Weak Squares

`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    Needless to say, to some extent the material is outdated and, as might be expected, engines have punched holes in some of the analysis, but unless you are a Grand master many of his explanations are enlightening.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. 

 

[Event "Hannover"] [Site ""] [Date "1926.08.15"] [Round "?"] [White "Aron Nimzovich"] [Black "Jacques Mieses"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A28"] [Annotator "Stockfish 17"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "1926.08.09"] {A28: English Opening: Four Knights Variation} 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 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.} Bb4 5. d3 d6 6. g3 Bc5 7. Bg2 {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.} Ng4 {Normal moves here are 7...Nd4 and 7...Bg4. The "threat" of capturing on f2 is innocuous.} 8. O-O 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... Nxf2 {This is rarely a good idea.} 9. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 10. Kxf2 O-O {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. Nd5 {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 Bxf5 {Already the engines are declaring a decisive advantage for white! Great! The N is headed for g6.} 11. Nh4 Be6 12. Ng6 Rg8 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. Be3 {For reasons only known to Stockfish this move is rated much higher as black cannot capture the B.} Bxe3 14. fxe3 Nxe3 15. Nxe3 Qg5 16. Bxc6+ bxc6 17. Qf3 {is winning for white.}) 13... Nf6 14. Be3 {[%mdl 2048] 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.} Bxd5 {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... Bf7 {and apparently Nimzovich overlooked} 15. Nxe5 Nxe5 16. Bxc5 {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...} Nxd5 17. cxd5 dxc5 18. Re1 Qe7 19. d4 cxd4 20. Qxd4 O-O-O 21. Rxe5 Qf6 22. Rae1 {with what should be a decisive advantage,}) (14... Bxe3 {This move (not mentioned by Nimzovice, perhaps deliberately) very nearly equalizes.} 15. fxe3 Bxd5 16. cxd5 Ne7 {and white cannot claim ant really significant advantae; in Shootouts white scored +1 -0 =4}) 15. cxd5 Nd4 16. f4 Qd7 17. b4 Bb6 18. fxe5 dxe5 19. Nxe5 Qe7 20. Nc4 {Black is of course lost, but Mieses' inventiveness in looking for a way to save the game is commendable.} Kd8 {Q-side castling is out of the question.} (20... O-O-O 21. Nxb6+ axb6 22. Bxd4 Nxd5 23. Qb3 Qd6 {White is clearly winning.} 24. Rae1) 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. Re1 Qc7 23. Nxb6 Qxb6 {with a clear win.} 24. Qd2) 21... Re8 22. Kh2 Ne2 23. d6 {White let himself be hoodwinked. Simply 23.Qxe2 would have won quite easily. (Nimzovich)} (23. Qxe2 Bxe3 24. Qb2 Qd7 25. Rfe1 Bg5 26. Ne5 Qe7 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. Re1 {This is also a poor move! Capturing on b6 with either piece is better, but there is an even better continuation.} (24. Rf3 Nc3 25. Qb3 Ncd5 26. Nxb6 Nxb6 27. Bd4 Qe6 28. Qxe6 Rxe6 29. a5 Nbd7 30. a6 {and threats along the a8-h1 diagonal prove decisive. A hard line to spot!}) (24. Qxe2 {is simplest.} Bxe3 25. Qf3 {pinning the B. If} d5 26. Rfe1 d4 27. b5 Rb8 28. b6 axb6 29. Rab1 {White has broken through.}) 24... Bxe3 25. Rxe2 Bg1+ 26. Qxg1 Qxe2 {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. Nxd6 Re7 28. a5 (28. Qd4 {leads to a quick knocjout.} Rd7 29. Nxb7+ Ke8 (29... Kc8 30. Rc1+ Kb8 31. Qf4+ {mates}) 30. Qc4 Qxd3 31. Qc6) 28... Rd7 29. Re1 Qd2 30. Nc4 Qxb4 31. a6 {[%mdl 32] The attack is not over and this is the breakthrough.} Rc8 32. Rb1 {It's not over 'til it's over. - baseball player Yogi Berra} (32. axb7 Rxb7 33. Bxb7 Qxb7 34. Qd4+ Qd7 35. Qe5 Rc7 {And black is still fghting...for all practical purposes it might even be said he has equalized!}) 32... Qa4 33. axb7 {Nimzovich now proves he can win a won game.} Rb8 34. Qc5 Rc7 35. Qd4+ Nd7 36. Qxg7 Rc5 37. Qh8+ Kc7 38. Qxh6 Qc2 39. Qd6+ Kd8 40. Rf1 Ke8 41. Rf8+ {[%mdl 512] Brilliant! It's mate in 9, so Mieses resigned.} (41. Rf8+ {OK, so the prosaic 31.Qe5+ mates 3 moves sooner...this is prettier.} Nxf8 42. Qxb8+ Kf7 43. Qf4+ Kg7 44. b8=Q Qxg2+ 45. Kxg2 Ne6 46. Qfd6 Rc8 47. Qxc8 Nf4+ 48. gxf4 a6 49. Qcf8+ Kh7 50. Qdh6#) 1-0