WEBVTT 00:00.820 --> 00:01.570 Hi there. 00:01.570 --> 00:04.240 In this lecture, we see the immortal Zugzwang game. 00:04.240 --> 00:11.830 This is Friedrich Simek against Aron Nimzowitsch in 1923, the Copenhagen tournament round six for from 00:11.850 --> 00:17.530 Samish native six, C four with ce6 ninth, F three. 00:17.650 --> 00:19.870 So we're in Queens, Indian territory. 00:21.160 --> 00:22.330 B six. 00:22.330 --> 00:23.410 We have G free. 00:23.410 --> 00:24.370 Bishop B seven. 00:25.150 --> 00:26.080 Bishop G two. 00:26.080 --> 00:28.380 Bishop e79. 00:28.450 --> 00:29.240 C free. 00:29.260 --> 00:32.320 Both sides Castle and now D five. 00:33.250 --> 00:36.640 We have Knight, E five and now C six. 00:37.660 --> 00:43.300 So this may be a slight inaccuracy and BD seven is interesting as well. 00:43.480 --> 00:43.840 Four. 00:43.840 --> 00:44.680 C six. 00:44.980 --> 00:52.840 Now, for example, this possession black could take on E five and simplify. 00:52.930 --> 00:57.340 So this would be a way to limit White's potential advantage. 00:59.920 --> 01:02.920 Okay, But see, sex is played. 01:02.920 --> 01:09.640 We have C takes D five, which doesn't exploits the slight move order issue. 01:09.640 --> 01:15.910 It seems as though in this position White could have played e four but opening theory wasn't so evolved. 01:15.910 --> 01:20.080 So d d take c four here, take c four. 01:20.080 --> 01:20.230 Why? 01:20.230 --> 01:21.710 It should be better here. 01:21.730 --> 01:23.470 This position would be free. 01:23.860 --> 01:24.220 Why? 01:24.250 --> 01:32.020 It has quite a nice sensor and if B 492 this is still going to be quite interesting. 01:32.320 --> 01:38.110 Even if D four drops, there's a lot of compensation here for white, so this would have been a very 01:38.110 --> 01:44.590 active continuation and there aren't that many active continuations in this game for white. 01:44.590 --> 01:49.390 So this is something to be celebrated here before we get into the game. 01:49.390 --> 01:53.290 More so C tanks, D five, C takes D five. 01:53.290 --> 01:55.300 We have a four and now a six. 01:58.890 --> 02:06.170 So this is an interesting 4b5 and try and use the outpost square on the on the file. 02:06.180 --> 02:09.990 The C four square could be a useful outpost for a night. 02:11.400 --> 02:16.140 So we have C, one, B five now Queen B, free. 02:16.140 --> 02:18.210 This is a slight inaccuracy. 02:18.240 --> 02:23.130 Might be one would have been a good move the night to improve itself. 02:23.130 --> 02:25.380 It's not really doing much at sea free. 02:25.560 --> 02:32.310 This would have been a kind of Carpathian move the knight retreat and here for example, why it should 02:32.310 --> 02:34.410 still have a small edge. 02:36.240 --> 02:40.560 So queen bee free 9c69 take C six. 02:40.560 --> 02:46.560 This was another opportunity just just to be even with E free. 02:46.560 --> 02:48.600 Just just play the solid E free. 02:48.600 --> 02:51.360 This position should be about even. 02:53.070 --> 02:57.220 Old, 1935, 1935. 02:57.240 --> 03:03.390 This position one has a small edge here. 03:06.900 --> 03:07.360 Okay. 03:07.500 --> 03:15.810 So if we look at this, if we took on CSX, this position, it's going to have a small edge. 03:16.020 --> 03:17.340 So that's interesting as well. 03:17.340 --> 03:23.280 Nine takes the five looking at C six. 03:23.280 --> 03:27.410 But anyway, note take C six now Bishop, take C six and H three. 03:27.420 --> 03:28.650 This is quite passive play. 03:28.650 --> 03:29.430 Four might. 03:32.450 --> 03:36.410 The unprotected piece on C six could have been used with 94. 03:36.410 --> 03:38.600 So hitting C six here D details. 03:38.600 --> 03:39.920 This is just even. 03:40.840 --> 03:42.450 And if we continue a little bit. 03:42.470 --> 03:45.110 Queen takes the form white gets play hair. 03:46.250 --> 03:51.530 And could even claim potentially a small edge with careful play. 03:54.470 --> 03:57.020 Up to 9/10 rotators a small edge for weight. 03:57.200 --> 04:03.350 So anyway, h three we have Queen D seven and now the have the bishops protected but also be force of 04:03.350 --> 04:09.590 France and maybe bishop a four after you can see that actually that queen on be free is rather silly. 04:09.590 --> 04:11.150 We have king H two. 04:13.700 --> 04:22.220 And although b4 is super tempting, Nimzowitsch here has a very interesting, interesting alternative 04:22.220 --> 04:23.360 attacking plan. 04:25.380 --> 04:35.310 So King H2 kind of walks into a little bit of danger actually, if a free a five, this is an interesting 04:35.310 --> 04:36.420 way of playing things. 