t e ' es f i l e a n dm o - tivepawnmajority.
b i l i t y o n t h e k i n g ' sw i n g iw o u l dh a r d l yh a v et i m ef o r t h a t . T h e r er e m a i ntsh e 22 Nd2-t3 Od7-e7
postingof the knighton e4 which howeverafter Bd3xe4would leadto orroo- 23 Oh3-93 R{&e8
sitecoloredbishops. 24 h2.h4 t7.t6
25 Re1-a1
ThereforeWhitecould haveequalizedby d4xc5 in connectionwith the ar-
This weakness on a3 forcesWhiteto makea defensive move.
tempt to impedethe enemycenter. After his 16th moveWhite is at a disad,
25 .... Ae7-b7
vantage, althoughone hasto admit that Black'splay hasto be extremelyrisky
In orderto exposethe disadvantage,
26 Rt-e1 Ks8-f7
27 Re1-e2 Re8-h8
II ...- Nd7.f6 2A Ks1-92 Nh7-f8
16 Ral-d1?
With still betteraccess
29 s+ss h 6x95
than on the previousmoveWhitecould haveqone
30 h4xg5 Nf8.d7
t h r o u g hw i t h t h e a b o v em e n t i o n eodb s t r u c t j o nT, h u si 6 b 3 - b 4B c b - b 61 7
Now Black'splan of defensein all its depth becomesevident:after g5xf6
Nd2-b3and B lackmust be carefulin orderto equalize.
the answercan alwaysbe g7xf6. f6 is well defendedand the king finds satety
16 .... a6a5! on d6.
Now pawna3 is a weakness, and Whitedoesnot reachthe abovemention-
31 g5xf6
ed obstruction.
Whitebeginsthe battlebeforethe king hasreachedsafety.
17 Os3h3 h7-h6 g7xf6
31 ....
T h e B l a c kp o s i t i o nc a nt o l e r a t et h i sw e a k e n i n g l
32 N{3-h4
1g g2-s4 d5-d4 Not a bad idea. White wantsto establish a strongoutposton the g file.
A deeplyconceivedmove.which alreadyshowsthe intentionof blockad-
32 . . . . Rag-98
i n gt h e W h i t ea d v a n c i nm g a s sa n dt h e f l i g h to f t h e B l a c kk i n g . A c c o r d i n g
to
my teachings
33 Nh+s6 Rh8-h5
any other moveis out of the questionbecause the obstructton
of the Whitepawn massis the most urgentorderof the hour. The fact tnar
34 Ks2-t2 Nd7,f8
Now a terrific battlewill ragefor the outpost96. On the wholethe out'
T e i c h m a ncna l l sd 5 - d 4a m o v eo f " d u b i o u sv a l u e ,s, h o w sh o r , w v i d e l vd i v e r - postappearsto be {airly strong. lf despitethat strengthit cannotbe held,
24
25
 t h e r e a s o nI i e si n t h e w e a k n e sosf t h e W h i t ep o s i t i o nn, a m e l yi n t h e f a c tt n , , d qudlitiitiv{
m u t L a l 5 ob c c o n s r d e r Y dd s a 1 ' g h ta g a i n \ 1
t h e p a w no n e 4 i s n o t o n l y t h r e a t e n ebdy B c 6a n dO b 7 ,b u t a l s ob y t h c S " i ' r"h a l o l l o w i n gg a m e w ' l h t h e 2 nd b' 11;ancv
, , . , l t- w r s p l a v e da t K a r l s t l a o1 9 2 3 a n d c r o w n c d
w h i c hi s b u r n i n gt o g i v ea d i s c o v e r ecdh e c k . fial9ttt't"
3 5 R a1 - g l R h5-s5 /ize' No.2
36 Og3h4 Rg5xg1 B l a c k :B e r n s t e i{nA m e r l c a )
Nimzowitsch
37 Kt2xs1 Nf8x96 White: 1Ng1-f3 Nq8-i6
38 0h4.h5 Kt7-t8 2 d2-d4 d7-d5
39 f5xg6 3 c2'c4
A p p a r e n t lW y h i t eh o l d s9 6 . . . 4 Nb 1 - c 3 Bf8-e7
'lo
ab7-s7 5 e2-e3 0-0
4O Re2-92 Rs8-h8 6 a2-a3 a7-a6
41 Ah5-e2 I C4'Ct
p a w n h a so e e n
'/: F o r m sa p a w n c h a i n w h i c h w i l l b e c o m p l e t eo n c e t h e B l a c k
7:/ ,aii.i "O'f"l "Of The Wh;te links;n the chain
a r e l h e p
in
a w
the
n sd 4 a n d c 5
realm of the
/t:: //.2 g rhe Black ones are db and cb.
* "q'.b4-b5'
I ne !vhite plan for
b5xc6afterwhichb7xc6isforced'
attack

7.zzA.l/,11fr/,, lll'l ili, o" """1i n2'oq, pawn

pawnon c6' which {ormsthe baseot the Black
D i a g r a m' 1 8 t,g tt /::/
'/t
in o,t'rr *orOr, the movement
-h"in \ ill he exoosedto an altacKTromthe sideand an enveloping
L tlt lz ill'il ";;;i;1'L wouldbebv Rb6'whiletheenverop'
(tnesioeattack
W e h a v ea l r e a d vd ; s c u s s et hde i n -
fr72a/lz t i " " " , i " i t i . r l a c o n s i sot f R b 1 - b 7 - c 7 x cl 6
iti"almovesin the theoret:calpart of
lhis book
Nfr,/.wtHta 7 .,' c7"c6
a h2'b4 Nb8-d7
9 Bc1'b2 Od8'c7
41 .... Rh8_h4! 10 od1'c2 e&e5
S t a r t sa d i v e r s i oang a i n sPt e 4 ,a n dt h i s i s d e c i s i v en,a m e l yf o r t h e f a t eo t 11 0-0'0!
P g 6a n dt h e r e f o rael s of o r t h e r e s u l ot f t h e g a m e . asa refutati'onof
Up until now the pushin the centerhasbeenconsidered
42 Bb2-c1 p e r c e p t i o nel G e 5i s
" i u . " " t t r o m t h e f l a n k A n e n t i r e l Vu n f o u n d e d
r t t . - " l " i r-n"trinu
At lastthe bishop,which wascut off for 24 moves,daresto comeout intc - iJ the White center hassomeabil-
""r" ii" r.."ctionto c4-c5which
t h ed a y l i g h tb, u t h e a r r i v ejsu s t i n t i m e t o w i t n e s tsh e c o l l a p soef h i sf o r c e s . m o r e '
i t y t o r e s i s-t e q u a l i z e b s ,u t n o t
Attet 42 Rg4,which Teichmannrecommended here,would havefollowecl 11 "' e5-e4
R x g 4 4 3 O x g 4B c 6 , d 7a! n d B d 7 - e B a n dB l a c km u s tw i n . T h e o t h e r t h e o r e t ] c a l l y c o n c e i v a b I e a t t e m p t t o s t r e n g t h e n t heefai ltet a c K I n g p o .
42.... p l a yo n t h e
Rh4xe4! , i t i o n. g r i " , t l a * o u i d c o n s i sot f t h e e x c h a n gee5 x d 4 'a n d
43 Ae2-d2 Re4-h4 '-\14H?Ylll: i".':li: ::
ora1oJtoost
ii'""ni"n"ii*o estootirn.""t
44 Ad2xa5 ag7-d7 e f i l P\ ' ! o u l db e l o n gt o v v n L r e
e a sb l eb e c a L r tshee
t e m p ti s n o i p r a c r i c a l llV
T h e b l o c k a d i nqgu e e nl e a v ehse rp o s t . W h e no n ec o n s j d e rt sh a t b l o c k a d i n g
;;;kr;" ;it;;;|. d e v e i o p m e nT s o t h i n se l s et o d o e x c e p t o
t h e r ef e m a i n n
i s u s u a l l yt h e t a s ko f t h e m i n o rp i e c e so,n em u s ta d m i tt h a t t h e q u e e nw , hich f r o m d 4 o n t o t h e n e wb a s e
i s n o t u s e dt o t h i st v p e o f w o r k ,h a sd o n ea t e r r i f i cj o b . n , t ar t O +t , u n t o u c n a Oat en dt r a n s f etrh e a t t a c k
" g * i i n . s . + . W h i t et h e nh a st h e t a s ko f h a m p e r i ntgh e m o v e m e nf t7 - { 5 ' { 4 x
45 gdgTl K8-s8 e 3 ,w h i c hw o u l de x p o s e 3 f r o n rt h e s r d e '
N o w h i sm a j e s t yh a st a k e no v e rt h e b o c k a d eh i m s ef . 12 Nf3-h4! N d7,b8
46 ad3c4t b5xc4 T o p r e v e nN
t f5.
47 Oa5xc5 13 s2-93 NfGeS
T o s w e e pt h e b l o c k a d a e w a yw i t h O f g t . t7-r5
1 4 Nh 4 ' g 2
47 "" R h 4 - h 1 !t 15 h2-h4
Resigns.
T h e o b s t r u c l i o vnv 6 5 6 2 r ' r i eodu t b y t h e s i m p l e sm t e a n si n c l a s s i c sal v l e '
T h i s g a r n e( a g a j n svt a n V l i e t ) , w h i c h r e m a i n e dr e i a t ; v e l yr n n o t i c e c l ,i s o n e " b a r o q u e "o t b j z a ( t eb' u t t h e r n o v ec o n s i s t s
O t c l u r s " f Z N h 4 c o u i da p p e a r
o f m y b e s ta c c c m p l l s h m e n t s .
o n , i ' J t u n . " " r , 0 r , p a r ro i t h e c l a s s i c o
apl eratloo n f o b s t r u c i i o nT h e r e f o r e
26 2,7
 m y e s t e e m e dr e a d e rw i l l f i n d i t u n d e r s t a n d a b lwe h e n I h a v eo n l V a p i t i f u l
s m i l ef o r a s i m i l a rc r i t i c i s mb y s o m ec n | c s .

16 aga4
Be7-d8
a gt
MorecautiouswasBe2then Kd2. After this developmentis comoleted T A
W h i t ew o u l db e a b l et o b r i n gt h e a r t a c ka 2 - a 4a n db 4 - b 5t o a , r c c e r r f u l " o n -
clusionwithout any greatereffort.
Diagra.r'20 %''.rfur'./,fu.
"/z tzt%
to....
W e l lp l a y e d l U s u a l l yt h e c o u n t e m
b7.b6!
r o v e m e not f t h e m i n o r i t yo n l y g i v e sa n , 'N. z.& t2,
advantage to the attackingside(in this case.White). However,the prJsence
o1
/,NWWA1&.
the Whitemonarchmakesthe Whitemajority in a certainsensea comprornis-
ed one,and thereforethe pushb6 is sufficientlymotivated.
17 h4b5 27 Nc3-a4
An exceedingly elegantcombination.Otherwiseonly the simple27 Ra3
i . ,e .2 7 R a 3R x b 6 2 8 R h 1 - a 1 N a 5 - c 42t 7 B x c 4 R x a 3
h a dt o b e c o n s i d e r e d
'/a /,r. 7:./Lt 30 Rxa3 (Bxd5would simplifytoo much and resultin a draw due to the op'
ttt ./, oositecolor bishops)30...d5xc431 Ra3-a8tand after 31...8e8 32 Ba3 Rb3
Whitehaslessthan nothing, Besides the specificcombinationalreasonfor the
D i a g r a m1 9 ttt t text move,there is alsothe intentionof makingit asdifficult aspossiblefor
t t '&
r t theopponentto win backthe sacrificedmaterialwithout howeverinsisting
^
'&8/lz, /&.
'rfua
too stronglyon holdingon to that materialto the end.
27 .... Bd7xa4
2g Ralxa4 Rb8xb6
&,trltgt 29 Bb2-c3l Na5-b3t
WhatI had wishedfor! Also after the morecorrectmove29...Na5-c4t
17.... Ne8-f6 30 Bxc4 Rxa4 31 Oxa4dxc 32 Oa4-a8lOf7-e8 33 OxeSNxeS 34 Rh1-a1
18 Ns2-f4 Whitewould standbetteralthoughin this caseBlackcould erecta firm block-
The blockader! a d e - w a l l odn5 .
18.... a6xb5
19 a4xb5 Ac7-17
20 Bt1-e2
21 c5xb6
Bd8-c7
Bc7xl4 Z . .%t8/fr}
' H % 6 7
After 21...Bxb6Blackwould soonhavehad markedweaknesses, for in_
stance 2 1 . . . 8 x b 62 2 K c 1 . d 2a n dW h i t ew i l l o c c u p yt h e a f i l e a n d
maintain Diagram
2l /Z.z
t"%t'%
'/&'t1.f,.
threatsagainstthe baseof the chain,d5 (afterdisappearance
c6).
o+tte proiecrrng
% ',l.f,
zz gJxf4 AlH 7
"ZW'&,har.ft'.
Now the obstructionof the B lackpawn masson the king
sideis absolute.
22 -... Bc8-d7
23 Kc1-d2 c6xb5
24 Rdl-a,t! 30 Oc2xb3!
Whiteforcespositionaladvantages on the queen,swing,
, T h i ss a c r i f i c ep,r e p a r ebdy 2 7 N a 4 ,i s e n t i r e l yi n t h e m o d e r ns p i r i ti n t h e
24.... Nb&c6 oestmeaningof the word. (Comparethe noteto Black's31st move.)
25 Be2xb5 NcGa5! 30 .... Rb6xb3
26 BbS"eZ Rfg_b8 31 Ra4xaSl NfGeS
E l a c kh a sd e f e n d eedx c e l l e n t layn o i s n o w a D o u t o e q u a l i z e . And now one expects the quick participation of the other rook. All of the
.
h e a v yp i e q qasg a i n stth e f r a i la n dp i n n e dk n i g h t .A t t h a t t i m e o n ec a l l e dt h a t :
28
29

