Aaron Nimzovich

Nimzowitsch's seminal work Chess Praxis, originally published in Germany, in 1929, was purchased by a pre-teen and future World Champion Tigran Petrosian and was to have a great influence on his development as a chess player.[1]

• Name — Aron Nimzowitsch • Born — 7 November 1886 • Birthplace — Riga, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire • Died — 16 March 1935 • Place of death — Copenhagen, Denmark • Citizenship — Russian Empire (until 1917) Stateless (1917–1922) Denmark (1922–1935) • Occupation — Chess player • Notable Works — My System

Born in Riga, then part of the Russian Empire, the Jewish Yiddish-speaking Nimzowitsch came from a wealthy family, where he learned chess from his father Shaya Abramovich Nimzowitsch (1860, Pinsk – 1918), who was a timber merchant. By 1897, the family lived in Dvinsk.[2] Mother's name: Esphir Nohumovna Nimzowitsch (born Rabinovich, 1865, Polotsk – 1937), sister – Tsilya-Kreyna Pevzner, brothers Yakov, Osey and Benno. In 1904, he travelled to Berlin to study philosophy, but set aside his studies soon and began a career as a professional chess player that same year. He won his first international tournament at Munich 1906.[3] Then, he tied for first with Alexander Alekhine at Saint Petersburg 1913/14 (the eighth All-Russian Masters' Tournament).[4] During the 1917 Russian Revolution, Nimzowitsch was in the Baltic war zone. He escaped being drafted into one of the armies by feigning madness, insisting that a fly was on his head. He then escaped to Berlin, and gave his first name as Arnold, possibly to avoid anti-Semitic persecution.[5] Nimzowitsch eventually moved to Copenhagen in 1922,[6] where he lived for the rest of his life in one small rented room.[7] In Copenhagen, he won the Nordic Championship twice, in 1924 and in 1934. He obtained Danish citizenship and lived in Denmark until his death in 1935.

The height of Nimzowitsch's career was the late 1920s and early 1930s. Chessmetrics places him as the third best player in the world from 1927 to 1931, behind Alexander Alekhine and José Capablanca.[8] His most notable successes were first-place finishes at Copenhagen 1923, Marienbad 1925, Dresden 1926, Hanover 1926, the Carlsbad 1929 chess tournament, and second place behind Alekhine at the San Remo 1930 chess tournament. Nimzowitsch never developed a knack for match play, though; his best match success was a draw with Alekhine, but the match consisted of only two games and took place in 1914, thirteen years before Alekhine became world champion. Nimzowitsch never beat Capablanca (+0−5=6), but fared better against Alekhine (+3−9=9). He even beat Alekhine with the black pieces, in their short 1914 match at St. Petersburg. One of Nimzowitsch's most famous games is his celebrated immortal zugzwang game against Sämisch at Copenhagen 1923. Another game on this theme is his win over Paul Johner at Dresden 1926. When in form, Nimzowitsch was very dangerous with the black pieces, scoring many fine wins over top players.

There are many entertaining anecdotes regarding Nimzowitsch—some less savory than others. An article by Hans Kmoch and Fred Reinfeld entitled "Unconventional Surrender" on page 55 of the February 1950 Chess Review tells of the "... example of Nimzowitsch, who... once missed first prize in a tournament in Berlin by losing to Sämisch, and when it became clear he was going to lose the game, Nimzowitsch stood up on the table and shouted, 'Gegen diesen Idioten muss ich verlieren!' ('I must lose to this idiot!')". Nimzowitsch was annoyed by his opponents' smoking. A popular, but probably apocryphal, story is that once when an opponent laid an unlit cigar on the table, he complained to the tournament arbiters, "He is threatening to smoke, and as an old player you must know that the threat is stronger than the execution."[16] Nimzowitsch had lengthy and somewhat bitter dogmatic conflicts with Tarrasch over whose ideas constituted 'proper' chess. Nimzowitsch's vanity and faith in his ideas of overprotection inspired Hans Kmoch to write a parody about him in February 1928 in the Wiener Schachzeitung. This consisted of a mock game[17] against the fictional player "Systemsson", supposedly played and annotated by Nimzowitsch himself. The annotations gleefully exaggerate the idea of overprotection, as well as asserting the true genius of the wondrous idea. Kmoch was in fact a great admirer of Nimzowitsch, and Nimzowitsch was amused at the effort.[18] Kmoch also wrote an article about his nine years with Nimzowitsch: Nimzovich suffered from the delusion that he was unappreciated and that the reason was malice. All it took to make him blossom, as I later learned, was a little praise. His paranoia was most evident when he dined in company. He always thought he was served much smaller portions than everyone else. He didn't care about the actual amount but only about the imagined affront. I once suggested that he and I order what the other actually wanted and, when the food was served, exchange plates. After we had done so, he shook his head in disbelief, still thinking that he had received the smaller portion. Nimzowitsch's colleague Tartakower observed of him, "He pretends to be crazy in order to drive us all crazy."

Although he had long suffered from heart trouble, his early death was unexpected; taken ill suddenly at the end of 1934, he lay bedridden for three months before dying of pneumonia.[19] He is buried in Bispebjerg Cemetery in Copenhagen.[20]

• Friedrich Sämisch vs Aron Nimzowitsch, Copenhagen 1923, 0–1 The "Immortal Zugzwang Game"[22] • Paul Johner vs Aron Nimzowitsch, Dresden 1926, 0–1[23] This game was chosen by Bent Larsen as his favourite game in Learn from the Grandmasters. • Richard Réti vs Aron Nimzowitsch, Berlin 1928, 0–1[24][25] • Efim Bogoljubov vs Aron Nimzowitsch, San Remo 1930, 0–1[26]

Aaron Nimzovich is recorded with the occupation chess player. Recorded as chess player, chess theoretician, writer, chess composer and athlete.