Seventh rank: breaking into the enemy camp

In short

At the start the black pawns stand on rank 7, directly in front of the black pieces. From White’s point of view, that is the seventh rank. For Black it is the other way round: Black’s seventh rank is rank 2.

For Nimzowitsch, breaking into the seventh and eighth ranks follows logically from play on a file. It usually succeeds only late, for example at the start of the endgame. That is why he counts these ranks above all among the advantages in the endgame.

Learners should still try to break in early, Nimzowitsch advises. If the rook achieves nothing there at first, or is even lost, they should not let it discourage them.

What matters is a fixed target, a pawn or a square. Nimzowitsch mocks players who look first to the right and then to the left with their rook. He calls this swimming and demands that you settle on a target early.

Start with lesson 12, where you bring a rook along an open file to the seventh rank. Lesson 11 shows how you get the file for it. In the game against Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch uses the seventh rank deep into the endgame.

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

How you win a target

First, aim several pieces at the same target. If your opponent holds it with just as many pieces, you remove a defender, for example by an exchange. Nimzowitsch calls this the concentric attack.

Sometimes a pawn is in the way. Then a sacrifice can clear it away so that the rook reaches along the rank to the neighboring square. This is the revolutionary attack.

If an attacked pawn escapes forward, the rook does not attack it from the side. It places itself behind the pawn and so stays on the seventh rank. New targets can turn up there.

Five special cases

Nimzowitsch describes five special cases on the seventh rank. A rook that shuts the enemy king in on the back rank is especially strong. Nimzowitsch then speaks of the absolute seventh rank.

Together with a far-advanced passed pawn, this almost always wins. Two rooks on the seventh rank can give perpetual check. They can also drive the king out of the corner and so reach the eighth rank.

What holds today

Today, too, a rook on the seventh rank is seen as a typical advantage in the endgame. It is strong above all when targets are waiting there. Check first whether your rook is safe and whether your own back rank stays protected.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 3. Kapitel - Die 7. und 8. Reihe original text not yet published

  Overview of the chapter on the seventh and eighth ranks, with all its sections.

• My System: I. Teil, 3.1 Einleitung und Allgemeines. Endspiel oder Mittelspiel. Die Wahl eines Angriffszieles. Das „Schwimmverbot“ original text not yet published

  Breaking in as a result of play on a file, more of an endgame advantage, and the choice of a fixed target.

• My System: I. Teil, 3.2 Der konzentrische und der revolutionäre Angriff in der 7. Reihe. Die Eroberung eines Punktes (Bauern) mit „akustischem Beiklang“ (mit gleichzeitigem Schachgebot) original text not yet published

  The concentric and the revolutionary attack on the seventh rank and winning a point with check.

• My System: I. Teil, 3.3 Die fünf Spezialfälle in der 7. Reihe original text not yet published

  Five special cases, from the absolute seventh rank with a passed pawn to outflanking from the corner.

• My System: I. Teil, Partie-Beispiele zu den ersten drei Kapiteln (original text)

  Games on the first three chapters, including Lee – Nimzowitsch and Nimzowitsch – Tarrasch.

In the course

• Clear paths for rooks
• A rook breaks in
• Brinckmann – Nimzowitsch, Bad Niendorf 1927
• Lee – Nimzowitsch, Ostend 1907
• Nimzowitsch – Tarrasch, Breslau 1925