\-
 e l e g a npt l a y l H o w e v etrh i s b r u t a la p p r o a c d h o e sn o t g o w i t h m y n a t u r ea, n d Seethe note to White's41st move
b e s i d e si t,w o u l db e a b i g m i s t a k ei ,. e .3 2 R h1 - a 1 ? Q I 7 . c 7 !3 3 R x e 8 l K f 7 , 44 .... ab2-b7
a n dW h i t eh a ss p e n th i m s e laf n ds h e d tse a r so f r e p e n t e n c eN. o , t h e R a l r sn o r 45 Ra2-a7 Ab7'b2
in a hurry "to take part", on the contrary.with a tired gesturelike someone 46 Kfl-92
bored,it permitsbanishment, in other words: it staysin the background. T h e k i n gd e c l i n etsh e h e l po f h i sr o o k s ;h e d o e s n 'nt e e dt h e ma n y m o r e .
32 Be2-d1t! 46.... Ne8-f6
T h e p o i n t :W h i t ed o e sn o t f e a rt h e a n s w e3r 2 . . . R b ' 1 , 4 7 R a l - h1 t N{6h5
32.... Rb3xc3! zl8 Be2xh5 g6xh5
And againthe talentedAmericanmasterfindsthe strongestmove. After Now Black even has a Passed Pawn.
R b ' lw o u l df o l l o w3 3 8 a 4 R x h i 3 4 B x e S !( s t r o n g ebry a w h o l et e m p ot h a n 49 Rhl-a1!
R x e S t ) .a n do n t h e o t h e rh a n dt h e r e t r e a3t 2 . . . R b 6w o u l db e i n s u f f i c i e nbte . T h e t h e m eo { t h e r e t u r n l B l a c kr e s i g n s
causeof 33 Ba4 Re6 34 Rb1 (onty now the rook appears) 096! 35 Rbg Oqt
3 6 B x N O x f 2 t 3 7 K c 1 ,t h e k i n gi s s a f ea n dW h i t ew i n s . I giveherea lesserknown gamein which both sideshavepassed pawnsasa
turtherexample. I played this game against the outstanding Danish master
D o e s n 'tth e l a t ep a r t i c i p a t i oonf t h e m a i na c t o r ,R h 1 ,r e m i n du so f h o w
the "hero" of a dramais usually"jntroduced":first comesan old servantwho Mdreller at the Copenhagen 1923 tournament.
tellsa story.then two other "characters"steponto the stageand makeus cur_ No.3
iousaboutthe "hero", and at last"he" appearsin person- and becomesthe White:N imzowitsch Black:lvldeller
centeo r f a l lh a p p e n i n g s . 't t7-15
d2-d4
33 Kd2xc3 Qf7-c7t 2 c2"c4 Ns8-f6
34 Kcgd2 Ke8-f7 3 Nbl'c3 d7-d6
Now a positionhasbeenreachedwhich canonly be won throughattackin As wasshownin my articlein the JanuaryissueoI Kagan'sNeuesteSchach'
the classical style. The old picture:at first positionaladvantages arewon by nachrichten, this move,discovered by Krauseand myself,is perfectlyplay'
modernplay,then theseadvantages are utllizedthroughold-fashioned, ctass. able. (This article appearsin Appendix Two.)
cal chess! 4 Ngl-f3 Nb8'c6
35 Be2-hst s7's6 5 Bcl-t4 h7-h6
36 Rhl-a1! 6 h2-h4 NfGs4
Classical is the watchword,the rook becomestouqh. T h r e a t e n i neg7 - e 5w i t h c o m p l e t el i b e r a t i o n .
36.... Oc7-b6 7 d+ds NcGeS
37 Bh5-e2 Kt7-s7 Preferable wasthe combinationale7'e5. Seethe abovementionedarticle
38 Kd2-e1! Neg-c7 (Appendix Two).
39 Ra8-a5 Kg7-h6 8 Bf4xe5
40 Ke1-f1 e2-e4at oncewasmorecorrect.
Whata differencel In the first - modern- part of the gameWhitewas 8 .... d6xe5
c o n c e r n ewdi t h e v e r y t h i negl s eb u t t h e s a f e t yo f h i sk i n g ,b u t h e r et h e j u s t 9 e2"e4 e7'e6
m e n t i o n emd o t i f f o r m st h e m a i ni n c e n t i voef a l l t h e a c t i o n ! 10 Ni3-h2
40 .... obeb3 Somethinghasto be doneagainstBc5.
41 h4h5! 10 .... Od8xh4
N o w t h e p l a nb e c o m ecsl e a ra; f t e rh 5 x g 6h 7 x g 6t h e B l a c kk i n gw i l l b e a t - 11 Nh2xg4l
tractivelyembraced- oncefrom the h file and oncefrom the 7th rank. A s o u n ds a c r i f i coef t h e e x c h a n g eA. f t e r O x h l t h e r e{ o l l o w sN x e 5w i t h a
S h o u l dt h e r eb e a d i s t r a c t i nagt t a c kb y t h e q u e e n( i . e . O
, b 2a f t e rK g 2 )t h e verystrongattack.
d o u b l e dr o o k sw i l l a l s oh a v ea w o r d t o s a v( R a 5 - a 2 ) , 11 .... Oh4xg4
Nc7-e8 12 Od1'b3 Bf&e7
T h er e s o u r caerseb e i n g
mobilized. 13 c4c5
42 Ras-ao ob3b2 T h e m o b i l es u p e r i otrV l
43 h5xs6 h7xg6 13 .... 0'0
44 Rada2l 14 d5xe6

30 31
 31 Rc2'b2 al'as
G e n e r a l loyn eh a st o t h i n k t w i c eb e f o r eo n ed e c i d etso c h a n g a e "mobile The situation has cleared. White still have the passed pawn,which has
majority" into a stoppedpassed pawnbecause that would meangivingup has no possibility whatsoever of assailing
l,,enstopped,andWhiteapparentlV
d r e a mo s f t h e f u t u r ei n f a v o ro f a n o i d a g ep e n s i o n I. t h o w e v etrh e m a i n t e . w h i l et h e B l a c kp a s s epda w n( t o s p e a kl i k e L a s k e ri)s t i l l e d
frJoto.nua.r,
n a n c eo f t h e b l o c k a d b e y t h e o p p o n e nst h o u l dr e q u i r em a n yp i e c e sa,n d i f . - i r h" t h r e a t e n i n gm " obilitY.
there is a possibilityof awakening to new life the "sleepingbeauty" {the pass- 32 Rhlh5 l(98'f7
ed pawn), then the heroicattemptmay be justified. And so it is here. 33 g2-g4 Bdls6
14 .... f4xe4
15 Nc3d5 Og'1-95
16 Oble3 I
B e t t e rs e e mtso b e 1 6 N x c TR b g 1 7 B c 4 .
16.... Bc8xe6! 7z.t
An excellentsacrificeof the exchange throughwhich Blackgetsvaried Diagram23 ,,. 7
p l a y i n gc h a n c ews i t h t h e t w o b i s h o p s .
17 Oe3xg5 Be7x95
A
,
7t
18 Nd5xc7 BeefT /.Pr
7.2.
19 Nc7xa8 Rf8xa8
20 Btl-b5 Ra8-c8
21 t 2-b4
34 Rh5xe5!
A deepcombination:Whitesacrlfices the exchangebecause the Whiteking

t//Z '7' can invadethe center

lift the blockade.
and in with
connection his e'pawnand his own rook can

% % %A , 34 .... Bb4-c3
Diavam22 9Lfl /L
'rfl 35 Rb2-b5 Bc3xe5
zt % 36 Rbsxes a5-a4
Bgec2
7' 7z'/&.ft
2 37 Kt2-13
38 e3e4 Bc2-b3
% 7/, 39 Re5-b5
"strongrook" blockader,preparedfrom all
Unveilingthe assaulton the "unhappy
sides.The "tasks" areassigned asfollows:the Rb5 attacksthe
Whitehasthe majorityon the queen'swing,but difficultiesin developing one" from the rear(throughRb7). Of coursethe Blackking hurriesto his aid
t h e k i n gr o o k b e c a u scea s t l i n g
i n a n e n d i n gw o u l db e b a d . B u t n o w t h i n g sg e t andcan protectthe attackedRc7 eitherfrom d6 or d8 ln the first case,the
livelybecause Blacktriesto stopthe majorityonceand for all. checkfrom the pawnon e4 (e4'e5t) is decisive.but iJ the king takesthe more
21 .... b7-b6 modestpositionon d8, hisWhite counterpartwill advancethroughf4, e5 to
22 Bds-d7l Rc8-c7 d6 and the blockaderis dead.
23 c$c6 bAbs 39 ..'. Kt7'e7
24 Rhl-h3 e4e3! 40 Rb5-b7 Ke7-d8
25 a2-a4 41 Rb7-bgt lG8-e7
BlackthreatenedBd5, i.e..25 fxe? Bd5 26 Rc1 Bxg2. 42 Kttt4 Rc7xd7
25 -... b5xa4 W h i t et h r e a t e n eKd e S ,R b 7 { . . . K d 8 )K, d6
26 Ra1xa4 Bf7-c4 43 Rb8-b7l Bb3e6
27 l2xe3 Bc4b5 44 c'xdT Be6xd7
28 Ra$a2 Bg5-e7 45 Kf4-e5
29 Ra2-c2 A f t e r r h e s u c c e s s tautlt a c kt h e b e n e f i c i ar el s t !
The c-pawnis the morevaluableof the two, so the b-pawnmust die. 45 .... Ke7-e8
29.... BeTxb4t 46 Ke5'd6 Bd7xg4
30 Ke1-f2 Bb5-d3 33
32
 47 Rb7xg7 hGhS 12 .... c7-c5
48 e+es a4a3 13 d4d5
49 ete6 The birth of the passedpawn,
havecometo high honors,and the little pawntoo is
The threeassailants 13.... b6b5
aboutto be promotedto becomea majorpiece. But Blackd;d not wait for which howeveris taken noticeof by Blackwithout a signof concern.On
theseeventsto unfold and thereforeresigned.
the contrary,he is gettingrough!
A beautifulgame,and throughthe harmoniously
conductedattackagainst 14 Oa4-b3
the blockaderc7 alsovery instructive. Temptingherewasthe sacrificeof the exchange14 OxbS Ba6 15 Ob3
"advan-
B x f l 1 6 K x f l b u t a f t e r1 6 . . . 8 f 61 7 N c 4e x d 1 8 e x d N d 7 t h e W h i t e
Also ln the Copenhagen MasterTournamentof 1923 | playeda game tage"doesnot appear quite convincing. ls it reallynecessary to celebrate so
againstSemisch,in which the fate of my passed pawnoughtto be interesting wildly the birth of a passed pawn?
in the spiritof our subject.As the gameis alsocharacteristic
of my style,it 14 "" e6xd5
may be presented herefor the benefitand enjoymentof my friendly readers. 15 e4xd5 Be7-d6
No.4 The blockaderreportsto his post.
White: N imzowitsch B l a c k :S e m i s c h 16 Bc1-f4!
1 d2.d4 Ns5-f6 His counterpart.who emerges with the offer of a sacrifice.
2 c2-c4 e7-e6
3 Nsl-f3 b7.b6 '72r,
This openingpresents the ideaof renouncing the establishment of a mate.
d i t h a k i n d o f d o m i n a n c(et h u s
c e n t e ri n o r d e rt o b e s a t i s f i ew
r i a l l yt a n g i b l e A
IL
t h e i d e ao f i n f l u e n c e )I. i n v e n t e ad n dt h o r o u g h l a y n a l y z e idt i n 1 9 1 1a n d
1912.In the Petersbu1 r g9 1 3M a s t eTr o u r n a m e nI te m p l o y e dm y i n n o v a t i o n
againstGregoryfor the first time. This qameof mine againstGregorymust be
Diagram24
'ry
t\Y_),

