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Aron Nimzowitsch 1928 - 1935 Annotated Games and Essays
There is a bit of a lull in the chess world right now and no games worth following over one’s breakfast coffee. Ivanov is in the news of course, and he can always raise one’s blood pressure a dozen points.
So, it was with relief when I received a fresh, new chess book in this morning’s mail.
I had ordered Aron Nimzowitsch 1928-1935, Annotated Games & Essays, edited by Rudolf Reinhardt, pre-publication, last March. This was an attempt to keep my chess book bill down but the title has been out for some time and I have received my copy just two weeks before Christmas.
It is 416 pages, and first appeared in German three years ago. The subjects covered are
Bad Kissingen 1928
Carlsbad 1929
San Remo 1930
Liege 1930
Frankfurt 1930
Bled 1931
Zurich 1934
and a host of essays, including one, which I give in part below
How Grandmasters Train (1930)
With regard to obtaining training that is to some degree satisfactory, grandmasters are without doubt in a worse position than other chess players. The training partner must be of approximately the same strength, and therein lies the difficulty, because grandmasters often live in different cities and are at least one or two classes superior to the resident “Masters”. So, strictly speaking, the problem can’t be solved at all, and therefore it is necessary to reach for a surrogate. Instead of playing the much-required serious training games with a training partner of equal strength, the grandmasters each find a training exercise that they consider very effective. Lasker solves two- or three-move exercises (to keep the mind flexible). Samisch plays blitz games (in order to be able to cope with the expected time-pressure dramas. Spielmann undertakes mountain hikes (probably in order to learn not to get lightheaded when he nears the peak), and I double my workload o daily morning exercise and bombard my worst tournament enemies, pessimism and dejection.
(snip) Most of us are satisfied with playing a dozen casual games with one or another gifted amateur and take to the countryside, in order to gather physical strength.
On September 14th, a tournament will take place where I will come up against for example, Rubenstein, Spielmann, Tartakower, Samisch and other grandmasters. [either Frankfurt or Liege, 1930]
And this occasion has already induced my ‘great’ training work now. I get up at 6:30 am, do my morning exercises and usually take a long walk, eat a lot of fruit, abstain from alcohol, and go to bed early. And every now and then, I play some casual games with a good chess friend, the outstanding, imaginatively gifted amateur champion, Albert Nielsen. [two of the games follow the essay]
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I’ll bet Anand’s training regime was much like Nimzowitsch’s.
Anyway, an interesting book, a good successor to My System (1925) and Chess Praxis (1928).
There is a bit of a lull in the chess world right now and no games worth following over one’s breakfast coffee. Ivanov is in the news of course, and he can always raise one’s blood pressure a dozen points.
So, it was with relief when I received a fresh, new chess book in this morning’s mail.
I had ordered Aron Nimzowitsch 1928-1935, Annotated Games & Essays, edited by Rudolf Reinhardt, pre-publication, last March. This was an attempt to keep my chess book bill down but the title has been out for some time and I have received my copy just two weeks before Christmas.
It is 416 pages, and first appeared in German three years ago. The subjects covered are
Bad Kissingen 1928
Carlsbad 1929
San Remo 1930
Liege 1930
Frankfurt 1930
Bled 1931
Zurich 1934
and a host of essays, including one, which I give in part below
How Grandmasters Train (1930)
With regard to obtaining training that is to some degree satisfactory, grandmasters are without doubt in a worse position than other chess players. The training partner must be of approximately the same strength, and therein lies the difficulty, because grandmasters often live in different cities and are at least one or two classes superior to the resident “Masters”. So, strictly speaking, the problem can’t be solved at all, and therefore it is necessary to reach for a surrogate. Instead of playing the much-required serious training games with a training partner of equal strength, the grandmasters each find a training exercise that they consider very effective. Lasker solves two- or three-move exercises (to keep the mind flexible). Samisch plays blitz games (in order to be able to cope with the expected time-pressure dramas. Spielmann undertakes mountain hikes (probably in order to learn not to get lightheaded when he nears the peak), and I double my workload o daily morning exercise and bombard my worst tournament enemies, pessimism and dejection.
(snip) Most of us are satisfied with playing a dozen casual games with one or another gifted amateur and take to the countryside, in order to gather physical strength.
On September 14th, a tournament will take place where I will come up against for example, Rubenstein, Spielmann, Tartakower, Samisch and other grandmasters. [either Frankfurt or Liege, 1930]
And this occasion has already induced my ‘great’ training work now. I get up at 6:30 am, do my morning exercises and usually take a long walk, eat a lot of fruit, abstain from alcohol, and go to bed early. And every now and then, I play some casual games with a good chess friend, the outstanding, imaginatively gifted amateur champion, Albert Nielsen. [two of the games follow the essay]
++++++++
I’ll bet Anand’s training regime was much like Nimzowitsch’s.
Anyway, an interesting book, a good successor to My System (1925) and Chess Praxis (1928).