My System

Aron/Aaron Nimzowitsch is famous for his work "Mein System" (originally published in German in 1925-27 by 
Verlag B. Kagan, Berlin), which he followed up with "Die Praxis meines Systems" (1928) where he comments on 
his system in more detail. Both works have, in the course of time, been translated into many other languages 
and are considered to belong to the classics of chess literature. 

The purpose of these pages is to present an outline of the essentials of Nimzowitsch's system, but also to provide 
some information of the reactions to it in the world of chess, past and present.                  

                                                              Contents

Some important themes in "My system"
The Elements             Positional Play        The Centre
Overprotection           Blockade                Type Positions
                              
The Pawn Chain and The Qualitative Majority 
The Isolated Couple of Pawns - a Matter of Mobility
Lavieren ("Luffing", Maneuvering)
Post Script - The Revolutionary Theses

The Essentials 
The Chess Philosophy of A. Nimzowitsch: Prophylaxis and Mobility  

The Idiosyncracy of A. Nimzowitsch
Famous Sayings         Stylistic Peculiarities     Subject Index

Nimzowitsch and his contemporaries
The Neoromantic School  
The Conflict between Dr. Tarrasch and A. Nimzowitsch
The Relationship between A. Nimzowitsch and A. Aljechin/Alekhine
Savielly Tartakower
Rudolf Spielmann - Freindly towards Nimzowitsch 
Gideon Stahlberg's opinion about Nimzowitsch
Harry Golombek's views on Nimzowitsch's system

A comparison between Nimzowitsch and the Russian School:
Vladimir Makogonov - the Founder of the Russian School
Analysis method according to Kotov 
Analysis method according to Karpow-Mazukevitsch

Editor's Notes
About the Reception of "My system"
Critical Views on Nimzowitsch's Ideas
A clash between principles and practical play
Was Nimzowitsch a Pessimist?
Nimzowitsch and the French Opening  
A Linguistic Comment on the Term “Isolani”
What is a stratagem?
A Proposal for the Structure of Nimzowitsch’s System
Matrix of Structured Means and Goals
About Alternative Spellings of Names                               
Further reading on Positional Play - Past and Present        

Games
The Annotating Art of A. Nimzowitsch
Rubinstein-Nimzowitsch  (Marienbad 1925, an illustrative game)
The "Immortal Zugzwang Game" (Sämisch-Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923)

Semmering 1926 (Photo)

Pictures courtesy Alan Cowderoy, Ludwig Karl, Wolfgang Kamm, Palle Mathiasen.

E-mail  Olle Ekengren      

2011-12-14