considered the archetypeand I asthe inventorof the opening1 d4 Nf6 2 c4

e6 without the follow-upd7-d5.
%
4 s2-s3 %
This is the antidoterecommended by Rubinsteinsometime ago. lt is how-
everfairly innocuousasshownin the gameSamisch- Nimzowitschwhich
16 .... Oc8-c7
f o l l o w s( N o .9 ) .
After 97-95the intendedsequence would havebeen17 NxfT Bxf4 18
4 .... Bc8-b7
N h 6 t ! K g 7 l 9 g x f K x h 6 2 0 f x g S t . I n d e e dB l a c kw o u l dt h e n b e i n d i r e
5 Bfl-s2 Bf8-e7
straitsbecause if after fxgst he capturesthe pawn he will be in a matingnet
6 0-0 s0 after Kh1 and Rg1. lf however{afterf4xg51)the king retreatsto 97,White
7 Nbl-c3 d7-d5
woulddecidethe gamewith 17 Oc31 Kg8 18 Bh3 and Be6or (insteadof
I ltlfSe5 Od8"c8
Bh3) positionallyby Re1and f2-f4. The pawnmassin connectionwith the
Not good, Much betterwasmy movec7-c6as in the abovecited qame.
e file {squaree6) would be of decisiveimportance.
9 c4xd5 Nf6xd5
10 Nc3xd5 8b7xd5 17 Ne5-d3
Againa combinationalmove. The fork c5-c4would not leadto anything
11 e2-e4
a f t e r1 8 B x d 6O x d 6 1 9 O x b 5 B a 6 2 0 O c 5 !
This movecannotbe bad,howeverpreferable seemsto me 11 Bxds exd
12 Be3;after 12...4e1Ito protectd5 and thus makepossiblec7.c5)would 17.... a7-a6
'18 a2-a4l
f o l l o w 1 3 N d 3 N d 7 1 4 R a c l a n dB l a c ki s w e a ko n t h e c f i l e a n dw i l l m i s s
t h e q u e e nb i s h o pp a i n f u l l yw, h i l et h e W h i t ek i n gc a nr a t h e rg e ta l o n gw i t h o u i Oneof the most difficult moves! Not only on accountof the basiccombi-
n a t l o nc + c 4 1 9 O a 3 l !w h i c hw a sp l a y e dh e r e b
, u t a l s ob e c a u steh e o p e n i n g
t h e b i s h o po n 9 2 . H o w e v ear f t e r1 4 . . . 8 d 6t h e s i t u a t i o ni s n ' tc l e a ri n a n yw a V .
of the a file servesa positionalpurposewhich is still very much hidden.
11 .... Bd5.b7
12 ad1-a4 18 .... c5-c4
Lookssomewhatartificial. l\4anywould havepfeferredBe3 here. 19 Ob3-a3! Bd6xl4
20 Nd3xf4
34 35
 T h r o u g hp e c u i a icr o m b i n a t j o nI sh a v es u c c e e d ei nd e l i m i n a t i ntgh e b l o c k . 32 Nb5-d6
a d e rf r o m d 6 . T h e n e x tb l o c k a d ei rst h e k n i g h to n d 7 , a n dh e w i l l t u r n o L r tt o beautiful sacrif ice! Not of materialof coursebut Whitesacrifices
A very
b e a t o u g hg u y . a d v a n t a goen t h e 7 t h r a n k '
h ; <s"
20 .... Nb8-d7 nl) Z2 ,.,. Nc6xa7
21 a4xb5 a6xb5 33 Nd6xe8
22 Qa3'e7 for White
' endingwith knightsis lavorable
The
33 .... Nc7'b5
34 Ne8-f6t Ks8-s7
g,A'Wt .L
'2 'z "/a/l 'Not to e4 because
35 NfGds
that squareshallremainreserved
35 .... t7-t6
for the White king'

D i a g r a m2 5 t 7,,n727z
7zt./z *) /.*. g
7z%
',tu
alv.
/4t 7Z s i :
Tl
26
Diagram a,/6 t
The positionthus reachedpresents the explanationasto why Whitesoughl
t/
the openingot the a filer everythingwasdonesolelywith regardto the passed , / , / t
pawn. The situationis that the queenwould like to be firmly postedon e7 be. r t €
fore d5-d6is played. Howeverwith a closeda file the queencouldn'tremain
therelongbecause ReBwould chaseher awayat once. The situationis entire-
ly differentwith an opena file. After 22...Ra-e823 Ob4 would follow, and 36 Kg2-f3 Kg7'17
Whiteobtainsby Ra5 (afterQb6) play on the a file. And thus Blackmust 37 Nd5-c3! Nb5'd4t
tal(eother measures. 38 Kf3e4 Nd4b3
22.... Oc7-d8 39 Ke4d5
23 d5.d6 Bb7xs2 The White king positionis decisive.
24 Kg1xgz Nd7-f6 Nb3d2
2 5 R f 1 . d1 40 hz'h3 fFf5
The "darling" wantsto be protectedand supported. 41 Ncldl Kf7-{6
25.... Ra8xal 42 ltld1'e3 Nd2-e4
2 6 R d1 x a 1 Od8xe7 43 Ne3xc4 Ne4xt2
27 d,6xe7 44 b2'b4
Nowhehasadvanced.
White'slaboris rewarded. d y k n i g h ta n dk i n g l t w i l l w r n
T h i sp a s s epda w ni s s p l e n d i d lsyu p p o r t e b
27 "" Ri8-e8 the race.
28 Ra'l-a7 44.... KfGeT
Now White'sadvantage is clear.
The "blockadedagger"in camouflage!
2A .,.. s7-s5 45 b4b5 Ke7-d7
29 N14-e2 Nt6d5 46 b5'b6 Nf2-e4
30 Ne2-d4 Nd5xe7 47 Nc4-e5t Kd7-c8
A deathcreatesgrief. Howeverthereare many raysof light presentbecause 48 Kd5'c6 Nezl-f6
after 49 Ne5'd3!
31 Nd4xb5 D e s t i n a t i o nc :5 .
W h i t eh a ss u p e r i o r i tbye c a u soef t h e d o m i n a t i o o
n f t h e 7 t h r a n ka n dt h e 49.... NfGdT
exposedpawnon c4, 50 bGbTt Kc8'd8
31 .... Ne7"co Unsuccessful attemptat blockade. Now the Nd7 is the onlv piececontrol"
36 37
lingb8. O r 1 1 . . . 8 x c 3112 N x c 3 O b 6 ( O b 4 ? 1 3 a 3 ! )1 3 8 b 5 0 - 0 1 4 B x c 6 Q x b 2
51 Kc6do Nd7-b8
lb Na4 O b 4 t 1 6 O d 2 a n do c c u p a t i o o
n f c 5 ( s q u a r ce5 i s w o r t h a t l e a sat s
52 Nd3-b4! Nb8-d7 a sa P a w nh e r e ) ,
much
53 Nb4c61 Kd8-e8 12 a2'a3 Bb4xc3f
54 KdGcT Resigns 13 Na4xc3 h7-h5
B e c a L rN
s ee 5i s f a t a l . 14 0'0 Ra8'c8
T h e f i r s tp a s s epda w nh a da c a r e erri c hw i t h d r a m a t i c o n f l i c t s( h i sa d v a n c e 15 Od1-d2 Oa5'd8
t o d 6 w a sm a d ep o s s i b lbey v a r i o u o s f f e r so l s a c r i f i c easn da l s ot h r o u g ht h e T o f o l l o wu p w i t h 9 7 ' q 5 .
m o v e m e notf t h e d p a w nt o e 7 ) . T h i sw a sa c c o m p l i s h eb dy e x t r a o r d i n a reyf . 16 h2-h3! l',lcGas
'19
f o r t s( t h es e e m i n g luyn m o t i v a t eodp e n i n go f t h e a f i l e ) . T h e nt h i sp a s s e d N o w9 7 ' 9 6 f a i l s b e c a u soef 1 7 g 2 ' g 4 ,
i . e .1 7 . . . h 5 x 9 41 8 h 3 x g 4N h 4
pawndied by the handof an "assassin", but out of its ashesa new passed N x h 4R x h 4 2 0 K g 2w i t h 2 ' 1R h l a n da d v a n t a gf e or White.
pawnemerged- on the b file - which advanced with irresistable energy. 17 Ral'd1 Od8'b6
18 Rfl-e1
P e r s o n a ltlhy e g a m ei s c h a r a c t e r i s wt i ci t h a m i x t u r eo f i m a g i n a t i oann ds v s . how Whitesystematically overprotects the pointsd4
One should observe
t e m a t i cp l a n n i n tgy p i c a o
l f m y s t y l e ,a n d i t e x c e l si n a k n i g h te n d i n gp l a y e d " l m p o r t a n ts t r a t e -
a n de v e ne 5 a c c o r d i ntgo t h e r u l ew h i c h I e x p r e s s et hd u s :
i n t h e c l a s s i c satl y l e ,
gicalpointsmust be overprotected."
18 .... Na5'c4
T o c l o s et h e " p a s s e pd a w n "c h a p t e lr' l l g i v em y g a m ea g a i n sSt p i e l m a n n 19 Be7xc4 Rc8xc4
f r o m t h e S t o c k h o l ml \ , 4 a s tTeor u r n a m e n1t 9 2 0i R e s u l t :l . B o g o l j u b o1v 2 1 l , ; 20 Nc3-e2
l l . N i m z o w i t s c1h2 ; l l l . O l s o n8 ; l V . S p i e l m a n6nl l , jt h e r ef o l l o w e dW e n d e t . T o e x c h a n gteh e s t r o n gk n i g h to n f 5 t h r o u g hN 9 3
J a c o b s o nN.V h o l mS , v a n b e r gT . )h e g a m er e p r e s e nat sd i f f i c u l tp o s i t i o n a l 20.... Bd7-a4
strugglefor minuteadvantages. and the passed pawnonly appearslater. l-tow. 21 Rd1-c'l Ba4-b3
e v e rt h e m e t h o do f s t o p p i n S g p i e l m a n s' se e m i n g luyn s t o p p a b pl ea s s epda w n 22 Rc1xc4 Bb3xc4
m a k e st h i sg a m ea v e r y i n s t r u c t i veex a m p l el n t h e s p i r i to f o u r s u b j e c t . 23 Ne2-93 Nf+e7
No.5 24 h3.h4l Ne7-s6
W h i t e :N i m z o w i t s c h B l a c k :S p i el m a n n 25 Ns3-f1
1e2-e4 e7-e6 N o w t h e c a v a l r yw i l l g o a g a i n st th e s t e r i l eb i s h o pN ; e 3i s i n t e n d e d .
2 d2.d4 d7.d5 25.... Bc4xl1
3 e4e5 c7-c5 26 Re1xf1 NgGeT
4 Ns1.l3 Nb8.c6 27 R11-c1 GO
5 c2-c3 Od8-b6 S p i e l m a ndne c i d etso c a s t l ea n y w a ys i n c eN f 5 w i l l p r o t e c e t v e r y t h i n gI.n
6 Bfl-e2 c5xd4 t h e m e a n t i m -e a sa r e s u l o t f a l l h i sm a n e u v e -r sW h i t eh a sc o n q u e r etdh e
l f t h i se a r l yl i q u i d a t i oonf t h e W h i t ec e n t e r( t h ep a w nc 3 d i s a p p e aar sg a i n s t c file.
the pawnc5) is lhe bestmove,then the Blackpositionmust be characterized 2A b2.b4 Ne7-f5
a sw e a k . P r o b a b l B y d 7i sp l a y a b l e . 29 Rcl-c5 ObOa6
7 c3xd4 N98'h6 30 Od2-c3 Oa&e2
8 Nb 1 - c 3 NhGfS W i t h g r e a st k i l lS p i e l m a nhna ss u c c e e d ei nd o b t a i n i n cg o u n t e r c h a n c e s
9 Nc3a4 t h r o u g hh i si n v a s i o inn t ot h e W h i t ec a m p ,p r i m a r i l yb y t a k i n ga d v a n t a goef
C o m b i n a t i o n aG l , o o de n o u g hi s B b 5 . the weakness on b2 and lateron a3.
9.... QbGa5t l S e eD i a g r a m 2 7 a t t h e t o p o f t h e n e x tp a g e )
1O Bc1-d2 Bf8.b4
11 Bd2-c3 31 Oc3-c2!!
Characteristic of this kind of attackis the fact that evenNc3 would have A f t e r l o n gd e l i b e r a t i oW o n t h i sq u e e ns a c r i f i c e .
n h i t ed e c i d e d
31 .... Nf5xd4
s a f e g u a r dt hee d p a w n si ,. e .1 1 N c 3 N x d 4 1 2 N x d 4N x d 4 1 3 a 3 N x e 2 1 4 a x b
N x c 3 1 5 B x c 3o r R x a 5a n da d r a w i s p r o b a b l teh r o u g ho p p o s i t e 32 Qc2xe2
c o l o rb i s n o p s
and postinga pieceon d4. W r o n gw o u l db e 3 2 N x d 4O e l t 3 3 N h 2 O x e s t
32 .... Nd4xe2t
11 .... Bc8-d7
38
39
 'E&',"
:,/.' I 'l/.2:,1L, 45 Ke2 g5xh4 46 g3xh4 Rg4xh4.
43 .... 95xh4
t',/Z
'//, ltt2 ',, 44 g3xh4 Rg4xh4
rts Rcl-bl
Diagram27 'Ht':fl.A/,tt A f t e r3 0 . . . O e 2 An elegantbackwardmovementof the rook a7,c7"c1,b1, expeciallywhen
'..& one considersthat the obligatorydrop of poisonisn't missingat all because
tfu. ,fl 7,/' the positionof the rook on b'l givesthe pawnthe - lust to wander,
W /lD7/t rts .... Rh4h3t
7 ltg"tuA..t 46 Ketd2
On detours,one couldsaythat by tiring detoursthe White king hasreached
the blockadeposition.
Nb2-a4
33 Ks1-f1 Ne2-f4 47 b+bs Na4-b6
Blackis a passedpawnahead. 48 Rbl.b4
34 Fc5-c7 b7.b5 48 a3-a4?Nxa4 49 b6 Nxb6 50 Rxb6 Rf3! etc.
Perhaps b7-b6wasmore prudent. 48 .,.. Rh3f3
35 s2-s3 Nt4d3 49 NdGc4
36 Kf1-e2 Nd3b2 Deathto the blockader!
37 Rc7xa7 49.... Nb6d7
This moverequireddeepforesight.Blackgetsthe c tile, howeverthe White After 49...Nxc4 50Rxc4Rxf2t 51 Kxd3 Rf3t 52 Kc2 Rxa3,the b-pawn
king is so "blockadeefficient" that the seeminglystronglysupportedd.pawn would advancewithout beingstopped,i.e.53 RcSt Kg7 54 b5-b6Ra2t b5
cannotprogress very well. Kc3 Ra3t 56 Kc4 Ra4 57 KbS and wrns.
37.... Rf&c8 50 bsb6 Nd7-c5
38 Nf3d4 Rc8-c4 51 bAbT Rf3xf2t
39 Nd4xb5 d5-d4 Please observewith what finesseBlackmakesuseof his dying knjghtflgnr
O n 3 9 . . . R c 2 14 0 K f 1 N d 3 4 1 f 2 - f 4w o u l df o l l o w . up to its lastbreath, Now therecomesan excitingdancearoundthe pawnd3.

