"The Immortal Zugzwang Game" - Nimzowitsch's Greatest Masterpiece

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Follow MprooV on Twitter / mproovapp #agadmator In the wake of the Great War, Aron Nimzowitsch returned to international chess play after a long absence. In his new home city of Copenhagen, Denmark he met three other masters and two Danish players for a double round robin tournament held from March 3rd to the 14th in 1923. During this fertile period of the hypermodern school, Nimzowitsch's style shone brilliantly as he took first place a full two points ahead of the rest of the field, with a brilliancy against Friedrich Sämisch which has been referred to as "The Immortal Zugzwang Game".
Friedrich Saemisch vs Aron Nimzowitsch
"The Immortal Zugzwang Game" (game of the day Jan-31-2009)
Copenhagen (1923), Copenhagen DEN, rd 6, Mar-09
Queen's Indian Defense: Classical. Traditional Variation Nimzowitsch Line (E18)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. O-O d5 8. Ne5 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bf4 a6 11. Rc1 b5 12. Qb3 Nc6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6 14. h3 Qd7 15. Kh2 Nh5 16. Bd2 f5 17. Qd1 b4 18. Nb1 Bb5 19. Rg1 Bd6 20. e4 fxe4 21. Qxh5 Rxf2 22. Qg5 Raf8 23. Kh1 R8f5 24. Qe3 Bd3 25. Rce1 h6
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[@CallOn84]

"Even Stockfish couldn't get out of this" If only you knew the foreshadowing that's about to come.

[@MilosVucetic99]

Hahahaha this one is golden

[@xbronykillerx6987]

@@dominikskorjanc stockfish ended up getting locked into a similar situation by alphazero

[@chriscj9007]

Can you explain? I don't get it

[@Davued00]

@@chriscj9007 kzbin.info/www/bejne/one7e4qGnammibs

[@yevgenydodzin9849]

After h6 what would happen if white gave back the piece with BxB5?

[@stuckinreality3928]

Hii AGAD......Today I beat my rival for the first time..he continuously defeated me since I was a beginner...Learner a lot from Ur videos...Hope u keep up the good work....Thanks in Advance.....

[@agadmator]

+Santhosh Solomon That is music to my ears! Glad to hear you're improving :)

[@mrhandsome2482]

rook d1 or c1 isn't playable? it prevents the queen from getting trapped

[@theshadowmonster1]

its not because rook captures on h3 and then when bishop recaptures, rook to h2 is mate

[@mrhandsome2482]

right b4 playing g3 2 g4 (it's a bad move!) black would then have to move rook to e5 and then it's over for white moving rook f5 2 f3 would then be a mistake, since bishop takes and then after rook takes, the queen escapes to g1

[@IBJEWED]

Ik white will still lose but what about sacrificing the rook to save the queen

[@Pouncingpuma7]

"The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move" Nimzowitzvch:

[@gilber78]

Hold my beer

[@rohangeorge712]

alpha 0: the most powerful weapon in chess is me. u foolish humans

[@MrWARRIORMONKS]

How had I not seen this before? Timeless masterpiece.

[@gerardogarza8841]

just dropping by from the zugzwang from Alpha Zero.. you are a great KZbinr Antonio!

[@rohangeorge712]

yo same here lol zugswangs are so satisfying

[@AtlasV-]

6:05 "Feel free to pause the video and find the winning move for white. If you found it, congratulations, you are drunk."

[@bobing1752]

This is so underrated

[@mango251]

12:12 AM here in the PH, The notification bell woke me up. Not disappointed

[@rhennilobalan734]

Mango Crepe saan ka banda sa pilipinas?

[@xyon9090]

Mango Crepe Never knew my fellow countrymen watches Antonio's videos!

[@landertejada7259]

Hahahaha ako riiiin

[@AqworldsAuildere]

Heeyy

[@Jirogutierrez1810]

Ako den eh

[@saketk21]

Loved the game and especially the quote!! Great work Agad.

[@agadmator]

+Saket Kulkarni Thanks Saket :)

[@OlympicSmoker1]

There is absolutely no need for verbal feedback on your videos, Antonio. Just check the like-dislike ratio. It tells the whole story. Fantastic channel. Greetings :)

[@lornemalvo4492]

You have a clear love and deep understanding of the game... respect

[@crashtestcowboy1]

Looking back to videos like these really show how well you have polished your delivery. This was a great video in its own right, which just says how great of a content producer you have become!! Well done.

[@SuperStarTidus18]

I have seen this before on your channel many years ago. I believe back then you had around 120 k subs… I am glad more people fell in love with your channel and the game of chess as I did. Thank you so much…

[@stateofdecay2210]

even your old videos are fun to watch !

[@alitorabi5214]

this game with a combination of "Medo" sleeping on the couch without a slightest of worry is loveable.

[@nandkishoredharmani900]

Played out this game from a book when I was 14 years old. Now I am 68 . But even to an undeveloped chess player this was a fascinating game.

[@ilovewiki]

#suggestion agadmator, Thank you for posting Nimzowitsch games! But, you certainly need more of them. Please review the 1934 game between Lasker and Nimzowitsch, "A Knight's Tale". It's a wonderful game. Cheers! :-)

[@MrSupernova111]

A blast from the past! Cheers!

[@Khookies-lp2lu]

1:25 "as if a pawn, a knight and a queen guarding it is not enough" is left unsaid

[@coleschemistrychannel4172]

It was attacked three times

[@billy2182]

I am pleased to mention that Phony Benoni is an actual A-player and a friend of mine. He is still the greatest games editor Michigan Chess ever had.

