Lavieren ("Luffing", Maneuvering)
Nimzowitsch explains the concept of
"Lavieren" (German for Eng. Luffing, Middle Dutch laveeren,
a nautical term meaning to sail against the wind) in the following way:
Suppose there are two possible
alternatives of attack, but the defender has a sufficient defense against
both of them. The attacker normally has somewhat better terrain conditions, and
he can use this advantage
by regrouping his pieces in such a way that the defender's pieces have to be
posed in uncomfortable
positions in order to avert the threats.
The regrouping operation presupposes
that there is an adquate working distance between the two weak
points, and the work should be bound to a "pivot", or
"intermediate station". Other terms are "axis" and
"line of demarcation".
So it is not a matter of moving around
your pieces in an aimless way. Some malicious chess writer has
qualified "Lavieren" as "the art of doing nothing", which is
quite contrary to Nimzowitsch's theory as
explained above, and which can be seen from the two following examples:
Kalaschnikow-Nimzowitsch 1914
White has two weak points, h3 and c3.
Black's plan is Kd7-e7-f7-g6, followed by f7-f5, which will force
f2-f3, and Black will break through. But on 36.-Ke7 White played 37.Sg2! Now the
game would have been
a draw, unless there had been an opportunity of an attack on the other wing:
37.- Ra1+ 38.Rc1 Ra2! 39.Ne1! Kf7
(gaining a tempo). And now one more round: 40.Rc2 Ra3! 41.Ng2 Ra1+ 42.Rc1 Ra2!
43.Ne1 Kg6 44.Rc2 Ra3
45. f3 f5, and Black has reached his goal. White resigned in the 56th move.
Also the second example involves the gaining of a tempo:
Gottschall-Nimzowitsch, Hannover 1926
The White pawn at c5 is weak, since its
defender Bf2 is insecure. Black's plan is to create an additional weakness
at h3. Black chose the following maneuvre: 39.- Ke5 40.Rb4 Kd5, with zugzwang.
41.h4 gxh4 42.gxh4 Rh3!
43.Rd4+ Ke6 44.Rd8 Bd5, and now Black started a systematic maneuvering against
h4, with g4 as his axis,
and could eventually break through via g4. So 41.h4 was forced (zugzwang), for
if 41.Rd4+ so Kxc5 42.Rxa4+? Rxf2+;
and if 41.Rb6 so h4 42.gxh4 gxh4 43.Bxh4 Kxc5.
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