2 7zt& fr t/,
% 7.zrh t
Diagram
28 a'4 /f,, 7.:,t
'','&.ErX D a i g r a m2 9 A t l zt
7; lA tr4./
% 7t i.tu t
g E
z
6 z&,&,
40 Aa7"c7 d4.d3t 52 Kd2-e3 Rf2-e2t
41 Ke2-e3 53 Keld4 Nc5xb7
Not to d2 because of Re4. 54 Kd4xd3!
41 .... Rc+94 The point, but the win is still quite difficult because
the h-pawnsuddenly
42 Rc7-c1 s7-s5 becomesdangerous,
S p i e l m a ndno e s n ' rt e l a x ! 54 .... Re2-92
43 Nb5_d6 55 Rb4xb7 h5-h4
4 3 R b 1w o u l dn o t b e a sg o o db e c a u soef 4 3 , . . N c 4 14 4 K x d 3 N x e S 56 Nc.zl-e3 Rs2-95
57 Kd3,d4 h4h3
40 41
 58 Rb7-b2 Rs5h5 14 .... Bc8-d7
59 Rb2.h2 17"t6 15 b4-b5 Qd8-e7
60 Ne3c4 Ks8"f7 16 0d1.d2!
6l aga4 The threatenedeGes is parriedby Od2, i.e. 16...e5?17 dxe OxcS 18 Bb4.
H e r et h e g a m ew a sa d j o u r n eadn dS p i e l m a nrne s i g n ewdi t h o u tr e s u m i n g 16 .... Rf8-c8
p l a y . A f t e r 6 1 . . . K f 7 . 9 06 2 a 4 a 5 f 6 x e 5 t 6 3 K d 4 - c 5K g G f 5 6 4 a 5 - a 6R h $ h 7 17 a2-a4 Kg&h8
6 5 K c 5 - b 6K f $ 9 4 t h e k n i g h tb y N e 3 t a n d N f 1 w i l l a r r i v ej u s t i n t i m e t o s u p _ A f t e r 1 7 . . . e G ews o u l df o l l o w 1 8 d x eO x c s 1 9 B d 4 ( b l o c k a d ew) i t h a s u -
port the blockaderon h2 effectively. penorgame.
A n e x t r e m e l vy a l u a b lgea m e . 18 azl-as

The next two gameswill illustratea fight againsta majorityin the center.
Firsta more recentgamethat I playedin a matchagainstBrinckmannwhtch A, aH.t/&
lwon4-0.
No.6 Diagram
30
z +,%t"'ua
]I % %
P l a y e da t K o l d i n gD
, e n m a r k1 9 2 3
White: N imzowitsch B l a c k :B r i n c k m a n n 2 ',x(
1 d2"d4 d7.d5
2 Ns1-f3
3 c2-c4
c7-c5
e7-e6
7t
4 e2-e3 Ns&f6
5 Nb1-c3 Nb8-c6 18.... t7.t6
The normalpositionof the Oueen'sGambit,which I like to plav. From hereon e6-e5is a constantthreat,
6 Bt1-e2 Bf&d6 19 a5-a6 b7-b6
Purists(= straightline pseudo-classicists)
willfeel that Be2 leavesthe 20 c5-c6 Bd7-e8
straightpath (Bd3). But that isn't the casebecauseBe2fits betterthan Bd3 White hasconvertedhis mobilemajority into a protectedpassed pawn.
in somepawnpositjonsarisingout of laterpawnexchanges, i.e.when d5 be- Howeverthis one hasbeenstoppedand at presentWhite hasno realtargetin
comesisolated. the enemvcamp. D id the conversion of the majorityperhapsproceedtoo
7 0.o o0 q ui c kl y?
I b2-b3 c5xd4 21 Be2-t1 Be&17
Heretoo the puristwould not be ableto concealany longerhis discontent 22 h2-h4 Bc7-d6
that b7-b6woutd be better. But after g...b6 9 Bb2 Bb7 10 c4xd5 exd l l
23 S2-53 Ae7-c7
dxc bxc, the hangingpawnsc5 and db are not to everybody's taste,although 24 BI'l-h3 Rc&e8
in Petersburg Tarraschwon a - let'ssay- spendidvictory. 25 Rel-e3!
9 e3xd4 Nf6e4 Whitehaspreventedthe breakthroughin a fine, combinational way; if now
Not bad at all; this way the absence of the bishopon d3 is beingexplorred. 25...e&e5then 26 hb Nf8 27 dxe lxe 28 Rael d4 29 Nxd4 exd 30 Oxd4
10 Bc1"b2 Ne4XCJ a n dW i n s .
11 Bb2xc3 NcdeT 25 .... NgefS
But hereb7-b6wasbetter. 26 Rae1 Re8-e7
I z ct+c5 BdGcT 27 Bc?b4! Ra8-e8
13 b3b4 28 Qd2-c3t,
T h e q u e e ns i d em a i o r i t yt o w h i c hB l a c kw o u l dl i k et o c o u n t e w
r i t h t h ec e n - W i t h t h e i n t e n t i o no f p l a y i n gO a 3a n dt h u sf o r c i n gB l a c kt o p l a y B x b 4 ,
ter malority. t h u sg a i n i n g
domination o f t h e d i a g o n aal 3 - e 7 .
13.... Ne7-96 28.... Bd6xb4
14 Rfl-el 29 Oc3xb4 Kh8-gB
O n ec a l l st h i sa f i n e r o o k m o v e ,u n a s s u m i nagn dv e r s a t i l e. 1
:d.
irected
a_ e6-e5wasimpossible due to the x-rayattackb4-f8.i,e.29...e5 30 dxe fxe
g a i n set G e 5 2, . c o n s e r v i nt h
g e B e 2a g a i n sNt f 4 ( 1 4 . . . N f 41 5 B f l ) . 3 1 N x e 5B x e S 3 2 R x e 5R x e 5 3 3 O x f Sm a r e .
42
43
 Bh3.f5
& I

