Elasticity: staying mobile instead of going rigid

In short

Imagine a knight that stops an enemy pawn in the middle of the board. It stands firmly on its square. Still, it can jump to a wing when needed and come back later. Nimzowitsch calls this springiness elasticity.

For Nimzowitsch a blockader has three tasks: to blockade, to threaten from its square and to stay elastic. It may leave its post if the trip is worth it or if it gets back in time. It may also go if a piece that protects it takes over the blockade.

How elastic a blockader is depends on the pawn. If the pawn has already advanced far, the blockader can hardly leave. A blockader in front of a pawn in the middle of the board has the most room to move. Nimzowitsch advises first supporting the blockade well, because the elasticity then often comes by itself.

Nimzowitsch also calls a center elastic if it is rich in possibilities. Later, one side can advance there with different pawns and chooses the right moment. He shows this with a game by Louis Paulsen. In “My System” the elastic center comes first among his revolutionary theses.

Start with lesson 33. There a rook blockades a pawn and yet stays ready for another task. In the game against Ahues, Nimzowitsch gives back material he has won and gets a strong knight on e6 in return. He calls this, too, playing elastically.

Summarized by the editors in their own words. This is not a quotation.

Defending elastically

In his essay “Das Problem der Verteidigung” (“The problem of defense”), Nimzowitsch warns against a rigid line of defense. Whoever only shuffles their pieces back and forth behind a solid pawn wall defends badly. A mobile pawn front is better. It moves forward or draws together through an exchange, and the pieces quickly adjust to it.

As masters of this art he names Louis Paulsen and Emanuel Lasker. In his view, a cramped position in particular can often only be defended in this way.

Elastic in the opening

In “Chess Praxis” Nimzowitsch describes an elastic way of handling the opening. One side keeps open which opening will arise and later switches from one to another. Critics of his time saw this as a lack of courage. For Nimzowitsch it is maneuvering, applied to the opening.

Today’s view

Today people mostly speak of flexibility. A flexible move keeps several plans open and does not yet give away to your opponent what you intend. Many openings today depend on one side being able to switch to another system.

But elasticity is not a goal in itself. At some point you have to decide on a plan. Even an elastic blockader may only leave if the pawn does not then break through.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 4.3 Der Blockeur im Haupt- und Nebenberuf (original text)

  The blockader’s tasks besides blockading, the idea of elasticity and when a blockader may leave its post.

• The Blockade: Abschnitt XI original text not yet published

  Nimzowitsch – Nilsson: a rook blockades a pawn and yet stays ready to switch to another file.

• My System: Nachtrag, 2. Die revolutionären Thesen original text not yet published

  The three revolutionary theses, with the elastic center in first place.

• Essays: Das neue System original text not yet published

  Essay with Nimzowitsch’s first laws on the center and a game by Paulsen with an elastic center.

• Essays: Das Problem der Verteidigung. original text not yet published

  Essay after his Swiss trip in 1931: a mobile pawn front defends better than a rigid line.

• Chess Praxis: 6.2 Die „elastische“ Eröffnungsbehandlung (Übergang aus einer Eröffnung in die andere) original text not yet published

  The elastic handling of the opening: switching from one opening to another as maneuvering in the opening.

In the course

• A blockader stays mobile
• Nimzowitsch – Ahues, Berlin 1928