04:36.420 --> 04:41.370 And then this shows that black is already in the driving seat. 04:41.880 --> 04:49.320 This this has a there's a target on B to back home and that could be pressurized later and fixed. 04:49.320 --> 04:53.090 So yes, black is in the driving seat in this variation. 04:53.100 --> 04:59.460 Even if a free had been played, this is starting to be quite comfortable for black as an example, 04:59.460 --> 05:04.500 with a torture point, the be2 pawn on that same file. 05:04.500 --> 05:11.460 But King H two was played and we have now even stronger than before night H five trying to potentially 05:11.460 --> 05:18.330 attack the King on this diagonal with moves like Bishop D six and F five and F four potentially if B 05:18.330 --> 05:18.750 four. 05:18.750 --> 05:22.830 I mean, this is interesting as well, and we could just flick in night. 05:23.430 --> 05:25.650 H five here as well. 05:25.650 --> 05:27.690 We don't need to chase the queen or anything. 05:27.690 --> 05:29.070 This, this will be interesting. 05:29.850 --> 05:37.770 Well, we could chase the Queen now if there's no E square and here if you know a five, it's just very 05:37.770 --> 05:38.850 comfortable for black. 05:39.270 --> 05:45.810 So 95, though, and we have a very interesting plan F five. 05:47.220 --> 05:53.590 His plate for hair is also possible for a five hair. 05:53.610 --> 05:56.790 It's just a nice advantage and we can retract the light. 05:56.880 --> 05:59.190 But it's not as fun as the game continuation. 05:59.190 --> 06:01.320 What happens in the game is super fun. 06:01.590 --> 06:08.490 With F five, we have Queen RD one, so it's looking to try and exploit the unprotected piece. 06:10.760 --> 06:16.670 Might be one looks very passive, but this way of playing it might be much safer. 06:17.150 --> 06:22.760 So the one we have before the light goes back and it should be five. 06:23.750 --> 06:28.020 So here there's a penalty for playing E for two the night. 06:28.040 --> 06:28.670 Black will play. 06:28.670 --> 06:31.280 Bishop takes South one, so the rook moves. 06:31.910 --> 06:37.280 But now this is fantastic imagination. 06:38.610 --> 06:40.980 And perhaps looking around at the quality of pieces. 06:40.980 --> 06:43.050 Can you see this next move? 06:43.500 --> 06:48.900 So it looks as though White has this frat of E four. 06:49.170 --> 06:56.310 But can we turn a frat and its execution into a kind of position where we're tying the opponent in knots? 06:56.340 --> 06:57.480 How do we do that? 06:57.480 --> 07:00.450 Turn that to our advantage if evil is going to be played. 07:04.240 --> 07:04.550 Okay. 07:04.600 --> 07:11.890 The thing is, Rooks, we've talked about Rooks in this course, liking open files to be able to get 07:11.890 --> 07:14.180 on to the ranks, especially the seven Frank. 07:14.200 --> 07:16.090 There's a lot of juicy targets. 07:16.660 --> 07:20.590 So Nimzowitsch comes up with for 500 points. 07:20.770 --> 07:26.310 This idea of getting a rook to the seventh and it could end up pinning things and tying white down. 07:26.320 --> 07:27.700 He plays Bishop dd six. 07:28.240 --> 07:31.780 So we have basically a positional knight sacrifice. 07:32.000 --> 07:41.460 In fact, after E four, guess what nimzowitsch is idea is the thing is if he goes back now with like 07:41.620 --> 07:43.930 he doesn't want to create dance square weaknesses. 07:43.960 --> 07:45.250 And if he goes back. 07:47.060 --> 07:49.250 Then there's E five. 07:50.150 --> 07:54.050 So he's kind of forced to play a brilliant part for brilliant continuation. 07:54.200 --> 07:55.040 Really. 07:57.170 --> 08:00.230 And he does F takes E for it's a positional sacrifice. 08:00.230 --> 08:06.830 So we're getting this very juicy rook on the seventh rank, and you can see that white's it's already 08:06.830 --> 08:12.410 kind of tied up, but this bishop's now pinned and the queen hasn't got that many squares. 08:12.410 --> 08:13.820 This bishop cuts through the position. 08:13.820 --> 08:16.960 This knight hasn't got many squares, the rook hasn't got many squares. 08:16.970 --> 08:18.980 We're controlling f one as well. 08:19.070 --> 08:24.650 So it's a position where we've got a lot of compensation here. 08:26.260 --> 08:27.250 For the ninth. 08:30.870 --> 08:32.700 So it's a fascinating position. 08:33.600 --> 08:36.920 So it's also, you know, it's two pawns as well. 08:36.930 --> 08:42.200 So we've got two pawns plus a gigantic pin and pressure on the seventh Frank. 