Hi there.
And it's actually we see Aaron Nimzowitsch against Akiba Rubinstein.
This is in the 1926 Dresden tournament, Round five.
We see the English opening from the switch.
So C4, we have a symmetrical English night every night of six nights.
C Frank D five Nimzowitsch takes on D five.
Knight takes three, five, and now E four.
Already this is a very interesting opening variation of the night before Bishop C4, which invites 93.
Jack Rubenstein declined declined that invitation.
He played e six.
If Knight de fre check, the best move is King E two it seems.
So this hits the knight encouraging might have for check.
And this position is about even with King F one.
So for example, 96 white can actually play the energetic d4c takes D four bishop takes E, six, bishop
takes e six, knight takes the four.
As example.
And this is an interesting position with dynamic equality.
So just in case you're wondering, King F one is inferior, Black is doing quite well.
They're leaving Knight on D free.
So that's slightly better for black there.
But okay.
So in any event, e six was played.
There is rich castles, we have 9c6d free 94 Knight takes default, C takes D 492.
So this reminds me of reverse tango positions where this bishops quite strong sometimes on the light
squares, especially if black later plays e five and this knight can sometimes tango to g free and white
can play like this and hopefully kick this knight.
So this looks like a very interesting position.
We see a six knight G frame.
So the knight has kind of tangled in effect from the queenside to the kingside.
So Bishop dd six f4 Black Castles now here is, it seems a slight inaccuracy.
Queen Afraid there is a weakness of the last move here.
The Queen is eyeing C two and there was an opportunity just to kick the knight so the knight cannot
use C two.
And this also gives a square for the bishop.
So 9c6e5.
This position with Queen H five is interesting.
This cuts off F five.
So this knight's not terrible and five's not playable here because of the pen.
If f five we can just play Knight takes F five here.
So yes, we're leveraging the pen.
If Rook takes Queen takes leveraging the pen and if G 619 six check this position.
The Queen H three is nice for white.
So Queen afraid does seem a bit of an inaccuracy in the events of Knight E seven.
Let's take this a bit further.
The knight is quite good on E four and this reminds me of some favorable tango games I've had myself
where there's a great potential for attack.
So for example, this position, if black's going to compromise the dark squares, then we've got a
strong attack potential here, building up, for example, Knight of six, check G four.
And we can even say this is just a fictional line where we're doing really well with the attack.
So, yes, there does seem to be a point of kicking the knight immediately and setting up a structure
like this with the knight on E four.
But Nimzowitsch is move Queen f4.
It leaves C unattended.
We have King H eight and our bishop DD two.
One of the issues here is if a free now black can indeed play Knights e2 if rugby one black can be annoying
making use of EA free.
So this is all a bit of an issue difficult to solve now.
So yes, prevention is better than cure.
If all of this had been prevented, then yeah, it just wouldn't exist.
But in this case, black's going to be doing quite well.
Bishop takes a free.
It's not great.
So Bishop DD two is played, we have five and there's nothing.
It's kind of restricted.
And of course Black is underpinned the E six pawn rook 8e1 90 C six if Knight C two hare Roxy 193 White
can actually just take on ea free in this case and for example D four is good and then taking on EA
free, there's not enough for compensation for Black, although White's advantage is a little bit limited.
But in the game 90 C six was played.
We have rookie two so we have a situation where the E six pawn isn't pinned.
There's knights feels restricted though here on G free so let's put a dark green.
It does feel like a restricted pace.
So nimzowitsch here played e tanks.
Five.
After e times five, we have one of the most astonishing moves in the game.
So it's played against a very classic, very strong player.
Akiba Rubinstein, one of the strongest players in the world, might have got a giggle out of this next
move.
So can you guess what?
Nimzowitsch played a lot of things.
Which pieces are good?
Well, you could argue.
Well, this bishop's hand in by the pawn.
It's not that good.
Apart from that, Bishop, the other pieces are pretty good.
But this knight is like restricted.
85 isn't a particularly great opportunity.
And we get a kind of early Carpathian retreat.
Sometimes this is a clue.
Sometimes the net positional gain.
You have to do paradoxical looking moves sometimes.
And this kind of move I've made use of many, many players have made use of in, for example, Kings
Indian attack kings in the fence situations where we want to build up an attack, sometimes we need
to reroute a knight.
Can you guess what Nimzowitsch played for?
500 points.
Yeah.
He actually puts the knight in the corner.
It looks ridiculous at first sight, but Knight's can reroute.
And the knight, if it can come to a tree.
There's dangerous ideas of Knight G five.
You can imagine also that there are tactical factors going on because the king is restricted here.
So there's a tactical knight g five potential as well.
So sometimes we need to take a step back to go two steps forward.
The net gain of improving the worst pace is something sometimes it's a really valuable thing.
Concretely in this position, it might not actually with best play, it might not actually achieve a
great deal.
But it's the principle of the net gain principle in improving the worst piece.
Sometimes Knight's especially, you need to step them back sometimes or bishops step them back to go
to be more active later.
It's the net gain.
You take a certain loss of activity.
