ARON NIMZOWITSCH (born Nov-07-1886, died Mar-16-1935, 48 years old) Latvia (federation/nationality Denmark) [what is this?] Aron Nimzowitsch was born in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire) in 1886. He came to prominence in the chess world just before the First World War. He finished joint second with Rudolf Spielmann, half a point behind Akiba Rubinstein, at San Sebastian (1912). He was Russian Champion in 1913 (jointly with Alexander Alekhine) at St. Petersburg. Like Alekhine and others, he fled Russia after the 1917 Russian revolution. He initially moved to Berlin. In 1922, he finally settled in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lived for the rest of his life. Nimzowitsch won a string of international events in the mid-1920s which led him to challenge Jose Raul Capablanca to a world championship match in 1925, but negotiations dissolved after monetary backing could not be found. He took first place at Copenhagen (1923), Dresden (1926), Karlsbad (1929) and Frankfurt (1930). Nimzowitsch's chess theories flew in the face of convention. He had a lengthy and bitter conflict with Siegbert Tarrasch over which ideas constituted proper chess play. While Tarrasch refined the classical approach of Wilhelm Steinitz, that the center had to be controlled and occupied by pawns, Nimzowitsch shattered these dogmatic assumptions, and proposed the controlling of the center with pieces from afar. In this way, the opponent is invited to occupy the center with pawns which thus become the targets of attack. This idea became known as the hypermodern school of chess thought. Nimzowitsch, along with other hypermodern thinkers such as Richard Reti, revolutionized chess with their argument that controlling the center of the board matters more than actually occupying it. Nimzowitsch is also a highly-regarded chess writer, most famously for his controversial 1925 book My System, which is considered a classic by some prominent modern players but derided by others. Other books include Chess Praxis, which further expounds the hypermodern idea, and the seminal work The Blockade (Die Blockade in German), which explores the strategy implied by his famous maxim, "First restrain, then blockade, finally destroy!" As a profound opening theoretician, Nimzowitsch has left a legacy of variations, many of which are still popular today. The Nimzo-Indian Defense (1.d4 ♘f6 2.c4 e6 3.♘c3 ♗b4) is one of the best-respected defenses to 1.d4, to such an extent that most players avoid it with 3.Nf3 or 3.g3. He played a key role in the development of two important lines in the French Defense: the Winawer Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.♘c3 ♗b4) and the Advance Variation (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). His name is also attached to the Sicilian, Nimzovich-Rubinstein (B29) Variation (1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 ♘f6), the Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack (1.♘f3 followed by 2.b3), the Nimzowitsch Defense (1.e4 ♘c6), and the Nimzo-English (1.c4 ♘f6 2.♘c3 e6 3.♘f3 ♗b4). He suddenly took ill at the end of 1934, and died of pneumonia three months later on March 16, 1935 in Copenhagen. Wikipedia article: Aron Nimzowitsch Last updated: 2023-06-27 11:05:43

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page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 713  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. A Nimzowitsch vs NN 1-0 18 1896 Riga B01 Scandinavian 2. E Schroeder vs A Nimzowitsch 0-1 20 1903 Cafe Kaiserhof offhand game C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense 3. B Blumenfeld vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 29 1903 Berlin C45 Scotch Game 4. Tarrasch vs A Nimzowitsch ½-½ 71 1904 Offhand game D07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense 5. E Cohn vs A Nimzowitsch 0-1 30 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A C41 Philidor Defense 6. Vidmar vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 48 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A D02 Queen's Pawn Game 7. A Nimzowitsch vs W Hilse 1-0 65 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A C27 Vienna Game 8. B Gregory vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 36 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A A30 English, Symmetrical 9. P Kaegbein vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 42 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A D07 Queen's Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defense 10. A Nimzowitsch vs Duras 1-0 55 1904 14th DSB Congress - Hauptturnier A B15 Caro-Kann 11. A Nimzowitsch vs L Forgacs 0-1 52 1905 Austro-Hungarian championship C45 Scotch Game 12. A Nimzowitsch vs Schlechter 0-1 26 1905 Austro-Hungarian championship B22 Sicilian, Alapin 13. H Wolf vs A Nimzowitsch ½-½ 34 1905 Austro-Hungarian championship C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense 14. L Forgacs vs A Nimzowitsch   0-1 34 1905 Austro-Hungarian championship C63 Ruy Lopez, Schliemann Defense 15. A Nimzowitsch vs Albin 1-0 38 1905 Austro-Hungarian championship B02 Alekhine's Defense 16. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann 1-0 42 1905 Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match C45 Scotch Game 17. