Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

     Margaret Wolfe Hungerford is credited with coining the phrase in her novel Molly Bawn, published in 1878. The saying means that different people have different opinions as to what should be deemed attractive. It means that beauty is subjective, but whether or not that is true has been debated since ancient Greece.

     Shakespeare wrote of beauty in Love’s Labor Lost, saying, “Beauty is bought by judgment of the eye…” Benjamin Franklin wrote in Poor Richard’s Almanack, “Beauty, like supreme dominion/Is but supported by opinion.” 

     According to one article I read you should never say that because "it’s a phrase with the power to silence. Once it’s been uttered, trying to keep up a dialogue about the merits or drawbacks of certain visual things can come across as shrill, anti-social or just plain rude." 

     Aron Nimzovich struggled with the beauty problem in his day. He wrote about it in one of the seldom looked at books in my library, Chess Praxis. The book is his companion to My System and is what he described as, "A textbook of practical chess, illustrated with 109 games from my struggles." In other words, it's a collection of his games. 

     The late chess book publisher Bob Long didn't think much of the book. He thought it has discouraged more chess players than any other book. But, if you read the reviews, some people loved it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. 

     Topics covered include centralization, restriction and blockading, over-protection and prophylaxis, isolated Pawns, hanging Pawns and the two Bishops One of the chapters that caught my attention was "A victory parade of bizarre and ugly moves" ...those two games have to be worth looking at! 

     Nimzovich wrote that it was words like "bizarre and ugly that masters of the "pseudo-classical school" used to describe his moves. But then he asked, since his ideas had "been totally victorious, can anybody claim to understand how such a natural, beautiful and profound line such as, for example, the Hanham Variation (of Philidor's Defense) was ever considered ugly?!" He then explained that "...the formalistic pseudo-classical way of looking at things is dead and you can't flog a dead horse." 

     He also addresses the Advance Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5). Once upon a time the move was considered unmotivated and ugly because it didn't attack anything, but he insisted for 20 long years that it was neither a mistake nor ugly, but a good and sensible move. 

     His claim was that often the judgment of the pseudo-classical school often saw neither the dynamism nor the intrinsic beauty in many of his recommended moves. He summed things up by saying, "...in chess aesthetics must be firmly anchored in concrete thought. If you only judge by external appearances, you can easily consider some moves ugly which are not so. Beauty in chess, in the final judgment, exists only in thought." 

     One game he examined under this heading is Nimzovich vs. Gilg from Kecskemet 1927. You can play over that games with notes by Raymond Keene HERE. The other was his game against Alekhine played in the famous New York 1924 event; Nimzovich called it, "A battle of giants(!)" Take a gander...