.eatl
,l&
/&trz,
t)L
,t t7:;t"lfr D iagram32 '/&%
t'%ztt
/& After 43 Oa3

t 2 '.&,
t %a% 7z
Diagram
31
i.r'4,
,gt % % %a
7z 'Eia'r,tu %72
% % t & :
aiterWhite caneitherforcethe exchangeof rooksor the exchangeof queens,
i.e.43 Oa3 Od8 44 Oc1 Oc7 45 g4 Od6 46 95 f5. The positionthus arrived
30.... Bf7-96 the White knightwill moveto a4,
at can be easilywon without queensbecause
Blackhasdefendedwell but now he hadto play eGebwith probableequal-
WhitemovesRhl-a1 at the lastmoment(the Blackking is heldtied down on
ItV. and the intendedknight sacrificeon b6 de'
the king wing as longas possible),
31 Bf5xs6 Nf8xg6 cides.The plan works even easierwith queenswithout rooks(because Black
32 h4h5 NsGfS always hasthe capabilityof exchanging rooks through Rh7) and then at the
33 Nf3-h4! right momentthe queenwill enter. The actualgameproceeded thus:
Now e6-e5would be answered by Nfs. Re7-97
33 .... Ks8-f7 AJterthls move White finished him off quicklv.
34 Ks1-92 44 Rh&h8t Kg8xh8
Suchlittle movescharacterize the master.Whiteassumes therewill be an 45 Oa3xfSt Kh&h7
eventualopeningof the h file. and in that casehe wantsto be readvtor battle 46 Of8xf6 Ac7-e7
(Rel-hl). Kh7-h8
47 Nf3g5t
34.... 97-96 After Kg8follows48 Oxe6t Oxe6 49 Nxe6 Rg8 50 Nc7.
Correst;it wasin the air. zltl Of&e5 Ae7'c7
35 h5xg6 h7xg6 49 Oe5xe6 Ac7'e7
36 12-14 50 Oe6h3t Resigns.
Only now the Blackpawnmajority (in the center)appearsto be paralized. After KgBa generalexchange follows:51 OcSt Of8 52 OxfSf Kxf8 53
36 Oc7-d8 Ne6t, after which the c-pawnbecomesa queen.
37 Nh4f3 Od&c7
38 R e ' l - h 1 Kf7-98 lf we assumethat the procedureoutlinedin the note to move43 (93'94-95
39 R e S e l 6e t-n I to forcef6f5) had actuallyhappened, then we candescribethe gradualparaly-
40 R h1 x h 7 NfgxhT sisof eOor of the majority in the centerasan instructiveexampleof a fight
41 Rel-hl N h7.f8 againsta centermajority.
Rh 1-h6 The breakthrough combinationon the paradoxically operativesquareb6
To jnduceKg7 which would makethe plannedoppositionbV Reg-e7-h7 marksthis gameasan extraordinaryaccomplishment
m o r ed i f f i c u l t ,i . e . 4 2 . . . K g 74 3 R h 2w i t h e v e n t u adlo u b t i n g
o n t h e h f i l e ,p e r -
hapsafter Od2 and g394-95. Now for a gamefrom an earlierdatewhich howeverappearsremarkablebe'
42.... Re&e7 causeit is the prototypeof a variationwhich wasbelievedto be deadbut
43 Ob&a3 which I revivedto a new life. Not withstandingthe variation,the gamerepre-
(SeeDiagram32 at the top of the next page) sentsunchartedterritory insofaras herefor the first time it will be shown-
and latercopiedbv the other l\,4oderns - that it is not essential
whetherone
The way to victory ;s very interesting.lt climaxeswith a knight sacrifice has pawns or no pawns in the center,the primaryobjectis the dominationof
o n . . . b 6 ! T h e p r o c e d u ries a sf o l l o w s W
: h i t ep l a y st h e q u e e nt h r o u g hc 1 t o the center,which meansthe hamperingof the enemycenterwith a blockade
h1. But beforethat he brings93 to 95 forcibly creatinga holeon eb. There- t o f o l l o wa sa c l i m a x .
4A
45
 N o .7 n o w i s t o m a k eu s eo f t h e s ep o i n t se c o n o m i c a l l y
14 Nd2-f3!
KarlsbadTouroament1 9 11 and
W h i t e :N i m z o wt s c h Black:Salu,,l P r e v e n tBsb 5 b e c a u steh e nw o u l df o l l o w 1 5 B d 4O a 6 1 6 B x b s O x b S
1 e2-e4 t h e P e 6f a l l s .
e7-e6 14 .... Be7-d6
2 d2.d4 d7d5 15 Odl-e2
3 e4-e5 e 2 a n dc 2 a n ye a r l i etrh a na b s o '
W h i t ed i d n o t m a k eh i sd e c i s i o b
ne t w e e n
U p u n t i l t h e n b e l i e v e dt o b e a b s o t u t e l yu n p l a y a b l e .I w a s l a t e r t o l d S a l w e This is what wasmeantby economicaluseof thesesquares.
lutely necessary.
s a i da f t e r e 4 e 5 t h a t I m u s t h a v et h o u g h t I w a s p l a y i n ga g a m ea t r o o k o d d s l l tc _.._ Ra8-c8
c7-c5 16 Be5-d4
4 c2-c3 Nb8-c6 the blockade
E l \ l^ 1 - + ?
J u s t ; n t ; m e b e c a u s en o w N e b w i l l h e l p t o i n c r e a s e
od8-b6 to.... ObGcT
6 Bfr-d3 Bc8-d7 17 Nf3e5 Bd7-e8
firstby c5xd4.
It wasbetterto exchange 18 Ra'l'e1 Bd6xe5
7 d4xc5 Bf8xc5 19 Bd4xe5
8 0-0 17.r6
T h e d a r ks q u a r eb i s h o pd o m i n a t e s .
B l a c ki s a b o u t o e l i m i n a t h e i so p p o n e n t 'cse n t e rp a w n so n ea f t e rt h e o t h e r , 19 .... Oc7-cG
but this canbe of advantage to him only if he could therebysecurethe mobil. 20 Be5'd4!
ity of his own center,but aswe shallsoonseetherewill be plentyof counter.
To forcethe bishop,which waseyeingboth sidesof the board,to makea
actionagainstthat.
decision.
I b2-b4 Bc5-e7 20.... Be&d7
10 Bc1-f4 f6xe5
2'l Aez'czl
11 Nf3xe5 Nc6xe5
'12 g o v ef o r t h e R e 1a n da t t h e s a m et i m e a i m i n gd e c i s i v e layt h 7 .
A c l e a r i nm
Bl4xe6 Ng&i6 21 .... Rf8-f7
T h e p o i n t i s t h a t t h e a t t e m p t o n e u t r a l i zteh e b l o c k a d i nBg e sb y B f 6 b7-b6
22 Re1-e3
w o u l df a i l d u et o t h e c h e c ko n h 5 , i . e .1 2 . . - B f 61 3 O h s t 9 6 ? 1 4 B x g 6 1h x g Kg8'h8
'l5Oxg6t 23 Re3'93
K e 7 1 6 B x f 6 t N x f 6 1 7 O g 7 t . B u t a f t e r1 2 . . . N f 6 t h e" b l o c k a d e
ring" remainsintactso far.
1 3 Nb l . d 2 0-0
7.2.A'////E"t&
tg ta
t7z..A 'r.f,. Diagram34 t
tx
W 7 r'taarr& T A
D i a g r a m3 3 %t 7Z
ltfu "/7.27z
I A
"/t87t E
tfu.t
+ d
.a 'fut
7t'//,:'8
z z
24 Bd3xh7l eGe5
O n 2 4 . . . N x h 72 5 0 9 6 v t i n s .
25 Bh7'g6 Rt7-e7
B u t h o w e a s i l yt h i sr i n gc o u l db e b r o k e na t t h e s l i g h t e sr te l a x a t i obny 26 Rf1'el QcGd6
W h i t e ;i . e .1 4 O c 2 N g 4 ! 1 5 B x h T t K h 8 1 6 B d 4O c 7 1 7 9 3 e 5 . T o u n d e r . 27 Bd4'e3 d5d4
standthe positionwe must realizethat freedomto maneuveris necessary for 28 Be3g5
t h e b l o c k a d ae sw e l l3 sf o r e v e r yo t h e ra c h i e v e m e nFt .r e e d o m to maneuver the pau/ndeficitand the
The free centerdoesn'tmeanmuch herebecause
hereconsistsof the squares d4 and e5, which WhitecanoccupVwtth pieces, for.
two bishopscannotbe compensated
a n do f t h e s q u a r ecs2 a n de 2 f r o m w h i c ht h e q u e e nc a no p e r a t e T . h et r i c k HCT'XCJ
 29 Rg3xc3 d4xc3 19 f2.f4
30 Oc2xc3 Kh8-98 with advantage to White.
31 a2-a3 Ks8-f8 "Blockade" did not contain the remainingmovesof the game,they
Bd7-e8 While
32 Bs5-h4
33 BsGf5 od6d4 ate added here for the benefit of the reader wishing to play through the game
to tts concluston.
B93wasthreatened. 19 cG c5
34 Oc3xd4 e5xd4
KfBxeT 20 cgc4l BdGf8
35 Re1xe7
2 1 c4xd5 Bd7-c8
36 Bf5-d3
22 Nd2-e4 OfGsT
T h eb l o c k a d e ! d5xe6 Bc8xe6
36.... Ke7-d6
g7xf6 Oe2-aG Ks8-h8
37 Bh4x{6
38 Ksl-f1 Be8"c6 25 R e l - d1 BeG98
Resigns. b2-b3 Rd8-d4
39 h2-h4
27 R d l x d 4 c5xd4
2A OaGa5 Re8-c8
ln the sametournamenta few roundslaterI playeda gamein which the
29 R f 1 - d 1 Rc8-c2
sameideawasevenmoresharplyprominent,namelyapparentlygivingup the
30 h2"h3 As7-b7
centeronly to occupyit {blockade)latermore strongly.
3 1 Rd1xd4! Bf8'c5
No. 8 5Z Oa5-d8! BcSeT
White: N imzowitsch B l a c k :L e v e n f i s h od8.d7 Ob7-ao
1 e2-e4 e7-e6 34 Rd4d3! 6el.t6
2 d2-d4 d7-d5 35 Ne5'f7t &8xf7
3 e4e5 c7 -c5 36 Ad7xl7 Rc2-cg
4 c2-c3 Nb8-c6 37 RdldT Resigns.
5 Ngl-f3 17.t6
In conclusionI givea gamein which restraintoccursonly in the broadest
6 Bfl-b5 Bc8-d7
senseof the word. Pawnswill not be touchedat all by restraintin this last
7 G0 od8-b6
exampleE , v e r y t h i nggo e so n - s ot o s p e a k- i n v i s i b l y .L i n e sa n ds q u a r e s
O r 7 . . . N x e IS N x e sB x b 5I O h s t serveasobjectsof the restraint,and only at the end all of the enemypieces
8 Bb5xc6 b7 xc6 "freightening"way.
arestalemated in a most
9 esxfo N98x{6
10 Nfle5 Bf8-d6 No. 9
11 d4xc5! Bd6xc5 TournamentCopenhagen'1923
lnternatlonall\,4aster
After the gameLevenfishtold me that he couldn'tunderstandwhy I had White:Siimisch Black: N imzowitsch
completelygivenup the center. 1 d2.d4 Ns8-f6
12 Bc1'g5l 2 c2"c4 e7-e6
The explanation!The next Blackmoveswereforced 3 Ng1-f3 b7-b6
12.... ob6d8 4 s2-s3 Bc&b7
13 Bs5xf6! Od8xf6 5 Bf1-s2 Bf8-e7
14 Od1-hst s7-so 6 Nbl-c3 o0
15 Oh5-e2 7 0-0 d7.d5
Now the Whiteplan- blockadeof the Blackcenter- is clear. Therefollow- 8 Nfles c7-cG
ed: S t r o n g etrh a nO c 8w h i c hS A m ; s chha dp l a y e da sB l a c ki n t h i s p o s i t i o n .
15 ..". Ra8-d8 9 c4xd5 c6xd5
16 Nb1-d2 00 10 Bc1-f4 a7-a6l
17 Ra1'el Rf8'e8 In orderto play bGb5 and preparefor the invasionof c4 by the Nb8. The
18 Kgl"hl Bc5'd6 squarec4 constitutesherethe squarefor an outposton the c'file.

48 49
 11 Ra1-c1 b6b5
12 0d1-b3 Nb&c6!
Threatensto gallop with acceleratedpace (NcGas) to c4. Therefore the
e x h a n g es e e m ss u f fi c i e n t l y m o t i v a t e d .
g t
13 Ne5xc6 Bb7xc6
O n t h e o t h e r h a n d B l a c k h a sg a i n e dt i m e t h r o u g h t h e e x c h a n g eb e c a u s et h e
t t : t: . 8 t
'A Alter25...h6!
"tempo swallower" Ne5 had himself exchangedagainstthe harmlessNc6. Diagram36
14 h2-h3 od8.d7 t tt
15 Ks1-h2 NfGh5! as 8t
(
/\
w , A
C o m b i n e dp l a y o n b o t h w i n g s . O n t h e q u e e ns i d ea l o n et h e g a m ew o L r l d 4:
lt\a
ai
&
| Ll

haveto be continuedby Ob7 and NfGdT'bGc4. t\ r= F?

16 Bt4-d2 l7-t5l
17 0b3d1 b5-b4!
Bcebs calleda beautifulaccomplishment'a counterpart
18 Ncgbl Laskerin a Dutch magazine
19 Rf1-91 'ii.tt"., " Therethe maximaleifect of the "sacrifice"'here
i"ii" Game
O n ec l e a r l yf e e l sh o w W h i t e ' sd o m a i ni s s h r i n k i n g . "
that of the zugzwang"'
19.... Be7-d6
20 e2-e4 t4xe4l

tt
'/.17.,.
/L,,//./t. With this I concludemy demonslration
of examplesof my own practice,
for
t //.t A ,
..ELt ."il;;il".;;;r,irnoiv '""0"t *irr soonfind the desiredopportunitv
p r i n c i p l e s '
A //L,,t s o m eo f t n e s er u l e sh, i n t so r
Diagram
35 7.t''tp. 7 applying
..-fu,t2 A Nimzowitsch
///,
/i 7z/:N.
]I '/.ty aNt
a)
21 Odlxhs Rf8xJ2
The ideaof the sacrificeis that White,who ownsneitherlinesnor squares,
will becomecompletelytied up. The occupationof the enemy'ssecondrank
hasa paralyzing effect,especially in conjunctionwith the stronglyposted
Bb5 (preventsRfl ). On the other handWhite'squeenwing is alwaysindirect-
ly threatened,and the configurationof the Whitepiecesis insoluble,
22 Qh5-g5 Ra8-f8
23 Kh2-h1 Rf&f5
24 Os5-e3 Bbsd3
2 5 Rc 1 " e l h7.h6!!
A brilliantmovewhich declarcs zugzwang,
(SeeDiagram36 at the top of the next page)
Whtteis in zugzwangl!With a f ull board!!
Whitehasno moves,i,e.on Kh2 follows Rf5-f3,and the sameafter 93-94.
This unusuallyb\llianl zugzwang-mechan
ism makesthis game,which Dr.