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann 1-0 20 1905 Cafe Orlando di Lasso offhand C44 King's Pawn Game 18. Spielmann vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 19 1905 Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match B15 Caro-Kann 19. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann   1-0 35 1905 Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match C45 Scotch Game 20. A Nimzowitsch vs Spielmann ½-½ 36 1905 Nimzowitsch - Spielmann, 1st Match C45 Scotch Game 21. A Nimzowitsch vs K Satzinger   1-0 35 1905 1st simul B22 Sicilian, Alapin 22. A Nimzowitsch vs Fr Teltscher 1-0 28 1905 1st simul B20 Sicilian 23. A Nimzowitsch vs D Przepiorka ½-½ 25 1905 Barmen Meisterturnier B B22 Sicilian, Alapin 24. Spielmann vs A Nimzowitsch 1-0 30 1905 Barmen Meisterturnier B C25 Vienna 25. A Nimzowitsch vs L Forgacs 0-1 33 1905 Barmen Meisterturnier B C45 Scotch Game  page 1 of 29; games 1-25 of 713

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< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 76 ·  Later Kibitzing> Nov-07-04    iron maiden: <offramp> I don't know if he was witty or not, but most accounts indicate that he wasn't particularly sane. Nov-07-04    AgentRgent: Nimzowitsch's gift was the ability to question everything. No conventional opinion was above scrutiny. Chess owes a great debt to the creativity and the criticism that Nimzowitsch provided. Though Alekhine successfully avoided facing him in a world championship match, Nimzowitsch has forever altered the game of chess, and altered it much for the better. (And to think I almost missed The Master's turn as player of the day.) Nov-07-04    Granite: Personally I enjoy Nimzowitsh's games immensly, and I have great respect for anyone who could beat Lasker, who I consider the greatest player of all time. A wonderful original and worthy of his enduring place in chess history. Nov-08-04    ray keene: <granite> thank you very much for finding the blue stuff for my nimzo selection-however two of them appear to be back to front nimzowitsch white v rubinstein black berlin 1928 double round tournament -won by nimzo with a double fianchetto attack was the game i meant-you have linked to nimzos loss as black. also spielmann white v nimzo black stockholm 1920-also a double rounder-you have linked to nimzos win as white whereas i had in mind his whirlwind win as black with 1e4 nc6. i still cant get the hang of this blue stuff so i hope these descriptions are adequate to locate the games i had in mind! Nov-08-04    Benzol: Nimzowitsch vs Rubinstein, 1928 and Spielmann vs Nimzowitsch, 1920 Don't worry Ray. I used to wonder about doing this too until <adrianP> kindly took time to explain it to me. You go to the game you wish to link and left click your mouse on the game's URL. Click on copy in the options that scroll down. Then go to comment box where you wish to post the link. Right click your mouse in the comment box and click on paste in the options that show up. The linked games URL shows up. Then click on kibitz key as normally and the linked game should appear in blue. It took a bit of practice but eventually even <Benzol> the computer luddite managed it. Nov-08-04    Benzol: Addendum to previous post. When you click on the games URL you then right click and select copy and proceed as above. Hope this makes sense. Still haven't figured how to load games from PGN files into the PGN upload facility. I still enter them by hand. LOL. Nov-08-04    cu8sfan: <ray keene> Maybe it's helpful to mention that the "URL" is the window where the internet address is typed in. Here it starts with "http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess..." <Benzol> What's your problem loading a PGN file into the upload facility? Do you have a file with PGNs and don't know how to paste it or is the problem to generate a file? Nov-08-04    Benzol: <cu8sfan> The problem is how to generate a file in the first instance. I believe you can do this with a program like Fritz and I do have Fritz 8 but I have absolutely no idea how. How to load the file from Fritz via the PGN Utility is also a complete unknown. Nov-08-04    cu8sfan: <Benzol> I think I've already shown you the link to WinBoard which is an easy to use tool to get games into the PGN format: http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html. You can also do it with Fritz but it's a bit more complicated there. First you need to generate a new database and choose the format to be PGN rather than the usual Fritz format CBH. Then you enter the moves (hit Alt-F2 to enter analysis mode otherwise Fritz will try to answer your moves). Now save the game and exit Fritz. In the folder you specified you'll find a file called thenameyougaveit.pgn. This file can be opened in the normal text editor. If you have problems doing so simply rename the file into thenameyougaveit.txt. Now you just copy-paste it into the upload facility. If you have more than one game instead of copy-pasting every single game into the upload facility you can also send an e-mail to chessgames.com with the complete file. Hope that helps, it's not difficult but not easy to explain with words only. Nov-08-04    Benzol: <cu8sfan> Thanks. Yes I do remember the link to WinBoard you mentioned earlier. I might have to experiment a bit first with trial and error and try to work out what happens. As you say it's probably easier to do than to explain. Nov-08-04    ForeverYoung: Mr. Keene, that is a great book