The knights like worst possible square in one of the corners but the net gain if it's springing back
with a vengeance, that's interesting a free if we look at an alternative this position with a five.
Is it that bad for one having the night on G three?
Concretely?
It's not entirely terrible, but the engines, you know, the modern engines don't really suggest an
active plan here for why?
So this wouldn't be very surprising.
And if if it had been played against Rubenstein, if it followed something like this, there isn't anything
really exciting happening here.
If it ends up just on H five.
Probing for weaknesses.
If black doesn't oblige with weakness creation, it's not a big deal.
If you look at this again, we've looked 88.
That would be a mistake here.
Rook takes, rook takes.
The knight actually finds value in taking F5.
But black doesn't have to play a mistake like that.
So yes, it seems about equal there.
But with Knight H one there is extra spice and it is a human against human game.
And this must have come as a bit of a shock, this kind of move, this knight retreat into a corner.
So if you know a lot of Karpov games nowadays.
Well in later generations, the Karpov generation, you know, this idea of retreating knights reposition
them.
We take that for granted now as part of the aspect of improving the worst place we can improve the worst
pace in paradoxical ways, you know, making it kind of even worse to start off with, but with a vengeance
later.
So 9f2 rook eight if h six this actually might be preparing for 9h32g5 for example 90 H free here.
If Rook abates.
Knight G five is indeed a total pain already.
If H takes that, we have either Queen H free or Queen H five mating.
So it would be kind of too late to avoid that.
And this position is just good for why.
You can see the knight is marvelous now on G five and it helps white have authority on the E foe.
But but just the bell Black has g six here and in this particular game example the concept doesn't really
have If black players like this, it doesn't seem to have such drastic rewards.
It's about even.
But in any case, this is a human to human game.
And we have rook eight, Rook one rook takes rook takes.
And indeed there is a reward now given for this knight reroute because of 98 black needed to play H
six and if Knight H three for example B five bishop be free.
There is Bishop b4 here to challenge the dance square.
Bishop and this is about even this position.
But with 98 there is a great reward awaiting this knight reroute Knight H three We have Bishop C six
which is an inaccuracy again, if H six Knight G five then again the knight can't be taken.
Because of Queen H5.
But Black can play Bishop a four with the idea of sometimes be five to try and win this bishop.
Exchange it off.
This position is going to be a small edge for white.
White does have that dangerous night on G five.
So OC Bishop C six though we have Queen H five, G six and it does look like a dangerous attack position
now with these dark square weaknesses being held against black.
If eight or six though night g five we are looking at things like Queen G six now as example.
Say a terrible move as example.
Yeah, we're going to play Queen Sex houses Black the H seven.
If they take, then we play queen age five, mate.
So let's imagine here after 95 rook f six to defend G six White still has a nice advantage.
The knight's really been successfully rerouted.
So this is a really great pattern.
The pattern of improving the worst place we already in these variations, we start to see the power
of things.
G six is weakening the diagonal, and this pawns a bit vulnerable on D four in any case.
So we see Queen H four.
And King G7 and now Queen F2 targeting this pawn during the bishop to see five if by the way on instead
of g six if h six yes G five.
We'll have sex for the night's just good on on g five.
So G Sex Queen H for King G seven, Queen F two.
Bishop C five.
So protecting D four.
Were there any other options here of Queen B sex?
There's actually a strong move here.
There's a kind of weakness of the last move, weakening E seven, Queen E one.
And the thing is, you might think, well, the queen just goes back, right?
But now 9g5, eight, six.
And in fact.
We can play Bishop a five.
So the Queen also supports this Bishop A five, if be six.
We can play an amazing resource here.
Can you see what that is?
Because otherwise if the Queen was can consider taking on DA followed by 96 check.
So let's say be sex.
What do we play here, you think?
And it justifies the Nikon G five.
It's now part of the attacking team that night, which was on H one.
So Bishop takes B six, queen B six, rookie seven check.
And here if I have 796 check and black's crumbling up to nine takes F eight, Bishop takes E seven queen
takes E, seven blacks crumbling.
If we look at this again, if Bishop takes e, seven queen signs e seven.
Check this possession knight takes F seven and black's getting mated.
So okay, so we have Bishop C five and now.
Yeah, it's interesting.
So.
Yes.
Very interesting stuff, Bishop.
See five.
So we have now B four.
And the bishop goes to be says, if it's such a good position, let's just look at it for a moment.
If not g5h6, we can play b four here actually, because H takes B takes, we're undermining D four.
It's difficult for black to actually shield the four.
This was ng5 so blacks crumbling there.
And if Bishop.
E seven we have actually rook tanks.
E seven This is amazing.
Queen 67.
Queen 64, check Queen F six.
And guess what?
White can play here, which is super strong, which sorts out the g59 issue, ten points.
What would you play?
You know, we can actually play the beautiful Bishop C free.
So if H takes we take on F six rook takes nasty pin F takes G five winning.
So yes, fascinating variations.
So B four though is interesting.
Bishop B six holding D form if Bishop D six.
Yeah, we're just going to take on D four check.