50 5 l
 d 5 o r f 5 w h i c hw o u l dL r n d e r m i nhei sc e n t e r .H e w i l l m e e tt h e s ee n e m yt h r e a t s
p a r t i a l l yd i r e c t l y( b y p r e s s u roen d b a n df 5 ) , p a r t i a l l yi n d i r e c t l y{ t h r o u g ht h e
AppendixOne intentionof answering the moved5 or f5 respectively with e4-e5or also
throughthe intentionof parryingthesemoveswith e4xd5or e4xf5 respective-
The New Syrtem l y i n o r d e rt o i n i t i a t ep l a yo n t h e e f i l e . F r o mt h i st h e l a wa r i s e s :
by A. N imzowitsch*
The movesot the piecesaredictatedby the livingdemandsof the cenler.*
Chessstrategyassuchtoday is still in its diapers,despiteTarrasch,s state. As we haveseen,the missionof the piecesis a doubleone:
m e n t" w e l i v et o d a yi n a b e a u t i f ut li m e o f p r o g r e si sn a l l f i e l d s . ' ,N o t e v e n
the slightestattempthasbeenmadeto exploreand formulatethe lawsof Fjrst,the piecesmust "protect" the center,i.e,keepit well guarded,
chessstrategy.Tarrasch's postulates suchas,,theacceptance of the gambitis second,they must "support" it, i.e.they must be directedagainstthe ex-
p r i n c i p a l l1y ! ) ( t h e [ ] l i s f r o m m e .A . N . )e r r o n e o ubse c a u s e. ., d a n g e r o u s , , l oectedadvancein the center.
r e a l l yc a n n o ct l a i mt o b e s u c h a ; t b e s tI w o u l dc a l l t h e m, , p r a c t i c ahli n t so t a n
experjenced T h e f i r s td e m a n dm u s tb e f u l f i l l e de v e nw h e no n es t a n d vs e r yw e l l i n t h e
housewife."
center,i.e.regardless of how wellone standsin the center,one must take care
From this perspectivemy presentattemptto formujatethe resultsof rny of its defense.
many yearsof explorations oughtto be ableto openup a new era in chess,
l\4ycongenitalinclinationto searchfor rulesurgedme to do this. So much aboutthe structureof the center. Now we will talk aboutthe
"use" of the center. Firstwe
shouldmentionthat we call everyscheme(as
What I want to demonstrate
hereis a harmoniouslybuilt up setof lawsof for instanceshownin Diagraml) which represents the nucleusof the position,
chessstrategy. a "characteristicpositionin the center." This lastone will alwaysbe the start-
I k n o wv e r yw e l l t h a tr n y a t t e m p w t i l l n o t f a j l t o p r o v o k ea s t o r mo f a n g e r ing point of our calculations.
amongtoday's"theoreticians"and that they will fight my systemwjth every
m e a n se, s p e c i a l m
l y i n i m e a n s ., . O . K . C o m eo n l l l . A b o u tt h e l v l a n a g e m e( nUtt i l i z a t i o no)f t h e C e n t e -r O p e nF i l e sa n dT h e i r
Laws- About the LatentCooperationof the Center.
And now, without further ado, let,sbegin!
l. About the Center- Pieces The centershallbe viewedas havingstability,i.e.the characteristic posr-
and Pawns- The Conceptof the Characteflslrc
t i o n s h a l lb e u t i l i z e di n t h e s h a p ei t i s i n { w i t h o u tb e i n gc h a n g e d ) .
Positionin the Center
The positionin the centermust not be modifiedconstantlv,oncethe char-
The pawnsform the skeletonof the game,the piecesarethe other parrs,
t h e i n n e ro r g a n s l acteristicpositlonis taken up, it must be maintained- at leastfor a very long
time. One must try to fortify it and to post one'spiecesaccordingto the
T h ep i e c e m
s u s ts t a n di n l i v i n gc o n n e c t i ow
n i t h t h e ( p a w n , c) e n t e r . position.
characteristic
Frequentlythe attackplaysby itself,i.e.with purely passive
helpfrom the
'//;,, center.it shiftsto the wings.
lL. 2 /l:;t An example.After the moves1 e2-e4e7-e5 2 Ngl-f3 Nb8-c6 3 Bf1,b5
,L 7/tt. d 7" d 6 4 d 2 - d 4B c 8 - d 75 N b 1 - c 3N g 8 - f 66 G 0 B f & e 7 7 R f 1 - e le b x d 4 8
'77,
D i a g r a mI /l:,: lt Nf3xd4 (now the characteristic positionseenin DiagramI, pawne4 againsr
p a w n sd 6 a n df 7 h a sb e e nr e a c h e dN) c 6 x d 4 9 O d l x d 4 B d 7 x b 5 1 0 N c 3 x b 5
72fr7t
lt,'//t/...2/7,. 0 - 0 1 1 B c 1 - 9 5R f 8 - e 8 l 2 R a 1 - d 1( " s u p p o r t s "N ) f G d T 1 3 B g 5 x e 7R e 8 x e 7
Whitemust not operatein the centerlt2-t4 e+e'), on the contrary.he must
7 s t a ye n t i r e l yn e u t r atl h e r e .W h a th e m u s td o i s c a r r yo u t o u r l a wo f " p r o t e c t -
i n g " a n d" s u p p o r t i n gt"h e c e n t e ri,. e .1 4 N b 5 " c 3( O c 3i s a l s og o o d )N d 7 - b G
15 Re1-e3 O d 8 - d 7 1 6 R d 1 " e 1R a 8 , e 8i 7 R c 3 - g 3 A . l r e a d yt h i s l e a d sr o a
First,Whitewill post hjs piecesin sucha way that his centere4 is well pro_ weakeningo{ the king'swing,which success may be considered a resultof
tected,secondhe will directhis forcesagajnstthe threateningenemy
advance "
T o p r e v e nm t i s u n d e r s t a n d i nIgnso, t et h a t f o r d i d a c t i cr e a s o nIsa s s u m e
* f o r t h e t i m e b e i n gt h e c e n t e a
r ss u c hc o u l db e o c c u p i e d b y p a w ne x c l u s i v e l y .
WienetSchachzeitung,October I gl3
I n d e e dt h e c e n t e fr o r m st h e d o m a i no f t h e o a w n s .
52
53
 o u r m a n a g e m eonft t h e c e n t e r . new aovanlagel
The cooperationof the centerhasbeendocumentedhere The Outpost.
1. throughthe latentthreatof the advancee4e5, A strategically conditionedoutpostexertsa permanentpressure thanksto
2. throughthe maneuverRe3-g3(a consequence of the spaceadvantage
pro. its greatattackingradius.
ducedby the further advanced
center), ln our exampleit fixesthe pointsc7, e7, f6. The newly producedattack
3 , t h r o u g he n a b l i n ug st o p l a yo n t h e d f i l e t t h e c e n t e sr e r v eassa s u p p o r r possibilities. producedby the outpost,establish the further consequences
of
f o r o p e r a t i o nosn t h e d f i l e . p l a yi n t h e l i n ei n q u e s t i o n( d f i l e ) D i a g r a ml l .
T h i sl e a d st o a n e x a m i n a t i oonf t h e o p e nf i l e ! The law o{ the outpostcanthus be formulated:
T h e o p e nl i n en e e d sa " s u p p o r tp o i n t " a n da n " e n t r y p o i n t . " Oncethe attackerhassucceeded in conqueringthe openfile and entrench.
ed himselfon the entry point the consistentcontinuationof the attackis form-
ed by the utilizationof the attackingpossibilities
producedthereby.
'l/t './2... ,.//,./, llz //e, Biackmust driveawaythe outpost(Nds) with c7-c6sooneror later,but
lL
% ,L ,//t ./. vt '/1.' that will renderthe d-pawnbackwardand a targetfor attack. The gameen-
/,f,,fr
'tfr,ft% lersa new srage,
tlZ 2
V:t:.., lt
lll. The BackwardPawnasTargetof the Attack - The Conceptof the "Di-
%'^-7 tt % 2 't/./,2,
7tfr7it rect" and "lndirect" Attack Againsta BackwardPawn- The Hole,
7,2 % %'/.272 The positionof the pawnd6 (afterc7-c6)is weak but not hopeless
% % z 7t Z , - in spiteof enemyobservation of the point d5 - therestill existsthe possi-
because

l/.z
71.,.H'/2:,' bility of the advanced&d5. The situationis differentwhen the c-pawneither
I Entry point on the d file doesnot existany moreor alreadvstandson c5. In this casewe haea classi'
I Entry point on the h file
cal exampleof a backwardpawnon an openfile - absolute.In that casethe
2 Support point on the d file 2 Support point on the h file p o i n td 5 { a f t e rc 7 - c 5D i a g r a ml l ) c a nb e c a l l e da h o l e . T h e m o d u so p e r a n d i
now consistsof maneuvering againstthis pawn,identifiedby the fact that the
T h e " s u p p o r tp o i n t "o f a f i l e i s o n e ' so w n p a w no n t h e n e i g h b o r i nf gi l e ,i . e , oawn is weakand that there is a holeon d5.
p a w ne 4 f o r t h e d f i l e i i n D i a q r a mI l ) o r p a w n9 6 f o r t h e h f i l e { D i a g r a mllt) -
the point respectively thus producedis our protectedentry point. dS in Dia- The backwardpawn- in our cased6 - will be attackedone way of the
g r a ml l , o r h 7 i n D i a g r a m other. The intent is to forcethe guardingpiecesinto uncomfortablepositions,
lll.
Lawr The utilizationof an openfile consistsin the occupationof the en- The d-pawnshouldnot only be exposedto frontal attacksbut alsolateral
try point {by pieces). attacksand if possibleattacksbv encirclement.The basefor thesemaneuvers
is the hole,formerly our "entry point" d5.
a) lf it is a centerfile, the entry point is bestoccupiedby a knightwhich
w i l l t h e nh a v ea n u n e q u a l l erda d i u so f a c t i o n , W ef o r m u l a t et h u s :

b ) l f i t i s a f i l e o n t h e r i m ,a r o o k w j l l b e s e l e c t etdo i n i t i a t ed o u b l i n g( c o n - 1. All piecesmust be directedtoward the entry point {hole)to maintain

queso t f t h e f i l e )a n de v e n t u aeln c j r c l e m e n t . the pressureand eventuallyto invadethe enemycampacrossthis point.

I n c a s eb ) ( D i a g r a m l l l i W h i t e m o v e sR h 7 ! [ = O c c u p a t i oonf t h e e n t r y one which has"progressed"

2, The entry point (especially to the designa-
p o i n to n t h e r i m f i l e w i t h a r o o k l l , i f t h e i n v a d i n rgo o k i s e x c h a n g ebdy a n tion hole)shallif possiblebe occupiedby differentpiecesone by one.
o p p o s i negn e m yr o o k ( t o p r e v e ndt o u b l i n gt)h e p a w n9 6 w i l l b e c o m ep a s s e d T h er e s u lo t f t h i sm o d u so p e r a n dai g a i n sot u r t a r g e o t f a t t a c kw i l l e i t h e r
and a powerfulforce, Because of this therearisesa peculair c o n s i sot f d i r e c tc o n q u e sot f i t o r i t w i l l l e a dt o a d e c i s i voep e n i n go f a f i l e .
Chango e f a s s i g n m e n tFs irr s t( b e f o r eR h 8 s h 7t)h e p a w n( q 6 )s u p p o r t e d T h e l a s tm e n t i o n e d m a n e u v ecro n s i s tosf t h e f o l l o w i n g :A f t e r t h e g u a r d i n g
piecesareforcedinto uncomfortableposition(seeabove)White plavse4-e5
t h e r o o k ,l a t e r( a f t e r, . . R h 8 x h 7 g 6 x h 7f o l l o w e db y R a1 - hj , t h e r o e k5 u p p 6 r 1 5
t h ep a w n , {orc4-c5w ) h ; c hm e a n st h a t h e r e n o u n c et h s e d i r e c tc o n q u e sot f t h e g o a lf o r
w h i c hh e w a sl i g h t i n ga n dt a k e sa d v a n t a goef t h e r e s t r a i not f t h e g u a r d i n g
I n c a s e( a )t h e l a w f u lo c c u p a t i oonf t h e e n t r yp o i n t b y a k n i g h tr e s u l t isn a e n e m yp i e c e fso r a d e c i s i vber e a k t h r o u g(hl n v a s i o inn t o t h e 7 t h o r 8 t h r a n k ) .
54
 Beforewe turned our spotlighton the weakness of the pawnpositionc5,
T h i ss t a t e m e nbtr i n g su st o t h e c o n c e pot f d i r e c ta n d i n d i r e cat t t a c ka g a r.r1 presents attack objectwhich howeveris
d6; but naturally c6. d5 a sufficient
t h e e n e m yp a w n . I c a l li t d i r e c tw h e ni t j s a p l a i na t t a c kb y p i e c e si ,n w h i c h
casethe aim is the directconquestof the objectof the fight. harderto exPlolt.
W ec o n t i n u en o w w i t h a g a m ei n w h i c hw e e x p l a i ni n d e t a i tl h e s c h e m o
ef
I c a l l" i n d i r e c t "t h e a t t a c kb y a p a w no n a p a w n( e 4 - e 5 l ) i, n t h a t c a s et h e We selected on of Tarrasch's gamesbe'
the principles we have demonstrated.
alm is not the conquestof the objectof the fight but the conquestof the r er_
rain. causein its motivesit is simpleand claer.
R u YL o P e z
White: Dr. Tarrasch B l a c k :J o h a n nB e r g e r

rg ,r. **" //z'i'7L 1e2-e4e7-e5 2 Ng1-f3Nb8'c6 3 B{1'b5a7'a6 4 Bb5'a4Ng8-f6 5 Nb1'c3

Bf8-b4 6 Nc3-d5 Bb4e7 7 d2-d3 d7'd6.
At 6'/t t llzA
t t tL We havethe characteristic
tendency is to transfer into the
positionW: e4 and d3 againste5 and d6. The
characteristic positione4, d4 againste5, d6 l
t t 2ttu,7r7t
'ttu c a l l t h el a t e rc h a r a c t e r i s p
" A t t a c k p o s i t i o na g a i n sDt e f e n speo s i t i o n
t i oc s i t i o n
g a zaTt
/Lz"r.fu^,
in the Center,"
t : I Nd5-b4Bc8-d7 9 Nb4xc6 Bd7xc6 10 Ba4xc6t b7xc6

