chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

temporarily retired) lrom ahoul 1925 to 1930 i as an
innovalor hc fonnded the rtPE
Ge s.nooBorcEss)r a. wnterof instructional
books he w.s !tuivalled in his time. Born in Riga of
Jewish parentage, he lcarnr the moyes when he was
eighl and began to tate rhe gane senously about
ten years la1e. when he should have been sludying
mathematics. He 6El nade his marl by shanng
third p.ize, half i poinr behind thc winnen
BERN9EN and ruBrNmN, in lhc ostend M6te6
Toumament ot 1907, and imprcved lo pin thnd
prize after scsLEcHER and DUMS al Hamburg
1910, and to share second pnze (+8=8 3) with
sprrluNN hall a poinr behind Rubinstein at Sa.
sebasdan 1912 (about cateso.y 13). After panici
paling in thc greai Sl PeieBburg lournament of
1914 (withont suNes, Ioi his s1y,e sas not tully
developed) he was unable to play *rioE ches for
six v$^ .n accounl ofwar. Around 1920 he was
abl; ro bave Latvia. His name, onginally ol four
syllables (Ni-em-zo-witsch, neaning from GeF
many'), was spex wirbout an ei on the passporti
olerjoyed at havios a paspon at all, he acePted
the ncw name. He began lo rebuild his chess
ca.eer. firsr in Sweden and irom 1922 in
Copeahagen where he livcd for the resr ol his life in
one small retrtcd room. Strbsequendy Ninzownsch
played i. 22 strong loutuanen$, winning or
shanng eighl nrst, six se@nd. and thrce thi.d
prizes. He resarded nis win (+8:1) ar Dresden
1926, one and a halfpoints ahead of Alekhide, as
his bost performance. Also norable were his Nins at
Marienbad 1925 (+8=6 i) 10 1ie witn Rubinstein,
.nd ar Carlsbad 1929. aboul category 11
(+10:10-l), hall a point ahe.d of Capablanca.
His olher vidories were: CopcnhaCcn 1923
(+6=4)r London (Od.) l9? (+7=2 2)r Bad
Niendod i927 1+4=3 to rie with raRrAKowEr)r
Berlin(Feb.)1928(+8=4 1):andFrankfurl1930
(+9=1 1). His most notable second prize was in a
lournanenl ol aboul category 14 al Berli. in Ocl.
1928 whcn he scored +,1:6 2, nall a poinr aier
Capablanca. His matches Nere few, shon, and
unmenorable.
Nimzowilsch liked to call hinself the qown
p.ince ofchess. In 1926 his cballe.ge lor a world
ritle nalch was a@epted by Capablanca. but
Nido*ilsch was unable lo rai* lhe stake money.
Alethinc. who be.ame champion in 1927,
p.efer.ed to play two matches againsr BocoLruBowi
Nimzo*itscb had as good a claim to be
considered, but his rempcram€nt, egotislic, highly
strurg, irritable, over{ensilive to cndcisn, and
almosl pathologically suspicious, Nas not calculated
to bnng hio support. Hh early deaih was
unexpcctcd although h€ had long been suftering
from hearr i.oublei iaken iI suddenly in Dec. 1934
be lay bedndden for rhree mo n t hs bclore dring ol
He cDntributed mo.e to the game than nost oi
his ontempordies. He taces the beginning oIlhe
iypernodeo movement back to 1904 wh.n he 6tsl
nctrArRAsco,whocriticizedhhplayadversely, an
NIMZOWnSCH 225
incidont Nimzowiisch never torgol. Fron that
momenr he began to re-examine the Iornalistic
teachings of Tar.6ch, ro whi.h the hyp€rmodem
in large ncasure a readion.
S.eking a new apprcach lo ihe problen of
controtlinS rhe entre, Nimzovilsch re-exanined
many openings ideas that had been used by the
19th ceniury masters csIGoRIN, L. rauLsEN,
srErNiz. atrd wrNArR, and which *ere resardcd
by Tanakh .s unorthodox . Besides tire openings
thal Nimzovilsch .evived (e.g. the w'NAwm
!NAION), thE NNZO INDIAN DETENCE ANd OthCT
openines naned atter him, he inlroduced the
DETENCE ANd 1hC MARIENB^D
NiruoMlsch wrote three inporranrbooks: D,.
B/dctdd. (1925), banslated into English and @Ued
Rlo.ka.le {19aq, Mein Ststem (1925), translated
i.to many langmger with an Englisnve6ioncaled
Mt srsten (t929): and Die Ptdis mein6 systn
( 1929), pubinhed in a. Englhh translation as OlerJ
P.6d (1936), a book that mnt ins 109 of his
gades. Mt -SJJrcu is lhe mosrimpotunt. The title
is misleadi.gforonly, small part of the book deals
wnh a system ol play: the suggestion that the
old eslablished procodues of moEyLA{s and
ovERpRmo,oN will. of thenselves, lead to advantagc.
(Il depeuds, howeler, uPon whctherthe.e is
atry square ot sulncient importance to overprotecl
or wherher the opponent has any threats wotth
prevenlifl si the.e are positionsin Nhich ome other
course of adion would be more app.oP.iate.)
Getrerally NiruoNiisch does not explain how one's
game should be buill up, or bow a player might ain
to! posnions of a cerrain kind; inslead he discusses
how to deal wilh sucn posirions should they arise.
Thn pracdcal advice, opiously illustraled by
exanples, h of nore use ro thc student ihan
gene.alizations, otren negative. about hoN 10 set
up his gane. He makes tew dogm.tic assertions;
tor example. hc does not say th
is necessarily *eak or strong, bu1 shows bow to
play both wirh and againsr such a paNn. NoNnh
sianditrg the althoas .laims, Iew iI any of the
NcuvRB ne desribes were
oiiginated by hini but hn exposilioo is brilliant,
effeclive, and entenaining. He coined a .unber ot
terms, anons lhem BUTDNG
^
BrDcE (a maiauvrc
shown in the 17lh century). PRoPHYNIS
(prcviously exenplined by pH,L,Dor)i eNGNc
pAwNs and EoLAM (formarions well undesrood
by Steinilz); and MtsrERtous rooK MovE (a
ma.auvre anredaring rhe author's birth). (see
R. D. Keene, Aro, NrE,,itsch: o Re-approbal
11974)
Spiclmann Ni'nzosirsch New YoIk 1927 Nihzowitsch
1e4Nc6 2 NA e6 3d4d5 4c5 b6 5 c3 NceT 6Bd3 a5
7Oe2NI5 3h4b5 9N9536? l0Nd2Nger ll Nfl c5
DA.4 llBczh5 l4g4Ng7 15Ng3Nc6 l6og2Bs7
17 sxhs gxh5 18 Rgl Rr7