you wrote about Nimzowitsch! I gave a copy of it to a friend as a Christmas gift and he enjoyed it very much! It is very interesting what Bent Larsen had to say about Nimzo and "My System" lol, Paul Nov-08-04    ray keene: thanks for all the advice and <fy> glad you enjoyed the book! Nov-09-04    Minor Piece Activity: re: Nimzo insanity Is it true that Nimzowitsch once stripped during a tournament before an important arrived, or is this slander based on nothing? Nov-09-04    ray keene: <map> this is apocryphal. it did occur with a well known gm but it wasnt nimzo and it was much more recent.the scandal was so great that the tournament results were never made public. it is better not to reveal the person concerned.however-definitely not nimzowitsch!! Nov-09-04    Cecil Brown: There is a story about Nimzo in a bathrobe on page 1 of this thread: Aron Nimzowitsch And I recall vaguely a story somewhere on this site about a spectator who kept stripping at a tournament, prompting one of the participants to enquire if he could claim a draw for three times repitition, but I'm not sure who it was. Nov-09-04    Swindler: I think it was Tartakower, quite in his style one could say. Nov-09-04    Cecil Brown: Spot on <Swindler>! The story's on page 1 of Savielly Tartakower kibitzing. Nov-20-04    Knight13: He is the writter of the book "My System." Published in 1930, copyrighted. Nov-25-04    kostich in time: There was a good reason Nimzowitsch wasnt invited to New York 1924..few people took him seriously. He was capable of brilliant games-which nobody understood-but with a few scattered exceptions, his tournament results were mediocre.Then, in 1926, he blossomed with an outburst of creativity. First, he finished equal fourth with Tartakover at Semmering 1926, and would have finished higher. if Vidmar hadnt cleverly "swindled" him in a wild middle-game.Then came Dresden,1926, a small, but very strong tournament where he won the first and second brilliancy prizes (for his games against Johner and Rubinstien-which amazed the chess world at the time)and scored 8.5 out of 9. That and a nice win at Hanover inthe same year go himinvited to New York 1927, where he finished third behind Capa and Alekhine.His greatest trimph cameat Carlsbad 1929,were everybody who was somebody in the chess world, (except Alekhine who was preparing for his match with Bogolubov, and lasker, who was busy playing bridge at the time) took part.After Carlsbad, Nimzo started to hand out cards which read Aron Nimzowitsch, Crown Prince of Chess-he was a LITTLE ecccentric,after all,-but he couldnt raise the money for a match with Alekhine. At San Remo 1930, and Bled 1931, Alekhine crushed him in their indivdual games, and Nimzos hopes of a title challenge faded-though he continued to post very good results up to the end Dec-06-04    Max Lange: Nimzowitsh was getting stronger every year before his untimely death in 1935 at age 49, probably of the parasite bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. See the excellent graphic at the chessmetrics dot com website, showing him peaking at 2707 ELO and still rising strong. Might have he become #1? We'll never know. Dec-07-04    iron maiden: Nimzowitch died at 49--a young age, but one at which virtually no player in history has ever continued improving. Even if he had managed to overshadow Alekhine and Capablanca, though, he still would have had the rest of the up-and-coming AVRO generation to deal with. While I'm a big admirer of Nimzo's creative genius, I rate him on historical par with players like Ivanchuk--near the top for a while but not quite the caliber of a world champion. Dec-07-04    keypusher: Nimzowitsch's lifetime score against Alekhine: +3 -9 =3, including losses in their last four encounters. Against Capablanca: +0 -5 =6 In his last major tournament, Zurich 1934, he finished tied for 6-7, behind Alekhine, Flohr, Euwe, Emanuel Lasker, and Bogolyubov. He also lost a match to Gideon Stahlberg that year. God only knows what is going on with the chessmetrics ratings, but based on actual results there is no reason to think that Nimzowitsch was in any danger of becoming the #1 player in the world. The chessmetrics ratings don't show any upward trend in any event, as his rating changes in the 1930s are well within the margin of error. Dec-14-04    kostich in time: Jeff Sonas' chessmetrics ratings are absolutely bizarre.I think he has Fine as the worlds number two for 1950(!) Dec-14-04    kostich in time: I checked, Sonas DOES have Fine higher rated than Reshevsky in 1950! More incredibly he has him ranked as one of the world top four for the whole period through 1952. Problem? Fines only tournmaent result for the period was a bad fourth at New York 1950. After that, he only played a few casual games at the Manhattan chess club,as he was too busy practicing( forgive me) psychoanalytic Voodoo. Dec-27-04    fred lennox: Nimzowitch brought an intensity and richness to the game, scarecly found before. I believe his two most important concepts are centralization and the exploitation of two weaknesses. Over protection and accumulation of small advantages, while important, are lesser so. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 76) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 4 OF 76 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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