So Bishop B six now Queen H four is played it turns out may be more accurate.
Is Queen E one, Queen E one looking at E seven.
So Queen D six, there's no G five.
And here it's exceptionally dangerous for black.
If Bishop D five Bishop takes D five Queen sex d five.
We have the invasive rookie seven rook on the seventh.
And here Knight takes H seven Brilliant advantage here.
That knight is absolutely a menace.
So anyway, Queen H four though is played rook E eight and now rookie five.
This is a nice use of the hook on if I'm trying to liberate this bishop.
We have nine of seven if rook tanks e5f tanks, Queen size five we have Queen H six check.
And now if King F six because if King H eight, Queen F eight is checkmate.
So say King F six, Bishop G five is check and mate.
So that's quite vicious.
So really Rook takes E five is a bad idea.
And also if we consider h five we still have an attack with Queen F six check, 95 check.
And here Queen eight check and mating.
So nine of seven was played and now that was taken out, which sometimes amplifies dark squares when
we use an exchange like this Bishop For Knight, it's the other color of squares which sometimes get
ignited.
So Queen takes up seven.
If Rook takes e five hair.
In fact, can you see what white plays, which is really good here?
Yeah.
We can protect our night.
The night protect the bishop.
And hit h seven if rookie, too.
If we take out H seven.
This is a brilliant, glorious attack.
So this situation is absolutely glorious and it's just too dangerous.
Okay, Black has a little bit of fun there for a moment, but now the fun is with white.
We're winning the Queen.
So.
Okay, so in the game, Queen takes F seven was played 9g5 with tempo, Queen G eight trying to hold
H seven Rook takes E eight, Bishop takes eight and now Queen E one.
Bishop C six, Queen e7h8.
And here it's very, very bad for black.
There's a great move play, but there's two great moves here.
Can you spot one of them or both of them for 100 points?
Well, Nimzowitsch.
Well I spent too many ten points.
Nimzowitsch played B five, which is very useful for opening up this diagonal, but there's also 96
which just threatens Queen F six know this is strong.
Bishop D eight we're just going to take.
So if H five, Queen F six and now we can make use of b five just to let the bishop be part of the attacking
team.
So 95 checking H six Now we use Bishop B four to go into f eight.
So h four Bishop f h 96 threatening Queen G five Checkmate.
This position, we're just winning screen, absolutely winning material up and we're going to be chat
mating.
But B five is also very strong.
Queen G seven is played.
So if Bishop takes B five, there's Queen F six.
And actually we can take time just to win the bishop.
If eight takes B five, we can play 96.
So we've opened up this diagonal B4 to F eight and yeah, it's pretty hopeless.
If Bishop D was taking.
But what does Black actually do here?
It's very difficult.
And as mentioned, you know, H five we're transposing into other ideas where we can transfer the bishop
to B4 to F eight, sometimes up to 95, you know, Bishop F eight, that kind of thing.
When we find the check first and then Bishop B form, we're going to fight.
So yes, it's a beautiful move.
B five in its own right.
And we see Queen G seven just giving up a piece, basically giving up the game.
It's hopeless.
So White takes on G seven, takes on C six, picks up.
The game continues a little bit here.
95.
Bishops C seven.
So it's not that many pawns for the piece.
Maybe Rubinstein's annoyed because of Nimzowitsch is won earlier.
So the game continues.
And.
Yeah, it continues a little bit, believe it or not.
So a wall is set up against the king here with the knight and bishop.
And yeah, this, this is not really a position where black and Swindell so here black resigned at move
46.
If the game continued to say black was being stubborn, what we could do is just actually move the king
over into the black position so we can fix the pawn on a dark square.
So that's immune to the bishop.
And now we can use the light squares as an entry.
So as example, the king could shift into the black position like this and then then start winning material.
So the example 9h1 it's been an inspirational kind of night rerouting and the broader principle of improving.
The worst piece has been called many things like MacDonald's role fishers role.
It's been observed, you know, Fisher Games, he didn't really have a bad piece as always improving
his pieces.
So that is one of the essential default plans in positional chess to improve one's worse pace.
And we see kind of a very historic, historic, iconic game example here where the knight was quite
menacing after.
So the paradoxical looking knight H one the idea of taking sometimes, you know, one step back to go
two steps forward.
Let me give you an analogy for websites.
I mean, you might might be involved in websites.
It might be like stripping out all the tables so it looks terrible.
The site looks just like the information, but all in better structure, like a div.
And then you get some stylist to restructure to restyle the site and they can do what they like to make
it look marvelous.
Sometimes you're taking a step back to go many steps forward.
So initially it looks terrible, but it's like restyled later than night 65.
So it's just something to bear in mind In the principle of improving the worst piece.
It must have come as a psychological shock.
You know, this kind of novel move, it doesn't come into categories seen at the time.
So it's like a very mysterious night move, but it gives the basis for paradoxical looking positional
moves based on the idea of improving the worst piece.
So a very interesting, iconic game indeed.
And Akiba Rubinstein was one of the top players in the world at the time.
So great stuff.
Inspirational.
I hope you enjoyed it so much.