[Event "New York"] [Site "New York, NY USA"] [Date "1927.02.26"] [Round "?"] [White "Aron Nimzovich"] [Black "Alexander Alekhine"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A04"] [Annotator "Stockfish 15"] [PlyCount "113"] [EventDate "1927.02.19"] {Reti Opening} 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. b3 d6 3. g3 e5 {[%mdl 32]} 4. c4 {Nimzovich called this move bizarre and noted that he was not afraid of ...e4. He also mate the statement that anyone else would have played 4.d3.} (4. d3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O c5 7. c4 Nc6 8. Nc3 {is quite equal. Vucenovic,L (2118)-Cobic,V (2378) Belgrade 2003}) (4. Bg2 e4 {Also reasonable is 4...Nc6} 5. Ng5 d5 6. d3 h6 7. Nh3 {Black is slightly better. Vaglio Munoz,J (2235)-Orlov,G (2512) Vancouver 2000}) 4... e4 {Nimzovich was critical of this move claiming it weakens the dark squares and it is at the bottom of all the difficulties which will crop up for black. An exaggeration to say the least. The position is, in fact, equal.} 5. Nh4 {Interesting. Nimzovich said that the g2-square was not intended for the B at all. Instead, he intends to place his N in a bizarre position...g2. Most players would prefer 5...Nd4} d5 {This move, which would have been strong if 5...Nd4 had been played, but here it leads to black's Q being drawn out where it is attacked and so loses time, He claimed that there was hardly anything better. He is probably correct, but even so, the move is not as bad as he seems to indicate.} (5... c6 {would yield black a minimal edge after, say...} 6. d4 d5 7. a3 Bd6) 6. cxd5 Qxd5 {With the obvious threat of ...e3} 7. Nc3 Qc6 {Nimzovich gave this a !, but without explanation. 7... Qe6 is plausible though.} 8. e3 {Giving up for all time the possibility of a fianchetto, but 8.Bg2 was not a good idea anyway.} (8. Bg2 g5 9. Bb2 gxh4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Bxh8 h3 12. Bf3 Qg6 {Black is marginally better.}) (8. Bb2 { is a good alternative.} Be7 (8... g5 9. Ng2 Bg7 10. Ne3 {is good for white.}) 9. Bg2 Qe6 10. Qc2 g5 11. Nf5 Qxf5 12. Nxe4 {is equal after 12...Qe6}) 8... a6 {According to Nimzovich this move makes the defense harder, without it being hopeless.} (8... Bg4 {was his recommendation, but white gets no more than equality after} 9. Qxg4 Nxg4 10. Bb5) 9. Bb2 Bg4 {Here 8...Bg4 was definitely better.} 10. Be2 (10. Qb1 {was better. After} Nbd7 11. Bg2 {white stands quite well. For example...} Ne5 12. Nxe4 Qb5 13. Nxf6+ gxf6 {White is a P up with a solid position, but compared to black, he has little play so the chances are about equal.}) 10... Bxe2 {An interesting possibility was 10...h5. Now white seizes the initiative.} 11. Nxe2 Nbd7 {[%mdl 32]} 12. Rc1 {This attack on the Q is what Nimzovich was referring to back on move 5.} Qb6 13. O-O {Nimzovich pointed out that 13.Qc2 would have maintained the pressure, but even the weaker text should not allow black to shake off the pressure. He then made the rather obscure comment: Once the opportunity for white-squared counterplay was missed, it will not return. And for that reason he was extremely dubious about Alekhine's attempted white-squared coup d'état in the following moves. His not to move 15 makes it clear what he was talking about.} Bd6 {Oddly, this move is a rathe rpoor one!} (13... O-O-O {Is best. Rather too risky now would be 13...g5} 14. f3 Kb8 15. Qc2 exf3 16. Nxf3 Bd6 {White still has the better prospects for attack.}) (13... g5 14. Nf5 O-O-O 15. Qc2 Re8 16. Bd4 {and white is calling the shots.}) 14. f3 {Equally good, maybe even a bit better was 14.d3 } Be5 {Extremely interesting! Alekhine wants to occupy the white squares (d3) at any cost. But what is the logic of the game? Well, he takes a rather skeptical attitude to it. Why and how should the white squares suddenly be able to put the black squares in the shade!? After black's slip on move 8 his black squares had become chronically weak; white had not made any mistakes (because 13.0-0 was not one), so his opponent's violent, though ingenious, attempt must somehow be wrong. - Nimzovich. After the text engines put white's advantage at a little over a Pawn. That said, after 14...exf3 white woulkd be only slightly better.