Questioning: driving away the pinning bishop with a pawn

In short

A black bishop on h5 pins your knight on f3 to the queen on d1. If you move a pawn to g4, it attacks the bishop. Usually the bishop then has to retreat. Nimzowitsch calls such a pawn attack questioning.

The catch: to question, you move pawns forward in front of your king, and pawns cannot go back. Squares they used to control are left without pawn protection. That is why Nimzowitsch shows two extreme cases. In the bad case your opponent gets strong squares in front of your king.

In the good case the questioner wins an important pawn in the centre in return. From this Nimzowitsch concludes: questioning loosens your own position and is only allowed in return for compensation. A typical compensation is a bishop that, after retreating, aims at nothing, for example at a solid pawn wall. Nimzowitsch calls such an area a wasteland.

But a wasteland can bloom again. If the centre opens, the bishop that was driven away suddenly becomes strong. In this way a question on the wing becomes a question of the centre. So check beforehand: can my opponent break open the centre?

Start with lesson 13 on the pin. Then play through the game against Leonhardt: there Nimzowitsch prepares the questioning carefully. Lesson 26 shows a second meaning of the word, questioning doubled pawns.

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

Against Leonhardt: prepare first, then question

After 8.h3 Bh5 Nimzowitsch could have played g2–g4 at once. He considers that premature, because the knight on f6 could capture on g4. So he first exchanges this knight with 9.Bg5 and 10.Bxf6. Only then does 11.g4 follow.

In this game the centre is firmly closed, and the bishop ends up on g6 in a wasteland. Over time the pawns on h3 and g4 thus become an attacking weapon on the kingside. For the rest of the game Nimzowitsch makes sure that the centre stays closed, because his pawns on the kingside need that.

Questioning doubled pawns

In the second part of “My System” Nimzowitsch also uses the word for doubled pawns. Isolated, compact or already advanced doubled pawns should be questioned, that is, attacked with pawns. Doubled pawns that have not yet advanced, on the other hand, should first be lured forward.

Today’s view

Today Nimzowitsch’s test is seen as a good signpost for pawn moves in front of your own king. But only concrete calculation shows whether such an advance is worth it. Sometimes a quick attack matters more than the weakened squares.

Before every questioning, ask yourself three questions: what do I gain? Which squares do I lose? Can my opponent open the centre?

Where to find it in Nimzowitsch

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3a Das Befragen original text not yet published

  Two extreme cases of questioning, the bishop in the wasteland and why questioning basically depends on the centre.

• My System: I. Teil, 7.3 Das Problem der Entfesselung original text not yet published

  Introduction to unpinning with an opening position in which questioning is one of several answers.

• My System: I. Teil, Partien zur Fesselung original text not yet published

  Nimzowitsch – Leonhardt: a well-prepared questioning with the centre closed.

• My System: I. Teil, Kleines Schema zur Fesselung original text not yet published

  Short overview of the pin, with questioning as the first way to unpin in the opening.

• My System: II. Teil, 2.1 Wahlverwandtschaft zwischen „Doppelbauer“ und „Hemmung“; ersterer begünstige eine Durchführung feindlicher Hemmungspläne. Was heißt das: Unter dem Nachteil eines Doppelbauern leiden? Der Begriff der passiven (= statischen) und aktiven (= dynamischen) Schwäche. Wann erscheint die Auflösung eines feindlichen Doppelbauern angezeigt? Die (einzige) wirkliche Stärke des Doppelbauern wird näher begründet. original text not yet published

  Doubled pawns and restraint, with the rule on which doubled pawns you should question.

In the course

• A piece that cannot move
• Doubled pawns
• Nimzowitsch – Leonhardt, San Sebastián 1911