My System
Encyclopedia
My System is a book
on chess
theory written by Aron Nimzowitsch
. Originally over a series of five brochures from 1925 to 1927, the book — one of the early works on hypermodernism
— introduced many new concepts to followers of the modern school of thought. It is generally considered to be one of the most important chess books of all time.
. This concept, now widely accepted, is one of the fundamental principles of hypermodernism
.
Book
A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...
on chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
theory written by Aron Nimzowitsch
Aron Nimzowitsch
Aron Nimzowitsch was a Russian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer...
. Originally over a series of five brochures from 1925 to 1927, the book — one of the early works on hypermodernism
Hypermodernism (chess)
Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges on the chess ideologies presented by central European masters, such as on Wilhelm Steinitz’ approach to the centre. It also challenged in particular the dogmatic rules set down by Siegbert Tarrasch...
— introduced many new concepts to followers of the modern school of thought. It is generally considered to be one of the most important chess books of all time.
Contents
The book is divided into three parts: The Elements, Position Play, and Illustrative Games.The Elements
In The Elements , Nimzowitsch writes about the basics of his "system". He regards the following as the elements of chess strategy:- The center
- Play on the open fileOpen fileAn open file in chess is a file with no pawns of either color on it. In the diagram, the e-file is an open file. An open file can provide a line of attack for a rook or queen...
s - Play on the seventh and eighth ranks
- The passed pawnPassed pawnIn chess, a passed pawn is a pawn with no opposing pawns to prevent it from advancing to the eighth rank, i.e. there are no opposing pawns in front of it on the same file nor on an adjacent file. A passed pawn is sometimes colloquially called a passer...
s - The pinPin (chess)In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece...
- Discovered checks
- Exchanging
- The pawn-chainPawn structureIn chess, the pawn structure is the configuration of pawns on the chessboard. Since pawns are the least mobile of the chess pieces, the pawn structure is relatively static and thus largely determines the strategic nature of the position.-General observations:Weaknesses in the pawn structure, such...
Position Play
The next part, Position Play , is based largely on the "elements" taught in the first part. In it, Nimzowitsch tells how to play for a positional advantage. In particular, he argues that the center can be effectively controlled using pieces instead of pawnsPawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
. This concept, now widely accepted, is one of the fundamental principles of hypermodernism
Hypermodernism (chess)
Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges on the chess ideologies presented by central European masters, such as on Wilhelm Steinitz’ approach to the centre. It also challenged in particular the dogmatic rules set down by Siegbert Tarrasch...
.
Illustrative Games
Illustrative Games contains annotated versions of fifty of Nimzowitsch's career games, which he refers to throughout the text.Editions
- The original German edition was published in 1925. This edition is out-of-printOut-of-print bookAn out-of-print book is a book that is no longer being published. Out-of-print books are often rare, and may be difficult to acquire.A publisher will usually create a print run of a fixed number of copies of a new book. These books can be ordered in bulk by booksellers, and when all the...
. - In 1930, a British EnglishBritish EnglishBritish English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
edition titled My System, translated by Philip Hereford, was published by Harcourt, Brace and CompanyHarcourt Trade PublishersHarcourt was a United States publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. The company was based in San Diego, California, with an Editorial / Sales / Marketing / Rights offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida.In 2007, the U.S...
. This edition is out-of-print. - In 1987, B.T Batsford Ltd, London reprinted the 1929 edition by Philip Hereford, entitled My System A Chess treatise by Aron Nimzowitsch. (ISBN 0-7134-5655-8)
- In 1991, an American EnglishAmerican EnglishAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
edition titled My System: 21st Century Edition (ISBN 1-880673-85-1), edited by Lou Hays, was published by Hays Publishing. In this edition, descriptive notationDescriptive chess notationDescriptive notation is a notation for recording chess games, and at one time was the most popular notation in English-speaking and Spanish-speaking countries , . It was used in Europe until it was superseded by abbreviated algebraic notation, which was introduced by Philipp Stamma in 1737...
has been changed to algebraic notationAlgebraic chess notationAlgebraic notation is a method for recording and describing the moves in a game of chess. It is now standard among all chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers...
and many diagrams have been added. - In 2007, a British edition titled My System, translated by Ian Adams, published by Quality ChessQuality ChessQuality Chess is a chess publishing company, founded in 2004 by three chess players: IM Ari Ziegler, GM Jacob Aagaard and GM John Shaw. The company is based in Glasgow....
(ISBN 91-976005-3-9) "This edition uses a brand-new translation that recreates the author's original intentions. For the first time an English-speaking audience can appreciate the true nature of this famous chess book." - In 2009, a German edition titled Mein System, published by Rattmann (ISBN 3-88086-117-X). This edition was typeset using pdfTeXPdfTeXThe computer program pdfTeX is an extension of Knuth's typesetting program TeX, and was originally written and developed into a publicly usable product by Hàn Thế Thành as a part of the work for his PhD thesis at the Faculty of Informatics, Masaryk University, Brno...
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