Manoeuvring against a weakness: back and forth with a fixed goal

In short

Imagine a weak pawn that a rook protects. If you attack it in only one way, the defence holds. But if you switch between rank and file, the defender has to move every time. At some point it stands so awkwardly that the pawn falls.

Nimzowitsch breaks manoeuvring down into building blocks. It must be possible to attack the weakness in at least two ways. You also need more freedom of movement than the opponent, in other words more space. In “Chess Praxis” he even calls this space advantage the most important principle.

The pieces usually switch via one particular, well-supported square. Nimzowitsch calls it the axis around which the manoeuvring turns. Different pieces occupy the axis one after another and so keep bringing new threats. Sometimes two pieces also swap places.

Often you manoeuvre against two weaknesses in different places. The attacker switches quickly from one to the other, while the defender has longer routes. At some point the defender can no longer keep up with the regrouping. If there is only one weakness, the attacker needs many different ways of attacking it instead.

The word already appears in the chapter on the pin. There, manoeuvring means keeping several paths open and choosing only at the right moment. Nimzowitsch shows this with one of his own defeats against Capablanca, who cleverly delayed unpinning.

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

An example by Nimzowitsch

Against von Gottschall in 1926, Nimzowitsch played a long endgame and first manoeuvred against the pawn on c5. White got into zugzwang and finally pushed a pawn forward on the other wing. As a result, the white h-pawn became the second weakness. Using the square g4 as the axis, Nimzowitsch then broke into the white position.

To play through

Lesson 29 shows the basic pattern in a rook endgame by Rubinstein. There a rook attacks the pawn on h7 now along the rank, now along the file. Lesson 36 practises manoeuvring via an axis, and lesson 42 playing against weaknesses on both wings.

Against Gregory in 1914 and against Jacobsen in 1923, Nimzowitsch also manoeuvres patiently. Both times the white pawn on c4 is one of his targets.

Today’s view

A related rule that coaches often mention today is the principle of two weaknesses. One weakness can often be held, two usually cannot. Nimzowitsch already described how to switch between them: with space, an axis and many threats.

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3d Lavieren und sich a, b, c vorbehalten original text not yet published

  In the chapter on the pin: keeping several ways of unpinning open, shown in Nimzowitsch against Capablanca.

• My System: II. Teil, 5. Kapitel - Das Lavieren gegen eine feindliche Schwäche. Der kombinierte Angriff an beiden Flügeln. Besteht zwischen eben angedeuteten zwei Stratagemen eine gewisse Wahlverwandtschaft? original text not yet published

  The building blocks of manoeuvring, with axis, space and swapping places, plus the combined attack on both wings.

• Chess Praxis: 5. Das Lavieren gegen feindliche Schwächen bei gegebenem eigenen Terrainvorteil original text not yet published

  Manoeuvring against two weaknesses with a space advantage of your own, with the axis as the junction of the connecting routes.

• Chess Praxis: Partie 72 (original text)

  Von Gottschall against Nimzowitsch: manoeuvring against two weaknesses, decided by zugzwang.

In the course

• Attacking a weakness from two sides
• Manoeuvring along an axis
• Attack on both wings
• von Gottschall – Nimzowitsch, Hanover 1926
• Gregory – Nimzowitsch, St Petersburg 1914
• Jacobsen – Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923