The characteristic position

p o s i t i o no f a g a m eN i m z o -
Directattackagainst
the pawne5 (Oc7,Nc6, Nq6).
tL%/z
witsch-Shories Ostende1907. tt
VII t z
t
i t t r l
gl it /:t '&t% '/2
./t ft.
,7z,)/flr%
aaz
rt grt
Due to the doublingof the c'pawnthe characterof the positionhasessen'
tially changed,The weakness of the characteristic position{e4,d3, c2 against
for action
e5, d6,c7, c6) showsup for Blackwhen we examinehis possibilities
i n t h e c e n t e r :l t i s a s s u m e d t h a t h e w i l l e v e n t u a l lpyl a y d & d 5 . N o w h eh a s
two possibilities: Either dxe (but then the doubled pawns c6, c7 will be isolat'
tndirectattackagainstpawne5. ed and certainlya disadvantage) or d5-d4. This move(d4),aswe will eventual-
ly demonstr€te ln the lawsoi transferance, presents the attemptto transler
SeeDiagramlV' The direct {= attackwith piecesagainstthe pawna5)
would be hereNf3-d2,b3. the attackfrom e4-d3, namely by following up with c6c5-c4

The indirect(= pawnattack)howeverwould consistof b2,b4, ln the first l f t h e b - p a w ni s s t i l l l i n e du p o n i t s o r i g i n afli l e ,t h e nW h i t ec o u l dn o t p r e -

casethe objectof the fight is conquered;in the secondcaseterrain{the pawn ventthe movementof the c-pawnby b2-b3because Blackgetssupportby b7-
becomespassed). b5. But herethis lsn't possible any more,and the c"pawn is impeded.From
t h i so n es e e st h a t t h e d o u b l i n g c 6 , c 7 c a u s eas d i m i n u t i o o
n f B l a c k ' sp o s s i b i l i -
T h i sg i v e st h e f o l l o w i n gr u l ef o r , ' d i r e c t ,a, n d , , i n d i r e c ta, t, t a c k :
ty of action in the center.
As a generalrulethe directattackshouldbe appliedfirst; asa consequence
11 0-0 0-0 12 Qd1-e2cEcE
the opponent'sguardingpiecesareforcedinto uncomfortableposilions.On_
ly then is the indirectattacklaunchedin orderto conquerterrainbV renounc_ In orderto utilizethe former b-pawn(now pawncO)which aimsat prevent-
ing the direct conquestof the objectof the batrle. ing d3'd4. Howeverit wasbetterto omit cocs in orderto giveup the center
after d3-d4. In that caseBlackwouid havethe e file and the compact,pawn
56 57
m a s sw o r k i n gt o w a r dt h e c e n t e a
r sc o m p e n s a t i o n . 26...Rc6c5 27 Nc3d5 OfGdS 28 Rb1-cl Rxcl 29 Rdlxcl
The most importantfunctionof the pawnc6 consistsin the fact that it im- Now Oc6 is threatened.lf Nc5 then Oc6 Ra7e4"e5l Aqainthe latentco-
n f t h e d f i l e ( w h i c hm e a n sN d 5 ,s e eo p e nf i l e s ) .
p e d e tsh e e n e m y ' su t i l i z a t i o o operationof the center.
13 c2-c3 29-..c7-c5
N o t q u i t et i m e l y ,i t s i n sa g a i n sotu r l a w :T h e c h a r a c t e r i s p t i oc s i t i o ns h a l b
l e and the point d5 gainsin importance{seeour ex-
But now d6 is back\,vard,
u t i l i z e da t f i r s ti n t h e f o r m i n w h i c hi t i s . T h e r e { o rfei r s tt h e k n i g h tm a n e u v e r planations).
f3"d2-c4-e3 shouldbe played, lt is interesting that Steinitzalsorecommends
"to 30 Rcl-dl Need4! 31 Oa4c4
the samemaneuver let Blacksufferwith the disadvantage of the double
pawn as long as possible." (To be found in Tarrasch's"300 ChessGames", The pieces- accordingto our law - aim at the entry point. This indicated
page231.) This deepstatementcontainsthe first bud of my systemof the maneuvering, indicatedthroughthe weakness of d6 and d5 is now apparent,
characteristic position. "changeof place"illustrates
namelyNe3,Od5, Nc4. This alsoour law con-
13...Nfed7 14 dld4 e5xd4 15 c3xd4 Be7-f6 16 Bc1-e3c5xd4 17 Be3xd4 cerningthe alternatingoccupationof the point of entry by differentpiecesl
Rf8-e8 18 Oe2-c2. 31...Ra8-b832 b2-b3 Rb8-c8?
The favorablecharacteristic positione4 againstd6, c7, f7 finds in the weak- A mistake,which forcesthe gameout of the train of logicaldevelopment.
nessof the c-pawn{a backwardpawnon an openfile!) a new momentumin The latterconsisted,asstated,in maneuveringagainstd6 (whichpawnshallbe
f a v o ro f W h i t e . B u t t h e a d v a n t a gi seo n l y m i n i m a l attackedfirst one way then anotherway) which would haveforcedthe enemy
18...Bf6xd419 Nf3xd4 Nd7-c5 piecesinto uncomfortablepositions.lf therewasn'tanythingbetter,then the
d-pawncould be attackedafter exchanging the Nd4 by Nd5c3-e2. Then it
In gamesof that time a frequentexampleof salvationof a backwardpawn only seemsthat attackand defensehold eachother in the balance:queenand
b e h i n da p i e c ee, s p e c i a l bl ye h i n da k n i g h t . rook versusqueenand rook. In realitythe e-pawnwill be the third attacker,
20 12.t3 namelye4"e5at the right moment,and wins, And so the threateningadvance
- madea reality- would havebroughtaboutthe decision.
Safeguards the centerwhich shallbe the supportfor the laterutilizationof
t h e d f i l e ! l f n o w i t r e m a i ns t a t i ci,t w i l l s t i i l b e m o s tn o t i c a b l teh r u t h e l a - After the text moveblunderWhite doesnot havean easvbut forcedwin.
tent threatof an advance(e4-e5)duringthe entirecourseof the game{seemy He plays
l a w sc o n c e r n i nt gh e c e n t e r ) , 33 Rxd4 cxd 34 Nd5e7t! (not OxcSOxcB 35 NeTt K8 36 NxcSd3 and
20...Od8-f621 Rt1-d1Be8-bg 22 Ral-b1 a&a5 23 Kgl-h1! Blackwins)34...Oxe735 OxRcSt Of8 36 OxfSt lQf8
A splendldiliustrationof our dogmaof the latentcooperationof the cen" a n dW h i t ew i n sd u et o h i sd i s t a n p
t a s s epda w n ,T h i se n d i n gi s u n i m p o r t a n t
ter. right now for "our system".
B e c a u soef t h e a d v a n cee4 - e 5 !O
! x e SN c 6w h i c hn o w w o u l dh a v ef a i l e do n (Nimzowitschdevelopedother Doints in further articles which would take
accountof the queen'scheckon e3. us far beyond our subject, I append the remainingmovesof this game,)
This threat,respectivelV the latentcooperationof the center,inducesthe 37 Kgl Ke7 38 Kf2 d5 39 e5 Ke6 40 Ke2 Kxe5 41 Kd3 h5 42 a3 h4 43
o p p o n e ntto b r i n gh i sp i e c e isn t o a l l k i n d so f u n n a t u r apl o s i t i o ntso c o u n t e r - b4 axb 44 axb Kd6 45 Kxd4 Kc6 46 b5t? Kxb5 47 Kxd5 Kb4 48 Kd4
act the danger, KbS 49 Ke5 Kc4 50 K{4 Kd4 51 Kg4 Ke5? 52 Kxh4 Kf4 53 Khs Kf5 54
23...Rb8-b6! s3 Kf6 55 Kg4 Ks6 56 Kf4 KfO 57 Ke4 Ke6 58 Kd4 Kd6 59 Kc4 KcG 60
f4 Kd6 61 Kd4 Ke6 62 Kcs Ke7 63 Kd5 Kd7 64 Ke5 Ke7 65 f5 f6t 66
T h e r ew e h a v ei t ! Kd5 Kd7 67 h3 Ke7 68 Kc6 Ke8 69 h4 Ke7 70 Kc7 Ke8 71 Kd6 Kd8 72
24 Nd+e2l Ke6 Ke8 73 h5 Kt8 74 h6 Resigns.
A i m sa t d 5 , u t i l i z a t i o n
o f t h ed f i l e .
24...Nc5-e625 Ne2-c3Rb0c6 26 Qc2-a4
N o t o n l y a t t a c k tsh e r o o kc 6 , b u t a l s ot h e p o i n tc 6 c o n t a i n i ntgh e t e n d e n -
c y t o i m m o b i l i z teh e o b j e c to f t h e a t t a c kf i x e db y N d 5 ,a n d i m m o b i l i z iet
througha laterOc6.
58
59
 :.:t 6 I a,i&
ILE