} 15. Bxe5 Nxe5 16. fxe4 Nd3 {Mission accomplished, but white still has the advantage.} 17. Rc3 O-O-O 18. Qb1 Nxe4 {According to Nimzovich you cannot have a coup d'état (the sudden, violent overthrow of an existing government by a small group) without some sort of sacrifice!} (18... Nc5 {would have been better.} 19. d3 {and white is better, but only slightly.}) 19. Rxd3 Nxd2 20. Rxd8+ Rxd8 {Black's demonstration has achieved nothing and now white is clearly superior. However, it must be noted (as will be seen in upcoming notes) that white must be careful not to let his advantage slip.} 21. Qf5+ (21. Qxh7 Nxf1 22. Kxf1 Qxe3 23. Qf5+ (23. Qxg7 Rd1+ {wins}) 23... Kb8 24. Qf3 Rd1+ 25. Kg2 Qe5 26. Kf2 Qc5+ 27. Kg2 Rd2 {followed by 28... g5 is good for black.}) 21... Kb8 22. Re1 (22. Qxh7 {is still bad.} Qxe3+ 23. Rf2 Ne4 { and black is winning.}) (22. Qxf7 {lets his advantage slip.} Qxe3+ 23. Rf2 Ne4 24. Qf3 Rd1+ 25. Kg2 Qxf2+ 26. Qxf2 Nxf2 27. Kxf2 Rd2 {This position is advantageous to black. 5 Shootouts ended in black wins.}) 22... Qxe3+ 23. Qf2 Qd3 $16 24. Nf4 (24. Qxf7 {is wrong because black gets the advantage after} g5 25. Qe7 gxh4) 24... Qc3 {This got a ? from Nimzovich claiming that 24...Qc2 would have left black good chances of a draw. But how would things turn out, asked? Would the coup d'état be correct? Or would the black or the white squares be able to achieve dominance at wilk No, neither. Firstly, the draw (after 24...Qc2) would not be certain and secondly it has not yet been proved that white did not have a stronger line somewhere along the way (for example on move 22), and thirdly, there are unfortunately many positions in which a clearly demonstrable advantage is not enough for a win (victory by attrition should be included!). - Nimzovich. Stockfish puts white's advantage at just a bit over one Pawn and the difference between 24...Qc3 and 24...Qc2 is inconsequential.} 25. Re3 Qc1+ {There follows a bitter struggle; White wins, but only after hours of hard effort. - Nimzovich} 26. Kg2 Qc6+ (26... g5 { is met by} 27. Nd3 Qc6+ 28. Nf3) 27. Nf3 g5 28. Nd3 Nxf3 29. Qxf3 Qc2+ 30. Nf2 f5 31. Re2 Qc5 32. Nd3 {[%mdl 32]} Qd4 33. Ne5 f4 34. Nc4 {According to Spielmann, 34.g4 was a sate move because white had to set up a middlegame attack. But when it finally gets to an endgame the protected passed Pawn not ecome unpleasant.} fxg3 35. Rd2 Qh8 36. Rxd8+ Qxd8 37. hxg3 Qd4 38. Qf8+ Ka7 39. Qf2 Qxf2+ 40. Kxf2 {[%mdl 4096] An instructive and difficult endgame has been reached. Stockfish puts white's advantage at at 6.5 Ps; Komodo puts it at a little over 1.5 Ps. Let's go with Stockfish.} h5 {The win is still hanging by a thread, namely a study-like turn of events, see the note to black's 41 move.- Nimzovich} 41. Ke3 {The sealed move.} c5 {Nimzovich considered 41...b5 to be the main line, nut, in fact, black has a wide choice of moves, none of which can be considered absolutely the best.} 42. a4 b5 43. axb5 $1 axb5 44. Nd2 Kb6 45. Ne4 h4 46. g4 $1 h3 47. Kf3 b4 {Nimzovich attached a ! to this move, commenting, "A final ingenious flurry before it is all over."} 48. Nxg5 c4 49. Ne4 cxb3 50. g5 {White mates.} b2 51. Nd2 Kc5 52. g6 h2 53. Kg2 Kd4 54. g7 Kd3 55. g8=Q {It took Stockfish seconds to calculate a mate in 21 moves.} Kxd2 56. Qa2 Kc2 57. Qc4+ {Black resigned. Mate follows.} (57. Qc4+ Kd2 { Same fate, same number of moves if 57...Kd1} 58. Qxb4+ Kc2 59. Qc4+ Kd1 60. Qb3+ Kc1 61. Qc3+ Kb1 62. Kxh2 Ka2 63. Qc4+ Ka1 64. Qa4+ Kb1 65. Kg2 Kc1 66. Qc4+ Kd1 67. Qb3+ Kc1 68. Qc3+ Kb1 69. Kf3 Ka2 70. Qc4+ Ka3 71. Qb5 b1=Q 72. Qxb1 Ka4 73. Ke4 Ka5 74. Kd5 Ka4 75. Kc4 Ka3 76. Qa1#) 1-0