My System Chapter 5 - On Exchanging • page 2/2 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Also I thought it might be interesting to try to get the forum discussing the actual ideas in a chess book for once, rather than the usual back and forth of "it's great because X says so" "no it's terrible because Y says so".

#10 - a bit of each. From my point of view, I find the discipline of reading a chapter a week is a useful incentive and the action of trying to get my thoughts in order is good for my understanding. Conversely if I don't understand something, I'd be interested to get second and third opinions on what's actually going on, and also to see whether other people picked up on interesting things that I missed. I'd hope that other people have the similar motivation? Also I thought it might be interesting to try to get the forum discussing the actual ideas in a chess book for once, rather than the usual back and forth of "it's great because X says so" "no it's terrible because Y says so".

LloydThompson edited

#12

His final diagram was from a coffeehouse odds game. I stuck the position into Stockfish just to try and follow along with his points as I read through them. Once again he included a faulty analysis

[ I'm using the 1991 Algebraic Edition ( "21st Century Edition" ), Lou Hayes Editor, Yasser Seirawan Introduction

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxILtRDcxKmeMWU1MmNhYzMtMmM3Yy00Yzk0LTk0YzctYmQyOGQ3MTYwYTgy/view?hl=it ]

Nimzo's crucial point is that 5. N x Bc6 is the key to the combination, because "The Bd6 was a defender, because of the possibility of Bd5 at this moment". Sure enough, when the reader peers at the starting position, the Bc6 is available to defend at d5, whereas after 8. Rd1 + in the given line, there is no black piece available in intersperse, and white mates in 2 more moves. The problem is, 5. N x Bc6 ??. given an exclam mark by Nimzovich, actually throws away the forced mate, and black can now draw with 5....Kd7.

If anyone wants to plug it into the Lichess analysis engine, here is the Fen of the starting position, Diagram 65 :

r2qk2r/ppp2p2/1nb1p2p/4P3/2PP4/b3BN2/P2NB1PP/4RRK1 w - - 0 1

And Nimzovich gives the line as 1. d5 ed 2. e6 fe 3. Ne5 Nxc4 4. Bh5 + Ke7 5. Nxc6 + bxc6 6. Rf7 + Kd6 7. Nxd4 + dxc4 8. Rd1 + Ke5 9. Bf4 + Ke4 10. Bf3 #

Nxc6 and 5....bxc6 are mutual blunders, so the game reverts back into a forced mate .

Nontheless, Nimzo was making a great point about when to exchange pieces. He just happened to use a faulty example.

Finished this chapter earlier today. Overall I like it -- A nice concrete summation of strategic guideposts on when to exchange. I went through all of his sample positions, and all the way through any of the complete games he used for commentary ( the big name games in his book are all available on Chessgames.com with a simple google search of both player names + "chessgames"). In general the games are unnecessary in understanding his points. So the studier who is starved for time can skip them so long as he understands the chapter bullet points well enough. His final diagram was from a coffeehouse odds game. I stuck the position into Stockfish just to try and follow along with his points as I read through them. Once again he included a faulty analysis [ I'm using the 1991 Algebraic Edition ( "21st Century Edition" ), Lou Hayes Editor, Yasser Seirawan Introduction https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxILtRDcxKmeMWU1MmNhYzMtMmM3Yy00Yzk0LTk0YzctYmQyOGQ3MTYwYTgy/view?hl=it ] Nimzo's crucial point is that 5. N x Bc6 is the key to the combination, because "The Bd6 was a defender, because of the possibility of Bd5 at this moment". Sure enough, when the reader peers at the starting position, the Bc6 is available to defend at d5, whereas after 8. Rd1 + in the given line, there is no black piece available in intersperse, and white mates in 2 more moves. The problem is, 5. N x Bc6 ??. given an exclam mark by Nimzovich, actually throws away the forced mate, and black can now draw with 5....Kd7. If anyone wants to plug it into the Lichess analysis engine, here is the Fen of the starting position, Diagram 65 : r2qk2r/ppp2p2/1nb1p2p/4P3/2PP4/b3BN2/P2NB1PP/4RRK1 w - - 0 1 And Nimzovich gives the line as 1. d5 ed 2. e6 fe 3. Ne5 Nxc4 4. Bh5 + Ke7 5. Nxc6 + bxc6 6. Rf7 + Kd6 7. Nxd4 + dxc4 8. Rd1 + Ke5 9. Bf4 + Ke4 10. Bf3 # 5. Nxc6 and 5....bxc6 are mutual blunders, so the game reverts back into a forced mate . Nontheless, Nimzo was making a great point about when to exchange pieces. He just happened to use a faulty example.