APPendixTwo t L L t rr, ;.1 .L

'/t::,6'L //:':
A ModernFantasyAbout a TschigorinTheme* /:/: A
(1 e2-e4e7-e6 2 Ae2) .,:a ./, ft tL l'.:,:l:,,
/.:/./
by A. Nimzowjtsch ,/,
lt 7t7:,, AA
'.h) 'r/zd't':lzt
As is so often the case,the suddengroMh of the seeminqly sterilevariation
't&
,l:\
2"',,fu. a + +
Oe2wasa consequence of an awareness which in itselfis to be takenasneithef
importantor completein any way. The DanishanalystDr. Krausenoticed
?1' 7.2A A A
.*\ A ,a
\39
d u r i n go n eo f h i ss a f a r itsh r o u g ht h e l a n do f o p e n i n g
t h e o r yt h a t T s c h i g o r i n ' s
variationI e4 e6 2 Oe2c5 3 d3 with a laterf4, wasalsoplayablewithout
Oe2. As one will admit without ado,this realizationis not exactlyearthsnaK- The pawn sacrificeinvolvedin 7. .e5 I dxc6 e5xf4 9 cxb BxbT 10 Od4
seemsto offer Blackgoodchances after the waitingmove10 'Od7 lf White
ing, Also it only concernsone detail,which is the questionasto how the
7 l l o w e db y B f 6 r e s u l t isn a t r e m e n '
n o w p l a y sa t o n c e1 1 O x { 4t h e n 1 ' 1 . . . B ef o
pawnstructured3, e4, f4 shouldbe preparedin the besttechnicalmanner. to movesomethingelsefirst (to keep
douspoiition. However, if White wants
Dr. Krauseand I did someexploratjonwith respectto this discovery.The queen position as long as possible) then he is at a lossfor a move
the central
resultshoweversurpassed all expectations and gainedundreamed-of impor, (artifi'
because 11 GOO leavesf2 unprotectedand after 11 Rd'1a6 12 Rh3
tancefor the wholeof chesstheory,especially for the Dutch and SicilianDe- go to the other side) GGo already threatens Be7
cial,but the rook wantsto
fenses.In the followingparagraphs I will presentsomegames,which I analyze fails on account of the combination Nxf2 Kxf2 Bh4t wjth
because OxgT
in detailto clearlyelucidatethe development of the new variation(onecouro Oxg7.
actuallysay its embryology).
For thesereasons, in the abovementionedpositign7..'e7-e5seemsnot on-
ln the internalionalmastertournamentat Copenhagen in 1923,J. Moller even completelysound. In the mentionedcorrelpon'
ly to be playablebut
surprisedme with the followinginnovation.White: NimzowitschBlack:J. jence game.there followed (from Diagramll) Sd5xe6e p After 8"'Bc8xe6
Mdler. 1d2-d4r7-t5 2 c2-c4Ng8-f6 3 Nb1-c3d7-d6. One is definitetyin-
t h e g a m ec o n t i n u e d :
c l i n e dt o a g r e ew i t h T e i c h m a n (ni n t h e t o u r n a m e nbt o o k )i n c a l l i n gt h i s m o v e
inferior. Therefollowed4 Ng1"f3Nb&c6! Now Blackapparentlywantsto White: N imzowitsch Black: Krause
play e7-e5because Oe7 aspreparationfor this positionis entirelyunnecessary 9 g2-93!
{the interesting detailof Krausel).Thereis indeedno apparentadvantage for This in any caseextraordinarilyinterestingpawnsacrifice, whosepoint lies
Whiteafter 5 92-93e7-e5 6 dxe dxe 7 Oxd8t KxdS or 6...NxeSand the loss in the secessionistic appearing bishop maneuver of moves I 1, and 12, com-
o{ castlingis morethan compensated for by the two pawnse5 and fS. Tnere- prisesthe only hiddenway to breathlife lnto the game;in similarpositions
c4
fore I decidedto play 5 Bc1-f4and therefo owed5...h7-h66 h2-h4Nfeg4. therehad beenmuch lesscolorfully playedafterthe moves:I Nf3 f5 2
A l l o f t h i sa c c o r d i ntgo D r . K r a u s e A , n d n o w - w i l l y n i l l y - | h a dt o m o v e Nc6 3 d4 d6 4 Bf4 hO 5 h4 Nf6 6 e3 Ng4 7 db e5! 8 dxe ep' Bxe6, the
7 d4-d5. ln this criticalpositionl\46llermoved7...Nc&esafter which the an- move9 Nc3 {the gameBrinckmann-Krause, Nordicl\4aster Tournament
'12
swerI e2-e4would havegiventhe advantage to White,i.e.I e4 fxe g Nxeb 1 9 2 4 ) ,T h e r ef o l l o w e d 9: ' . . 9 6 1 O N d 4 O d 7 1 1 B e 2 B g 7 N x e 6O x e 6 1 3
d x e 1 0 B g 3{ i n t h e g a m et h e s o m e w h awt e a k e Ir B x e sd x e g e 4 e 6 l 1 ON h 2 NdsO0-0 14Rbl ( p e r h a p 1s 4 O a 4 w a s p r e f e r a b l e9? )
5 ! 1 5 B 93Nf6! 16
(still the best becauseit threatensBc') was playedafter which, insteadof the N x f 6 B x f 6 1 7 K f l B e 5 1 8 B h 2 B x h 2 1 9 R x h 2N e 5 ! T h i sc e n t r apl o s i t i o n
d u b i o u sa c c e p t a n c' 1e0 , . . O x h 1
4
1 N x g 4 l ,t h e s i m p l er e t r e a 1
t 0 . . _ N f 61 1 8 d 3 is definitelydecisive.20 Od4 Kb8 21 b4 Rd'18 22 +4 Nc6 23 Od2 94 24
BcS(dxe?f4)would havemadeBlack'spositionsafe.). Bd3 d5 27 c5 d4 28 Rh'e2
93 Rf-d8. White standsinferior. 25 b5 Ne7 26
6os 29 e+ Oxcs 30 e5 and Black won through occupationof e3 or c3 bv
In a correspondence gameagainstme Dr. Krause(seeDiagraml) played the Ne7 in a few more moves.
muchstronger;he played7...e7-e5!This moveimprovesthe wholevariation gametherefollowed:
In the correspondence
i m m e n s e l{ys e eD i a g r a mI l ) . Be6xc4
9 ....
10 Nfld4 0d8-d7
*
Kagan'sNeuesteSchachnachtichten,Januarv l92S 11 Bfl-h3!! s7.s6
12 Bh3's2ll
The forcedmove97-96weakensBlack'sresources in the variationl2 d5
13Nxc6 b x c 1 4 b 3 B b 4 ? b e c a u sneo w ( d u et o 9 6 ) O d 4 w o u l dw i n a p i e c e ' .
60
 26 b7b4l
The questionis thereforeimportantwhetheror not 97-96rn spiteof every
The correspondence gameis continuingfrom this position. The chances
t h i n gs h o u l dh a v eb e e no m i t t e d .O f c o u r s et h e t h r e a tw a s1 2 N x f s O x f 5 1 3
e 2 - e 4h, o w e v eB r l a c kw o u l db e a b l et o d e f e n dh i m s e laf g a i n st th a tw i t h 1 ' 1 . . . are abouteven. Whitehasa pawnfor the exchange and an attackagainstthe
king d e s p i t e
t h e r e d u c e d
m a t e r i a l W
. i t h o u t
w i s h i n t o t a k ei n t o c o n s i d e r a t i o n
q
N x d 4 1 2 O x d 4B e 6 1 3 B x g 4f x g l 4 O G 0 a n dn o w 1 4 . . . a o 6 r 1 4 . . . b 6 .H e r e
the final result,we havealreadythe firm impression herethat the en passant
alsothe Blackpositionis severlvthreatenedbecause e2-e4will makethe Black
p a w nm a j o r i t yi l l u s o r ya, n dt h e W h i t er o o k s- a f t e rK b 1 a n d R d 3- w i l l b e captureon moveI leadsto a positionin which Whitewith quiet play - if he
very mobile. protectsthe c4 pawn by e3 - getsinto an inferiorposition,and furthermore
12 .".. d6d5 that by ignoringthe c4 pawn,the fianchetto9 92-93bringsabouta picture
13 Nd4xc6 full of imaginat;onwhich howeverwith correctcounterplaydoesnot produce
b7xc6
14 b2-b3 Bc4-a6 a win,
15 Ra1-c1
Whitehasconstructeda threateningpositionon the c file and therefore
forcesthe oooonentto act. is shownby the above
That e7-e5is feasibleand defiesall counter-pressures
B{8-c5! game;this raisesthe questionasto whetherone shouldpermit
very interesting
16 0-0 gGs5! the movee5. This experimentoccurredin the game:
White: Lowenborg B l a c k :K r a u s e
I '1924
"aLg2 7i,
L "r/;;
Copenhagen
1d4t5 2 c4d6 3 Nf3 NcG 4 Nc3 Nf6 5 e3 e5 6 q3 Be7 Correct here is 96.
A
':/7-
r//Z 7t 7 Bg2 0-0 8 a3 Timely here was00 for exampleI O0 Ne4 I Nxe4 fxe l0
Nd2 exd 1 | Nxe4 Bf6 12 f4 with sombplav for White. 8.'Qe8 Here Ne4,
l N 1 7 ' t'.L
'//':z as follows in the gamea move later, wasimmediately indicated. The queen
/z/2. AA
.'tu, witl be able to go to e7 later on. To understand the position requires the fore
t a.,,
rat sight to grasp the knowledge that the possible push e4 or d5 rcspectively can
t //,7..z,z,,lt+ A only occur after suitablepreparationstakeplace. 9 b4 Ne4! 10 Bb2 Nxc3
11 Bxc3 Bf6 12 O0 95? Positionalmeasureswere, in my opinion, indicated
before all otherc. i.e. 12.,.Nd8then Nf7 and Be6 or 72...8d7or finally even
12.,.exdexd. Af7, Od3, Re8. 13 b5? Unnecessaryweakening. Why not sim'
17 Nc3xd5! p$ Ad2? On 13...94there follows Nel or even Nh4 with a later push f3.
I hadfiguredthis out before.
Generallyhere gS hasweakenedthe Black king wing without accomplishing
B a dw o u l dh a v eb e e n1 7 h x g h x g 1 8 B x q sb e c a u soef R h 5 1 9 B h 4 ?R x h 4 anything on the other side. After 13 Ad2 and Bacll White hasstrongpressure
20 hxg Od6. on the position in the centerand the advantage' 13'.Ndg 14 dxes dxes 15
17.... 95xf4 e414 16h3 Kh8 17 g4! h5 18 Nd2? The acceptedmarchingroute wasself'
18 Rclxc5 GOot! evidently Nf&el-d3 and eventuallyfurther after b4 and d5. 18,,,K97 An un'
E x c e ! l e n t lpyl a y e d !A f t e r ' 1 8 . . . c x d1 9 R x d 5O e 6 2 0 O d 4 G 0 2 1 R d 7 realizabledream of attack: much better wascompletingdevelopmentby Nf7
OfO{21...Nf6?22 Bdsll 22 8xa8 Oxd4 23 Rxd4 Rxa8 24 Rxf4 White has and Be6, 1913cF The preferenceisstill Nf7 then Be6. 20 bxc6 e.p. Nxc6
t h e a d v a n t a gie. e . .2 4 . . . R e 82 5 R e l l 21 Rabl a5? An ugly nove and thoroLrghlywithout basis! 21',.b6 then Be6
19 Rc5xc6 or Ba6coulctstitlbe otaved. 22 Rb5 Oe7 23 Oa1! Be6 24 Rlbl RabS 25
The startof a beautifulcombination.Badwould be 19 Nc3 because of BxaS With this, Black is /ost. 25...Nxa5 26 Rxa5 Oc7 27 Rbs Bd7 28 Rds
Oe7and if 19 Ra5 Bb7 20 Nc3 Og7 2'l Ocl fxg and wins in rhe attack. Bc6 29 Rd3 Be7 30 Oc3 Bcst 31 Kh2 Rag 32 Rb3 Rf6 AgainBlack lets
19.... Bb7 himself be led astray from the mating attack. By Rfde he had a good chance
2O Ad1-c2 Bb7xc6 of drawing the game, Whlte can only havea good chanceof winning if he can
21 Qc2xc6 Od7xc6 b ng the knight to d5. After RfdS this knight position could not be reached.
22 Nd5-e7l Kc8-b7 33 Nb1! Rh8 34 Oc1 Oc8 35 Nc3 hxq 36 fxg Oxg4 37 NdS Rfh6 38 Oc3
23 Ne7xc6 Rd8-d2 Oe6 39 OaS Be3 40 OcTt lt6 41 NeTt White letshimself be bluffed! 41
24 g3xt4 Kb7-b6 Nxe3 won easily,i.e. 41...Rxh3t l<gl etc. 41.-.Kt6 42 Rd6? Black setsmate
25 a2-a4 Rd2xe2 in 4 movesby Rxh3t, Bxh3, Rxh3t, Kg2, f3t!and Rhl tnate. A piquant

62 63
 (Notesfor the following gamesare omitted due to spacelimitations) INDEX
Nimzowitsch- Krause,Copenhagen 1924: 1d4 f5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Bf4 d6 4
e 3 h O 5 h 4 N c 6 6 d b e 5 7 d x c l e x f 8 B b 5b 6 ! 9 e x f d 5 ! 1 0 G 0 B c S 1 19 3
5
Blockade
N e 4 1 2 K s 2 9 5 1 3 N e 5 !G 0 ! 1 4 h x g !h x g 1 5 O h s O f 6 1 6 t 3 ! l N d 6 1 7 N c 3 23
'18 Supplement
Be6 fxg! Oxe5 19 Og6t Og7 20 Oxe6t Q+7 21 AxfTI KxfT 22 Bd3 Bd4 1913 52
2 3 N x d 5B x b 2 1 4 R a e l R a e S2 5 N x c TR x e l 2 6 R x e ' lR c 8 2 7 N d S l R x c 6 Appendix One: The New System,WienerSchachzeitung,October
28 ReTt Fbsigns28...K96 29 Nf4t Kxgs 30 Be6 threatensmate Bf6 3l c4! Appendix
' Two: A l\4odernFantasvAbout A Tschigor;nThere.
January 1925
Kagan'sNeuesteSchachnachrichten, 60
Nimzowitsch- Anton Olson,Copenhagen 1924: 1 14 c5 2 e4 Nc6 3 d3 96
4 c 4 l l B s 75 N c 3 b 6 6 N f 3 B b 7 7 s 4 !e 6 8 B s 2N e 7 9 N b 5 l ! d 6 1 0 G 0 a 6
1 1 N a 3 O 0 1 2 A e 2a d i 1 3 B e 3N b 4 1 4 N c 2 !B x b 2 1 5 R a b l B c 3 1 6 N x b 4 GAIVES
Bxb4 17 Bc1| f6 18 Bb2 e5 19 95 Nc6 20 gxf Og4 21 fxe dxe 22 Oe3 Ohs
Brinckmann- Krause,Copenhagen 1924 b l
23 Ng5 Bc8 24t7J Kg7 25 Of4l Kh6 26 Ne6t exf 27 Bg7 mate. 17
Kinch- Nimzowitsch,Copenhagen 1924
- Krause,Copenhagen 1924 63
Lowenborg
5
Nimzowitsch- Amateur,Riga1910
Bernstein,Karlsbad1923 20,27
Brinckmann.KoldingI 923 42
1924 t5
Giersing,CoPenhagen
Gregory,St. Petersburg1913 34
Krause,Correspondence19245
Krause,CoPenhagen 1924 64
Levenfish,Karlsbad191 1 48
Moller,CoPenhagen 1923 3 1 ,6 0
Nilsson,CoPenhagen 1924
Olson,CoPenhagen 1924 21,64
Salwe.Karlsbad1911
Sdmisch, CoPenhagen 1923 J1

Shories,Ostende1907 56
SPielmann, Stockholm1920 38
Tartakower,CoPenhagen 1923 11
56misch- Nimzowitsch,Copenhagen 1923
Tarrasch- Berger,Breslau1889
Tartakower- Nimzowitsch,Copenhagen 1923 21
vanVliet- Nimzowitsch, Ostende 1907 23

65
64