Nimzowitsch Encyclopedia
Larger ideas from the world of Aaron Nimzowitsch, explained in detail. Each article starts with a short answer and leads to lessons, games and original texts.
A
- Active king: in the endgame the king joins the fight
An active king is a king that joins the fight itself in the endgame. It moves forward, attacks pawns and stops enemy pawns. In “My System” Aaron…
- Active rook: attacking instead of just protecting
An active rook is a rook that attacks in the endgame instead of just protecting. In “My System” Aaron Nimzowitsch calls this aggressive rook position a…
B
- Bishop pair: two bishops for both colours
The bishop pair is the two bishops of one side. Together they reach squares of both colours. In “My System” Aaron Nimzowitsch explains why the pair is so…
- Blockade
A blockade means that a piece stands directly in front of an enemy pawn and so stops it from advancing. Aaron Nimzowitsch explained this idea in detail…
C
- Candidate: the pawn that leads the majority
The candidate is the pawn of a pawn majority that has no enemy pawn in front of it on its file. It has the best chance of becoming a passed pawn. Aaron…
- Centre: the four squares in the middle
The centre consists of the four squares in the middle of the board: d4, e4, d5 and e5. Aaron Nimzowitsch insists that you always keep an eye on these…
- Colour complex: weak squares of one colour
A colour complex is the group of all squares of one colour, for example the light squares. If many of them are weak, the opponent can settle their pieces…
D
- Development
Development means that your pieces leave their starting squares in the opening and join the game. Aaron Nimzowitsch demands that as many pieces as…
- Discovered check and windmill: the pin with roles reversed
A discovered check means: a piece moves away and opens the path to the opponent’s king for a piece of its own side behind it. If the piece can keep…
- Doubled pawns: two pawns on one file
Doubled pawns are two pawns of the same colour standing one behind the other on the same file. They cannot protect each other. In “My System”, Aaron…
E
- Elasticity: staying mobile instead of going rigid
Elasticity is the mobility of a piece or position that keeps several options open. Aaron Nimzowitsch uses the word above all for the blockader, the piece…
- Endgame strategy: centralisation and active pieces
Centralisation means bringing the pieces, and in the endgame the king too, to the middle. From there they reach both wings. Aaron Nimzowitsch calls it an…
- Exchange: when a trade pays off
An exchange means: each side captures one piece, one after the other. In “My System”, Aaron Nimzowitsch warns against eager exchanging and names only a…
G
- Good and bad bishop: bishops and pawn colours
Good and bad bishop are modern names. A bishop is called bad when its own pawns on its square colour block its way. The other one is the good bishop.…
H
- Hanging pawns: strong and vulnerable at once
Hanging pawns are two pawns side by side, usually on the c- and d-files, with no pawns of their own colour on the files next to them. As long as they…
- Hypermodernism: the chess revolution
Hypermodernism, or the hypermodern school, is a way of thinking in chess: you can control the centre not only with pawns but also with pieces from a…
I
- Invasion of the centre: the leap into the centre
Invasion of the centre means that a piece, usually a knight, leaps to a central square that no enemy pawn controls. Aaron Nimzowitsch uses the term in…
- Isolated pawn couple: the rear pawn must advance
Isolated pawn couple is what Aaron Nimzowitsch calls two blockaded pawns on c3 and d4 with no neighbouring pawns of their own colour. In “My System” he…
- Isolated queen’s pawn: alone on the d-file
An isolated queen’s pawn is a pawn on the d-file with no pawns of its own colour on the c- and e-files. Aaron Nimzowitsch counted it among the key…
M
- Manoeuvring against a weakness: back and forth with a fixed goal
Manoeuvring against a weakness means attacking an enemy weakness in different ways, one after another, until the defence can no longer keep up. In “My…
- Minority attack: the minority goes on the attack
The minority attack is an attack with fewer pawns against a pawn majority, usually two against three on the queenside. The modern term does not come from…
- “My System”: how the book is built
“My System” is Aaron Nimzowitsch’s main work. It appeared in instalments from 1925 and was complete by 1927. In the first part he explains the elements…
- Mysterious rook move: the rook waits for its file
A mysterious rook move puts a rook on a file that is still blocked by pawns. Only a freeing pawn move by the opponent would open it. Aaron Nimzowitsch…
O
- Open file: a clear road for the rooks
An open file is a file with no pawns left on it. There, rooks and the queen can work far forward. Aaron Nimzowitsch counted his teaching on the open file…
- Openings named after Nimzowitsch
Openings named after Nimzowitsch are above all the Nimzo-Indian Defence, the Nimzowitsch Defence and the Nimzowitsch–Larsen Attack. Most of these names…
