The
Neoromantic School
The new ideas advocated by Nimzowitsch came to be called the "Neoromantic
or Hypermodern School".
(Tartakower even uses the name "Ultra-Modernisten".) Other prominent representatives of this school were
Breyer, Grünfeld, Réti, Rubinstein and
Tartakower. The latter, whose verbal gift almost equalled his chess talent,
coined the term
"hypermodern" in his book Die hypermoderne Schachpartie
(1924), being a witty rejoinder to
Tarrasch's Die moderne Schachpartie
(1912).
However, it would not be right to give a specified "list of members"
of the Neoromantic School, and Nimzowitsch
sometimes critizised his colleagues for certain ideas, but no doubt there was a
tendency shared to a certain extent
by a group of players.
Tartakower
Rubinstein
Maróczy
Nimzowitsch also referred
to Emanuel Lasker and Geza Moróczy as modernists, although they belonged to an
older generation. Lasker, Capablanca, and Aljechin did not explicitly take sides
in the theoretical dispute between
the "hypermodernists" and the "pseudo-classics". They were
simply very strong players and did not bother too
much about what constituted a strong move; they just played it. 1
However, the
defense introduced by Aljechin,
1.e4 Nf6, was an innovation entirely in the neoromantic style. Rudolf Spielmann
in no way rejected Nimzowitsch's
ideas, but he took a more pragmatic view, expressed in his book Richtig
opfern ("Sacrificing the Right Way "),
where he emphasizes the importance of intuition and calculated risk taking.
Emanuel
Lasker
Alexander Aljechin
World Champion 1894-1921, a true record.
World Champion 1921-27
Réti-Nimzowitsch ?
Wilhelm Steinitz, World Champion 1886-94 (here aged 30)
Steinitz is regarded as a forerunner of what later came to be called the
Neoromantic School.

Steinitz and Lasker, probably at the 1894 World Championship.
1) According to an anecdote, Samuel Reshewsky was once asked how many moves
ahead he used to calculate, and the answer was
"Only one move, but a strong one".
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