Hi there.
In this lecture, we see Paul Jonah against Aaron Nimzowitsch.
So nimzowitsch with my system was actually, in my view, kind of repackaging the art of war in particular.
Put yourself beyond the feet before going onto the attack.
He called it a form of kind of safeguarding your possession so you can do this, safeguarding in many
different ways.
If you restrain and blockade the opponent's pieces, that's safeguarding.
If you can employ extreme prophylaxis or over protection, your safeguarding prophylactic is preventing
the opponent's threats in advance.
Protection, like protecting a key central square, is strengthening your possession, so it's providing
security measures to your position.
It's putting yourself beyond the feet before going on to the attack, in effect.
Now, here there's also a famous saying of nimzowitsch, which is restrain blockade.
And usually he says destroy.
But you can also replace that last bit with attack because you've got the safeguarding bit and you can
attack the opponent's king.
You don't have to win a pawn on the queenside necessarily.
That's only a battle.
You can actually go for the king.
And this is a great example where nimzowitsch in practice, he's strengthening his position for restraint
and blockade, and then he's going for an attack against the king.
So D4 from Jonah we have nice f6 c4 e6 so he's using his beloved Nimzowitsch Indian system which can
give rise to restraints against the opponent's pieces.
So Bishop de phrase c5 9739 C6 Why castles now Bishop take C3 the piece in particular to kind of target
for restraint.
Is this C1 Bishop It's not in harmony with the pawn structure.
The double pawns can also be restrained so that they don't liberate the pieces too much.
So we see D6 so its restraints on the C5 square against the double pawns.
And this bishop is another virtual target.
Here we have 92 B6 nine be free and now E5.
So keeping the position locked up, especially of this bishop on C one.
It's a locked in bishop at the moment and for now this kills the C1 Bishop prospects.
It seems E4 might have been an interesting move instead.
So six stopping Bishop G5 there is also you could view well it's a bishop of our counterpart as well,
but if it can't really go anywhere then White's edge is contained here.
It's only a small edge if anything, but we've therefore four.
We have E4 and you can see the bishops locked in.
So this positional play shows really a great mastery of attack.
We shouldn't be going out of our way to artificially attack the opponent.
We should have some evidence that our attacks are going to be successful.
We should be accumulating a position advantage of some sort.
And here we've accumulated a lot of restraints already.
On White's position.
White's piece is restrained, especially the C1 bishop we have now Queen D seven, a 397 queen in one,
now H five.
So this also restrains the possibility of G4.
So restraining on both sides of the board.
Bishop D2, Queen F five, H two and now Queen H seven.
This is curious, isn't it?
It's X the King.
And it keeps an overt protection of the E for central point.
It's still centrally influencing as well A four and now F five.
So using also the square vacation of course gives that new resource might have five now if white plate
if nimzowitsch rather played A5, there's a potentially useful target to the backward be6 pawn on the
semi-open file.
And I'll give you an example where this could be advantageous for Y in the sense that Black's attack
will be limited.
If resources are having to be spent nannying, the pawn, then that's less resources for the attack
here.
Black does have an edge, but it seems interesting that yeah, the tempting A5 isn't played so it saves
that hassle.
Not having a backward pawn introduced so 95 we have g free here.
Concretely if rook b one can you see what black has which is pretty strong.
So Knight is looking in e free.
What would you play for 100 points here.
We have nothing for check and we're looking at EA free.
So if the king moves, you know, we're just going to take on EA free.
If H takes, we open up the Queen, check g free form --, very dangerous form -- ingredients which
is going to be champ mating if a five do we jump in with nothing for a major thing?
Well, one is potentially French thing.
Eight takes b six.
So actually we can use kind of delayed gratification here.
We don't have to jump in immediately.
We've got G4 check, we can play Bishop DD seven and White's in big difficulties here.
We don't actually minds for example this position we can play rock AB eight and then h four.
We've a great attacking position if they play eight times B six here, we don't mind the rooks coming
off.
White still got some very, very bad pieces and Black can actually use this file in some cases.
For example, ninth C one rook, one blockading and restraining even more the opponent's pieces.
So yes, this is like delayed gratification, tiny opponent completely down then going on to the attack
rather than going on the attack immediately.
It is a wider form of delayed gratification.
And yeah, in certain variations we don't immediately have to play nine G4 check if we did venture when
she full chunk here.
It's still it's such a strong position that's actually here we still have attacking potential but it's
not as nice in my view that the opponent seems to be doing something positive on this side of the board.
So this recession, it's still very strong for black with nine to have free check as a resource.
So here it's it's very, very dangerous.
So that's for king, king queen.
And if it's taken so if the king moves, we take, you know, and if G takes it, if it's taken with
G takes, this is a strong attack as well.
Just showing the strength of the black position.
Queen G, Shaq Bishop E4.
And all of a sudden this B file is now dangerous.
So even in these scenarios, it's very, very dangerous for the white king.
You can see a lot of backfires.
So, yes, it's a fascinating position to study for a five, you know, But, you know, Bishop D seven
is very pleasant.
But yeah, we can even just go in like G4, it seems if 94 and King G one.
Yeah.
Then taking on E3 taking on E3 we do leave this 8b6 seemingly interesting opportunity, but we win,
you know F one here.
And this position is still going to be pleasant for black.
But why give whites any counterplay to speak of We don't need to do this.