- Opposition: the duel of the kings
Opposition means that the two kings face each other with one empty square between them. The side that must move its king has to give way; a pawn move can…
- Outpost: a piece with backing
An outpost is a piece on an open file in the enemy camp that one of your own pawns protects. Usually it is a knight. In “My System”, Aaron Nimzowitsch…
- Overall mobility: pawns as a mobile group
Overall mobility means that your pawns are mobile as a group, even if not every single one can advance. Aaron Nimzowitsch calls this idea, alongside…
- Overprotection: securing important points in advance
Overprotection means securing an important point with more pieces than are needed at the moment. This can be a pawn or a square. Aaron Nimzowitsch called…
P
- Passed pawn: the pawn with a free path
A passed pawn is a pawn that no enemy pawn can stop any more. No enemy pawn stands in front of it, either on its own file or on the files next to it. In…
- Pawn chain: attack at the base
A pawn chain is a diagonal line of pawns, each with an enemy pawn standing in front of it. Aaron Nimzowitsch calls the rearmost pawn, which carries the…
- Pawn majority: more pawns on one side
A pawn majority means that you have more pawns than your opponent on one part of the board. Three against two on a wing is one example. Aaron Nimzowitsch…
- Pawn roller: threatening, but often vulnerable
A pawn roller is a group of pawns that advances together in the centre and drives enemy pieces before it. Aaron Nimzowitsch showed that it is often less…
- Pawn structures: what the pawns dictate
A pawn structure is the arrangement of all the pawns on the board. It shows which files are open, which squares become weak and where your pieces belong.…
- Pin: tied down and free again
A pin means: a bishop, rook or queen attacks a piece that has a more important piece behind it. The piece in between cannot move away, or only at a loss.…
- Point of attack: a pawn as a target
A point of attack is an enemy pawn against which you send one of your own pawns forward to open a file. In “My System”, Aaron Nimzowitsch takes over the…
- Positional play: preventing instead of just attacking
Positional play means making your own position secure and better in the long run with quiet moves. Aaron Nimzowitsch devotes the second part of “My…
- Prophylaxis: what does your opponent want?
Prophylaxis means prevention. Before your move you ask yourself what your opponent would like to play. Then you stop their plan before it becomes…
Q
- Qualitative majority: the same number of pawns, unequal strength
A qualitative majority is a pawn majority that does not come from the number of pawns. Both sides have the same number of pawns on the wing, but yours…
- Questioning: driving away the pinning bishop with a pawn
Questioning means: you attack an enemy piece with a pawn and force it to make a decision. In “My System” Aaron Nimzowitsch shows when you may drive away…
R
- Restraint: stopping pawns from advancing
Restraint means stopping your opponent’s pawns from advancing before they become dangerous. To do this, you control the squares in front of them. Aaron…
S
- Seventh rank: breaking into the enemy camp
The seventh rank is the rank directly in front of your opponent’s back rank. Aaron Nimzowitsch devotes a chapter of “My System” to the seventh and eighth…
- Small but secure centre: little space, a firm hold
A small but secure centre consists of a few pawns in the middle that gain little space but stand safely. In “Chess Praxis”, Aaron Nimzowitsch shows that…
- Space advantage: more room for your pieces
Space advantage means: your pawns and pieces control more squares than your opponent’s, and your pieces have more room. Aaron Nimzowitsch uses the German…
- Strong square: a safe place for your pieces
A strong square is a square that your pawn controls and that no enemy pawn can control any more. It usually lies in the centre or in the enemy camp.…
- Surrender of the centre: pawns gone, middle not lost
Surrender of the centre means: you give up your pawn in the middle of your own accord, usually by an exchange. Aaron Nimzowitsch taught that this does…
T
- Tempo: a move as time
A tempo is a move seen as time. You gain a tempo when your move achieves something and your opponent has to waste a move. In “My System”, Aaron…
U
- Unpinning: how a pinned piece gets free again
Unpinning means that a pinned piece becomes free again. In “My System”, Aaron Nimzowitsch sorts out the ways to do it. In the opening, the choice depends…
W
- Weak square: a hole in the pawn structure
A weak square is a square that a side can no longer control with any of its pawns. An enemy piece can settle there without a pawn driving it away. Aaron…
- Wing attack: secure the centre first
Wing attack is the name for an attack on the queenside or the kingside, that is, on one side of the board. Aaron Nimzowitsch gave a rule for it: only…
Z
- Zugzwang: when every move does harm
Zugzwang means that the side to move has to make its position worse, because every possible move does harm. The term existed before Aaron Nimzowitsch.…