Endgame strategy: centralisation and active pieces

In short

Many players handle the middlegame well and are helpless in the endgame. Nimzowitsch sees this as a weakness of the chess teaching of his day. For him the endgame is not a boring leftover. This is where you make use of your advantages, and the endgame has its elements too.

In the middlegame the king usually stands safely behind its pawns. In the endgame it becomes a fighter. As soon as the endgame begins, Nimzowitsch says, it should go to the middle. From there it swings to the left or right and takes squares away from the opponent’s king.

Knights and the queen also head for the middle. A knight in the middle looks towards both wings and shields its own king from a rook. A central queen that is protected by a pawn lets the king go on long trips.

An active rook attacks; a passive one only protects. Nimzowitsch calls the active rook a typical advantage in the endgame. He would even rather give up an attacked pawn than protect it passively with the rook. But he warns: this needs careful checking.

Start with Lesson 23, where your king becomes active. Lesson 22 shows how to bring a piece closer to the middle, and Lesson 38 shows the active rook. In the game against Tarrasch, Nimzowitsch’s rook, knight, king and pawns advance together.

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

Welding together and “Forward, all together”

If your pieces are scattered far apart, first bring them into contact with each other. A pawn protects a knight; a king stands sheltered behind a piece. Nimzowitsch calls this welding together.

Then everything advances together, slowly but surely. A pawn does not run away from its helpers, and one of your own pieces soon occupies the square it has left. For Nimzowitsch this teamwork makes up most of endgame technique.

The active rook and Tarrasch’s rule

A passive rook only slowly gets to the other wing. Besides, the opponent’s king can wander more freely if no rook disturbs it. That is why strong players often fight for a long time for an active rook position.

For passed pawns Nimzowitsch adopts a rule from Tarrasch. According to it, the rook stands best behind a passed pawn, whether it is your own or the opponent’s. Today this rule counts as one of the most important in rook endgames, with exceptions.

From a file to a point

In the endgame a rook often works on a file calmly and without hurry. Nimzowitsch describes how an open file or rank turns into a concrete point that a pawn protects. In Nimzowitsch – Jacobsen the fifth rank becomes the strong square g5 for the white rook in this way.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 6. Kapitel - Die Elemente der Endspiel-Strategie original text not yet published

  Overview of the chapter on the elements of endgame strategy, with all its sections.

• My System: I. Teil, Einleitung und Allgemeines. Die typische Disproportion original text not yet published

  Why many players are weaker in the endgame than in the middlegame, and which elements the endgame has.

• My System: I. Teil, 6.1 Die Zentralisierung original text not yet published

  The centralisation of the king, the minor pieces and the queen in the endgame.

• My System: I. Teil, 6.2 Die aggressive Turmstellung als charakteristischer Endspielvorteil original text not yet published

  The active rook as a typical endgame advantage, and Tarrasch’s rule of the rook behind the passed pawn.

• My System: I. Teil, 6.3 Das Zusammenschweissen isolierter Truppenteile und „Das Ganze voran!“ original text not yet published

  How scattered pieces join up and advance together.

• My System: I. Teil, 6.4 Die „Materialisierung“ des abstrakten Begriffes: „die Linie“ oder „die Reihe“ original text not yet published

  How in the endgame a file or rank turns into a concrete point, with the game Nimzowitsch – Jacobsen.

In the course

• Improve your worst piece
• The king becomes active
• The active rook
• Nimzowitsch – Jacobsen, Copenhagen 1923
• Nimzowitsch – Tarrasch, Breslau 1925