My System

I would advise anyone who is serious about chess playing to read this book. It makes a science of the game, as opposed to moving pieces without purpose. It provides the chess player with a plan, a strategy, a method, so that one is not just "pushing wood". There have been many, many chess books written by Reinfeld, Chernov, Horowitz, Pandolfini and others, but Nimzovitch is classic. In this book he covers: The importance of controlling the "center" "Open" files The importance of the 7th and 8th rank The passed pawn How and when to exchange pieces End game strategy The "pin" "Discovery" check The "pawn "chain" "positional" play Doubled pawns The "isolated" queen pawn The "two" bishops Over-protection Exploiting enemy weakness If you want your chess game to be taken to a level of meaningful planning and purpose, then this book will help you. Be warned, it is not light reading though. You will have to master chess notation which might take a while. Though Nimzovitch is brilliant and clever, this is a course of STUDY, and as such it takes some work to reap the benifits. I have been playing chess for over 30 years, and this book has improved my game significantly. Now I know that I spent much of my chess playing "pushing wood", as opposed to planning with purpose.

This is an invaluable book for a serious chess student. I would higly recommend it for improving one's game and understanding chess at a deeper level. By all means, study the brilliant combinations of Tal's and Fischer's games and study all the current chess theory. But if you want to learn the foundations of positional play, this is the book to start with. It's a timeless classic. --Alexander Shaumyan, poet and chess player

I am currently a B class player. In my last 8 months of tournament play, my rating jumped 510 points (from 1241 to 1751) I managed to accumulate about five 1st place finishes. This book was (and still is) the only book I have completed studying . Every good thing you have heard about this book is true. Nimzowitsch himself said, "A thorough knowledge of the elements takes us more than half the road to mastership." These elements are presented in this book. A MUST own for any low rated player seeking to improve. I have to metion that merely just reading it is not gonna provide a miracle cure (some amateurs expect that is what will happen) but application of his ideas and theories will definetely help you. Also, I had owned this book for about a year and a half and had read and reread the first few chapters several times before I finally 'got it' and when I did, I really did. This book forced me to change the way I think and thus the way I play and thats when results came. In the foreword by Yasser Seirawan, he said this book forces you to think, even if you agree with Aron's style or not. I have quite a few chess friends who think that Nimzowitch is "slow and boring", but you better believe they know his theories and recognize and use them in their games, he really provides you with knowledge of essential chess elements. This book should be a stepping stone into any chess knowledge as long as you internalize what he says. Enjoy

In reference to other's comments of this book, I would like make something painfully clear: this is not a book for those wishing to improve their tactical ability. Clearly, the tactics are what make strategic, positional chess possible; if you lack the proper tactics, this book will prove largely meaningless to you. Too often, beginners make moves that make obvious threats, but in studying this book, Nimzowitch asks the reader to suspend his or her need for blatant brutality and commence with real chess sophistication. Falling into Scholar's and Fools Mates are not problems of this book for an obvious reason: they are brutalities and blunders that don't truly conform to the ideas of long-term strategy and conceptualization. Of course, Nimzowich was a master tactician - a calculator second only to Capablanca and Alekhine in his day - but his "Elements" are not tacticians tricks. His "Elements" are the basis for positional play and the "wars of attrition", and this follows logically in the second part of the book.Of necessity, practice your tactics seprately and buy this book, not with the intention of improving your tournament results (though that will happen with time), but with the intention of furthering your understanding of true chess strategy. (I would like to mention a piece of advice for those who purchase this book: with every move that Nimzowitch makes, ask yourself 'What are the strategically important points?' and 'How does this move fit into the larger plan?'. And, when the finishing combination does come, ask yourself 'How did this tactical situation arise from the strategy that preceded it?' i.e. 'How was this logically prefaced by the previous, positional moves?' With this, understanding this books should prove to be somewhat more rewarding and easier to understand on the whole. Remember to take your time.)

I have a chess library that contains several hundred dollars worth of books. And looking at them there are three that I have learned more from than all the rest: MY SYSTEM by Aron Nimzowitsch, IDEAS BEHIND THE CHESS OPENINGS by Reuben Fine, and COLLE SYSTEM by George Koltanowski. To do justice to this book, and to understand what Nimzowitsch is saying in it, will require a commitment of both time and effort from the reader. Don't pick this book up and expect to polish it off in a weekend 'cause this book is to The Chess World what Chemistry 101 is to Science. An aspiring chess player won't get anywhere without Nimzowitsch's concepts of: overprotection, centralization, open lines, surrender of the center, pawn structure, attacking strategies, defense strategies. Many International Grandmasters admit to cutting their teeth on this book. Nimzowitsch's concepts on middlegame play are the bedrock upon which solid, effective chess skills are made. He instructs the reader on sound opening play and then moves into the middlegame and endgame phases in greater depth than does Fine (see above book). His approach to chess could be called scientific: his analysis of a position by its strong and weak points allows the reader to understand what to strive for and what to plan for when moving the pieces from one square to another. Moves are made for a reason; Nimzowitsch teaches those reasons. This book won't make you a World Champion, but you won't become one without it. This is a must-have book