Chess Praxis

"Chess Praxis" provides the games applying the ideas covered in Aron Nimzovich's "My System". For starters you should read "My System" (get the 21st Century Edition and avoid the Random House editon, which has certain items changed) where critical theories and ideas are covered. Then "Chess Praxis" gives you the practical examples in games that were first covered in "My System". These books are meant to go hand in hand. By no means are these two books for anyone less than a solid intermediate player who already has a basic foundation. Several additional books that will go along with well with "Chess Praxis" and "My System" adding additional games and for study for the intermediate to advanced player are "Unbeatable Chess Lessons", "More Unbeatable Chess Lessons" and "Understanding Chess". They use the "every move analyzed concept, which I find very good. Nimzovich's books may be old, but the concepts he covers will never go out of date!

I am of the heretical belief that one may skip Niemzowitsch's "My System," which is almost universally praised by players of all levels. I of course appreciate its importance in the History of Chess Literature, but I would advise practical players to skip it and get "Chess Praxis: The Praxis of My System" if they want to gain a grasp of Nimzo's ideas. Why is this? "My System" reads like a rulebook, akin to the USCF Rulebook! Without the examples supplied by "Chess Praxis," it is hard to gain a sense of what Nimzo was trying to convey. This is not to say that "Chess Praxis" is the easiest book to digest; it certainly isn't. But the examples are well-chosen and well-grouped, enabling comprehension of the key concepts. Niemzowitsch has a unique and valuable way of treating Centralization, Blockade (well-illustrated by examples!), Overprotection and Prophylaxis (he explains some of his "mysterious" moves!), Alternation (you may need to reread this chapter to pick up techniques of alternation), and his "Odds and Ends." To become a more complete chessplayer (I am not by any means pretending that I am a complete player!), I feel that players should introduce themselves to important theories that have shaped chess because it will inevitably help in games. If this is true, Aron Niemzowitsch-one of the top players in the world for years, and winner of the great Karlsbad 1929 tournament (his book on this event is very disappointing)-is nothing short of REQUIRED reading.

This book contains hundreds of examples of extremely difficult positional chess. It is one of the most important chess books. Nimzowitsch is difficult to comprehend, but his vision and his principles can take you to the promised land where you have a sense of really understanding chess. Absorb this book, and your chess will become more interesting and rational. You will have reasons for your moves. This book, and Nimzo's vision of chess, is mostly about pawn play in the final analysis. Pawns ARE the soul of chess, and I have never seen books that really get at the heart of pawn play like Nimzo's. This book contains heavily annoated games by this chess genius. Plus, there are many narrative discussions where he further elucidates the principles of pawn play in chess. Absolutely essential for any serious chess book collection.

Chess Praxis has been a best seller for practically the whole 20th century. Nimzo's ideas in My System are put into practice and thoroughly explained via two, three, or even more games per idea. He speaks of centralization of forces, blockade of double pawns and pawn majorities and freeing moves. Just the concept of restraint gives me a clearer picture of why grandmasters make the moves they do. Tactics result in a poor position or from a weakness in your position. If you can grasp Nimzo's concepts of position play, you'll obtain a nearly flawless position which is tactic-proof and you can start looking for tactical possibilities against your opponent. Certainly brilliant tacticians such as Tal have defeated Nimzo. Nimzo wasn't known for his all-out tactical abilities and attacking games, but he avoided many tactical ideas against him through solid positional play in which he could concentrate on looking for combinations towards weaknesses in his opponent's position, and certainly he could do that. "Only when the center is clearly defined can you embark on an attack", quotes Nimzovitch. Easily worth the money, especially with the algebraic notation and many diagrams in the new edition.

After reading this book I improved my game a lot from first move that I started to score against players rated at 1900+ and even to 2100+ players. This book is filled with instructive games by Nimzovich which includes an annotation of his games under a particular play.