08:42.240 --> 08:44.040 We have Queen G five. 08:44.310 --> 08:48.300 If King H one, then Black could just reinforce the AMP file. 08:48.870 --> 08:51.540 And that really has authority on position. 08:51.540 --> 08:53.790 Bishop E to hit the Queen. 08:54.060 --> 08:59.700 And E five would create some difficulties here for white. 09:00.210 --> 09:05.960 So, for example, here h six and we're going to soon trap the Queen with Bishop F six. 09:05.970 --> 09:09.930 The Queen is not very well placed on H four. 09:10.110 --> 09:12.160 And that echoes the game match. 09:12.180 --> 09:15.090 The Queen goes to the G five in the game. 09:15.510 --> 09:18.420 We have Rook, af8 and our King H one. 09:19.290 --> 09:20.880 And now Rook eight. 09:21.010 --> 09:21.550 Five. 09:21.600 --> 09:22.710 Queen E three. 09:23.370 --> 09:29.490 Bishop de Frey, which carries the threats of winning the Queen now with Rook e two. 09:29.520 --> 09:35.850 So this is passive move is played and now Nimzowitsch just plays a quiet move. 09:35.850 --> 09:36.810 H six. 09:37.200 --> 09:43.970 And so Mitchell looks at his position and just feels it's completely lost. 09:43.980 --> 09:45.350 So he's a piece up. 09:45.360 --> 09:49.200 But Black has real authority here in the position. 09:49.770 --> 09:51.110 It just move 25. 09:51.120 --> 09:57.780 This is amazing like knight positional positional knight sacrifice just to tie white down. 09:57.780 --> 10:04.830 It's not quite a zugzwang yet, but white really doesn't have any useful moves. 10:05.100 --> 10:06.870 So white resign if Bishop f won. 10:06.870 --> 10:07.710 Let's have a look at this. 10:07.800 --> 10:13.110 Bishop f one We're just going to take on F one because we've got enough controlling f one. 10:14.070 --> 10:21.400 If g four we can play rook five to F three and this position is quite nasty. 10:21.420 --> 10:22.380 Bishop takes her free. 10:22.380 --> 10:27.930 There's rooks to this rook on the seventh is really a bit of magic going on with so many targets. 10:29.070 --> 10:36.090 That is a rook dream quite often to be on the seventh rank as Nimzowitsch has highlighted in an important 10:36.090 --> 10:37.410 part of positional play. 10:37.410 --> 10:38.160 A goal. 10:38.160 --> 10:41.970 It's a very important goal to get rooks on, especially the seventh Frank. 10:41.970 --> 10:46.200 There are other ranks, but statistically there's a lot of things to target, especially here. 10:46.200 --> 10:48.540 If H4 we can play this. 10:49.830 --> 10:53.820 So Rook five to F three of Bishop takes, Rook takes. 10:53.820 --> 10:55.290 Where is the Queen going? 10:55.290 --> 10:57.780 Queen's We're going to win the Queen with advantage. 10:57.780 --> 11:00.510 If a free we can actually just play a five. 11:00.510 --> 11:08.860 So it's not technically a zugzwang yet because there was a free but after eight takes 8/8 be free Queen 11:08.860 --> 11:09.450 F seven. 11:09.450 --> 11:14.100 Now what on earth does White do without compromising the position? 11:14.610 --> 11:21.710 So this looks more technically like a zugzwang if g for we're just going to play this rook five to F 11:21.960 --> 11:28.830 and again the queen stranded in the center and Bishop takes We have to mate. 11:29.610 --> 11:37.590 So yeah, a fascinating game, a fascinating concept of a positional p sacrifice. 11:37.830 --> 11:43.380 So if we can try and use this in our own games, where do our pieces ideally want to be? 11:43.380 --> 11:45.360 Rooks ideally wants me on the seventh rank. 11:45.360 --> 11:49.940 We can entertain the opponents France here. 11:49.950 --> 11:54.540 So Bishop DD says entertaining a threat, turning it to our advantage. 11:54.540 --> 12:02.340 So it's a night for two pawns, but also this aspect of just running the opponent out of useful moves. 12:03.360 --> 12:09.960 It's almost as if it's not just we're not just looking at the downsides of the opponent's position we're 12:09.960 --> 12:14.880 trying to see coming to destroy their ability to even move their move interface, so to speak. 12:15.630 --> 12:21.180 And if we get the impression our rook is on the seven frank pinning things, we should be able to look 12:21.180 --> 12:24.230 out for that really tiny opponent in knots. 12:24.240 --> 12:29.880 So this is an absolutely beautiful game and it's called the Immortal Zugzwang game. 12:29.880 --> 12:32.070 I hope you really enjoyed this idea. 12:32.670 --> 12:40.650 So embracing the opponents against a loose pace, turning into a massive positional advantage. 12:41.070 --> 12:42.570 So wonderful stuff. 12:43.140 --> 12:43.920 And so much.