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  • Thursday, December 19, 2024

    Weak Squares

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    In 1925, Aron Nimzovich’s My System was published in Germany. The English edition (translated by Philip Hereford and published by G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.) wasn’t published until 1929. In it he expounded his theories of prophylaxis, blockade and much more, while providing ground-breaking insights in Pawn structures. 
        Nimzovich’s followup companion book, Chess Praxis, was originally published in German in 1929. It was an exposition of his theories filled with 109 of his well annotated games. At some point World Champion (1963-1968) Tigran Petrosion got a copy of the book and it had a great influence on his development. 
        Needless to say, to some extent the material is outdated and, as might be expected, engines have punched holes in some of the analysis, but unless you are a Grand master many of his explanations are enlightening. 
        As a player Nimzovich is not highly esteemed today, but at the height of his career in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s Chessmetrics ranks him in the top five in the world. 

        The following game was an example of weak squares of the same color. Mieses seems to have a satisfactory position attacking in the center and, but Nimzovicj’s counterattack on the weakened light squares on the Q-side lead to victory. The game was played at Hanover in 1926 in celebration of the local club’s fifty year anniversary. Eight players were invited, including two very strong foreigners, Nimzovich and Rubinstein. 
      A game that I liked (Fritz 17)
    Aron NimzovichJacques Mieses1–0A28Hannover15.08.1926Stockfish 17
    A28: English Opening: Four Knights Variation 1.c4 e5 2.c3 f6 3.f3 c6 4.e4 Nimzovich called this his special Dresden Variation. Today it has come to be known as the Nimzovich Variation. It's characterized by this early center P advance and the development of the Ns by both sides. It often leads to closed positions and a more strategic and less tactical game. Both players aim to control the center with Ps and Ns. The P-structure can vary greatly which leads to different middlegame plans. One of the main ideas for white is to expand on the Q-side, while black often looks for counterplay on the K-side or in the center. b4 5.d3 d6 6.g3 c5 7.g2 Nimzovich thought the preventative 7.h3 was also worth considering. However, that move seem to have been rarely tried in this position. In any case it does not lead to more than equality. g4 Normal moves here are 7...Nd4 and 7...Bg4. The "threat" of capturing on f2 is innocuous. 8.0-0 f5 Typical risky play by Miese. Castling was a safe option. Nomzovicj comments that this position is hard to evaluate: Black appears strong on the dark squares (f2 and d4), but white seems to be in a position to initiate some counterplay based on the light squares. Engines prefer white by about a P and a half. 8...xf2 This is rarely a good idea. 9.xf2 xf2+ 10.xf2 0-0 When discussing this type of situation (B+N vs. R+P_ GM Arthuir Bisguier once commented that he belueved that against a weaker opponent he could win with either side. Of course, that's usually the case, but here engines give white a consoderable advantage. 9.d5 This results in equality. According to Nimzovich two other moves worth considering were 9.exf5 and 9.Bg5 which is preferred by Stockfish and keeps the advantage in white's favor. h6 This is highly questionable because as Nimzovich points out it damages his dark square as it is a loss of time and it also helps white with his light squared plans: Again, castling seems almost obvious. 10.exf5 xf5 Already the engines are declaring a decisive advantage for white! Great! The N is headed for g6. 11.h4 e6 12.g6 g8 13.h3 Nimzovich wrote that now that he has control of all the light squares, hr now sets about driving his opponent off the dark. ones. However, this move loses most all of his advantage! 13.e3 For reasons only known to Stockfish this move is rated much higher as black cannot capture the B. xe3 14.fxe3 xe3 15.xe3 g5 16.xc6+ bxc6 17.f3 is winning for white. 13...f6 14.e3 Preparing for b4, because if he had played it straight away the reply 14...Nd4 would have been possible. At this point white's advantage consists of a strong initiative. xd5 This is the wrong capture. Nimzovich wrote that it seems 14...Bf7 was necessary. He commented that while black is defending against the individual threats he is not achieving anything by way of clearing up the situation on the light squares. All this seems somewhat esoteric, but it IS a bad move. 14...f7 and apparently Nimzovich overlooked 15.xe5 xe5 16.xc5 Black has three captures (16...cad5, 16...Bxd5 and 16...Nxd5), but white retains a clear advantage after each one. Just ti guve inr variation... xd5 17.cxd5 dxc5 18.e1 e7 19.d4 cxd4 20.xd4 0-0-0 21.xe5 f6 22.ae1 with what should be a decisive advantage, 14...xe3 This move (not mentioned by Nimzovice, perhaps deliberately) very nearly equalizes. 15.fxe3 xd5 16.cxd5 e7 and white cannot claim ant really significant advantae; in Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4 15.cxd5 d4 16.f4 d7 17.b4 b6 18.fxe5 dxe5 19.xe5 e7 20.c4 Black is of course lost, but Mieses' inventiveness in looking for a way to save the game is commendable. d8 Q-side castling is out of the question. 20...0-0-0 21.xb6+ axb6 22.xd4 xd5 23.b3 d6 White is clearly winning. 24.ae1 21.a4 This is not as bad as Nimzovich seemed to think when he stated (cirrectly) that there is a win with 21.Re1 or even the fancier 21.d6 21.d6 cxd6 22.e1 c7 23.xb6 xb6 with a clear win. 24.d2 21...e8 22.h2 e2 23.d6 White let himself be hoodwinked. Simply 23.Qxe2 would have won quite easily. (Nimzovich) 23.xe2 xe3 24.b2 d7 25.fe1 g5 26.e5 e7 27.d4 To the untrained eye it may look like black os OK, but Nimzovich and the engines realize "white is clearly winning." 23...cxd6 24.e1 This is also a poor move! Capturing on b6 with either piece is better, but there is an even better continuation. 24.f3 c3 25.b3 cd5 26.xb6 xb6 27.d4 e6 28.xe6 xe6 29.a5 bd7 30.a6 and threats along the a8-h1 diagonal prove decisive. A hard line to spot! 24.xe2 is simplest. xe3 25.f3 pinning the B. If d5 26.fe1 d4 27.b5 b8 28.b6 axb6 29.ab1 White has broken through. 24...xe3 25.xe2 g1+ 26.xg1 xe2 Unfortunately for black, white's "loss of the exchange has force the game away from the normal course of development, but it made no difference to the essential element of the situation - namely the attacking possibilities on the (ligjt) squares." Nimzovich 27.xd6 e7 28.a5 28.d4 leads to a quick knocjout. d7 29.xb7+ e8 29...c8 30.c1+ b8 31.f4+ mates 30.c4 xd3 31.c6 28...d7 29.e1 d2 30.c4 xb4 31.a6 The attack is not over and this is the breakthrough. c8 32.b1 It's not over 'til it's over. - baseball player Yogi Berra 32.axb7 xb7 33.xb7 xb7 34.d4+ d7 35.e5 c7 And black is still fghting...for all practical purposes it might even be said he has equalized! 32...a4 33.axb7 Nimzovich now proves he can win a won game. b8 34.c5 c7 35.d4+ d7 36.xg7 c5 37.h8+ c7 38.xh6 c2 39.d6+ d8 40.f1 e8 41.f8+ Brilliant! It's mate in 9, so Mieses resigned. 41.f8+ OK, so the prosaic 31.Qe5+ mates 3 moves sooner...this is prettier. xf8 42.xb8+ f7 43.f4+ g7 44.b8 xg2+ 45.xg2 e6 46.fd6 c8 47.xc8 f4+ 48.gxf4 a6 49.cf8+ h7 50.dh6# 1–0

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