So yeah, it's just interesting to observe.
You know, Bishop D7 is in the spirit of strengthening the position, handle the opponent's threats,
restrain blockade, handle the opponent's threats first before indulging in the attack.
It's almost like a form of delayed gratification in a wider sense.
Okay, so back to the game.
So Jeffrey was played trying to address address night G for check.
We have a five now for Nimzowitsch in this position, Rook G one and now Knight H six.
Bishop F one.
Bishop D seven.
So that's why he's down the way it works.
So why is restraint on A4 now looking after A4 Bishop C one That bishop really has nothing to do.
We have Rook eight and now D five Closing the center kind of condemns the C one bishop.
So a lot of white pieces are actually being condemned here.
This is also kind of locked in.
This is also not doing much.
The rook is also not doing much.
White's pieces are starting to be condemned to passivity one by one whilst Black now is arranging an
attack.
So King H 892 Rook G eight Preparing G five.
What can we do about this?
This is just a brilliant attacking position in effect.
So g five.
So it makes it possible to start rearranging the works, the line pieces to amplify and intensify the
pressure.
So Rook to not have five pressure scrutiny being built up on points g three in effect either through
x ray or direct link.
So Bishop H one the works building up the pressure mounting Queen D one and now G takes F for opening
up resources.
Now it takes her full.
If G takes her for we just take on G one fancy.
Very much so.
E takes her for Bishop's C eight and the Bishop is making itself useful here by wanting to target C
four and through that would take away a key defender of G three.
So we have Queen B three, Bishop six.
Not minding if B six drops.
So Rookie two.
If Queen takes B six.
Yes.
Bishop take C four heads the rook as well with tempo then G four check here.
Nice H four is actually rather crushing because of Knight takes F to check rook takes G one.
That's one case of extreme punishment actually as well.
So Rookie two we have Knight H four now rookie free If Queen takes B6 hare might have free check is
kind of vicious Bishop takes f e tanks rook b2 there's actually f two in this position so if Rook takes
F2 knight G for check.
Yes.
Like an escape square of the king being taken out in effect of the Brooklyn F two.
And that's, that's starting to be very embarrassing, Queenie.
To check it's crashing through absolutely crushing stuff.
So rookie free is tried we have Bishop C eight and now Queen C two.
If Queen St's B six.
Here we just amplify the Bishop of the Battery, Queen F five and find line the diagonal line pieces
here on H three If rook G2 knight a free check, why it's going to have to give up the exchange.
It's horrible.
Yeah, it's crushing.
So Queen C two bishop takes H three is now played, so this is really a crushing move.
So we'll see why now.
So what does won't do won't play Bishop takes e fall.
If King takes here.
Queen a five Jack and this starts to be horrible with Knight G4 as example.
It's it's unbelievably horrible.
So so Quincy two is played you know after Bishop takes age three.
Yeah we have Bishop takes E4 tried.
Bishop just goes back to Earth five now Bishop takes nine takes again with that intense scrutiny on
G3 with H four as well potentially coming rookie two and now age four putting even more scrutiny on
G three.
We have Rook gg2.
It's all it's it's over.
Basically this position is over four so rook gg2h takes G3 double check King Ju on rook H three knight
e free nice H four so threatening the nasty knight free check and an F king and queen H one is example.
So King moves now but now rookie and here White resigned if D one
just celebrating the pin is going to be crashing soon.
So this position now Knight G for for example Knight takes Queen H one check and we have a beautiful
checkmate in this situation.
Can you say what that is for?
Ten points.
These guys are taking out escape squares of the opponent's king quite nicely.
The knight is taking out G2 the pawn and take out after we have amazing combination.
Yeah.
Queen.
Thanks G one check check checks and I'm rookie one checkmate there So anyway the game ended on rookie
I it's kind of horrific this position so why was convinced just to resign him.
Yeah so yeah this game shows nimzowitsch as an attacking player You might think he's a positional player
but you know he won major tournaments you know ahead of alekhine sometimes and a very influential hyper
modernist and his restraint blockade destroy is like a positional implication of Australian blockade.
If you can restrain the blockade, you've strengthened your position in effect by blockading the opponent's
key pieces.
You've nullified the opponent's key pieces.
It's a great ingredient of attack.
It's like when you park somewhere, you know, locking up the car and then going to the shops, You're
putting safeguards into your position so you can venture out, putting safeguards before you venture
out for the attack, restrain blockade.
You can choose to attack the opponent's king after the security precautions are put into your position.
So there's some fantastic inspirational examples from Nimzowitsch.
And for me, this is this is one of them, a great attacking game, in effect.
So I hope you get the spirit of it's art of war, the neural networks.
Absolutely.
You know, like leader absolutely had marvelous games with this same principle, getting very, very
strong positions, protecting key points.
And, you know, the traditional engines just couldn't cope with the intensification of pressure, the
intensification of scrutiny on key squares around their.
KING.
You know, so there's many, many examples of this strategy is a very positional strategy.
It reduces the tactical chaos, oppositions reduces the opponent's counterplay, and you're going for
an attack which is just very, very difficult to do anything about by this point.
And look at this hopeless bishop in this final position.
Yeah, this bishop really didn't contribute much to White's game, so it was really, you know, restrained
and blockaded in effect, as well as these double pawns.
They couldn't liberate the white pieces.
Okay.
I hope that's quite instructive and inspirational and so much.