[@shreyjack]

Great game by Nimzowitsch but indeed it is difficult to get into such a situation.....Paul Morphy manages to smother the king but here he smothered all the active pieces on the board....Great Video,,,,Cheers!!!!

[@ItumelengS]

Just arrived at the library... Ready to play for my friends

[@cythefox7510]

“The most powerful weapon in chess is to have *A* move”

[@elvischaoma5972]

God bless you .... detailed analysis

[@Mornepin]

That's some excellent 3:23am material, thanks agad

[@sashh9997]

3:32am for me

[@pharmokan]

such a beautiful game

[@mikevaldez7684]

Amazing.

[@sambhavgupta7039]

Already seen this game .. Amazing stuff

[@jhhwild]

I never know when to resign, I probably would have kept playing in the false hope that there's a way out.

[@razvan19010]

jhhwild supposing you’re not a master and you play at amateur level that’s the right thing to do because the opponent can always make a mistake and you can turn it around but at these guys level. They see the moves ahead and they are masters, it’s a very low chance that the opponent is gonna fuck it up so continuing is just a waste of time since the game has already been decided. Again, on their level.

[@MrJsintic]

@@razvan19010 if my opponent put me in this position god help me cause hes not my level haha

[@ksvishnuvarma]

Amazing game..

[@steste777]

Well atleast I figured out what can go in the blank space in my living room

[@Lawliet02]

I see lots of people complaining about the variables, i like that today we can study this games played by genius and think what they could have done, also nice comentary al always agad!

[@hvitekristesdod]

Totally saw H6 :) Great video!!

[@PraveenKumar-ph6jh]

Rare and Beautiful ! 😉👍

[@TheRealDonSimon]

Very nice!

[@ldeans5620]

Intriguing game which is well worth another look which I intend to do right now.

[@kitster900]

Love that Saemisch spends all that effort to prepare 20. e4, and according to Stockfish e4 was one of the worst moves he could play there.

[@5-iwnl-596]

Nimzowitsch played an amazing game! I immediately spotted Rook to F3. But I didn’t see the silent but deadly pawn move. I don’t usually look for zugzwang unless it’s the endgame. Very eye opening.

[@Habackuk24]

1:23 Nimzovitsch sure liked to overprotect his pawn.

[@ramonbannister9498]

Pure genius

[@Problem_Catur]

Good 👍

[@dgmisal1979]

Nimzo is my favorite player, ever.

[@mikevaldez7684]

I like the commentary; very insightful and entertaining

[@agadmator]

+Mike Valdez Thanks Mike :)

[@mohamedmahdjoub4747]

Hello Agadmator, first I want to thank you for the quality of the material and the effort you are putting into these videos I really learned a lot watching them. Keep up the good work. I think white has a way out of this. The Queen's escape square is c1 in order to make this possible, white has to sacrify his bishop (Bxb4) after that whenever black plays (Bxb4) then simply protect the rook with the knight (Nc3) and if Rf3 then first exchange with the bishop Bxf3 and after Rxf3 only then Qc3. And black wouldn't have a way to continue this attack.

[@bleach4038]

Nc3 does not protect the rook, as the rook is on e1. Black also doesn't have to play Rf3, since now he is up a pawn without being down a piece and playing a simple move without sacrificing the exchange is enough to win the game, or at least be better.

[@yourimora5010]

Hey @agadmator, It seems that actually h6 is not specially a good move if it is to prevent the queen to escape after 26. g4 Rf5f3. Because if the queen escapes to g5, there is mate in two. For example : 25. Rce1 Qf7 (a more natural looking move) 26. g4 Rf5f3 27. Qg5 Rxh3+ ! 28. Bxh3 Rh2# mate

[@luisharnes7788]

Hello Agad!. Great videos. I was wondering when is gona be the next Blitz tournament? at Lichess.org. Or where are you gona post it in the future? Thank you!

[@agadmator]

This saturday, and also sunday maybe. Will post it on my facebook page

[@MrSongride]

Please, great chess friend, explore the line "Knight sacrifice on c3 to gain counterplay/breathing room" (with of course Bishop captures c3) for me. Maybe I'm just too green to see, but you didn't even discuss it, so in a war like chess one maybe has to try desperate measures sometimes! Thank you a lot, enjoying it very much! Don't listen to anyone else on Carlsen/Nepo but you! xoxoxo

[@freeride5383]

Your dog in the background❤❤❤

[@Fictionarious]

The move I found at 5:50 was pawn e5, with the idea of following that up with f5-rook to f3, attacking the black queen and threatening queen to h3 mate.

[@parthjoshi7324]

Your Idea almost works but, blach has Qg5 saving the queen.

[@thenosa87]

How does one even train themselves to think about zugzwang like this?

[@alextodd886]

Practice

[@rahulkhatwani548]

Ur pfp color is same I thought you replied to yourself only 😂😂

[@quantumleap7964]

here I guess h6 is more obvious in the context of the Rf3 trapping the queen because that is how I thought of it initially

[@tellahsage6477]

Zugzwang in the middlegame isn't a common thing at all in chess. In this situation here i guess you could say it's just the concept of prophylaxis taken to the most logical extreme

[@genuishead4883]

what a strong position

[@hitrapperandartistdababy]

A fun little fact: There is this popular JRPG called Dragon “Quest V Hand of the heavenly bride” which takes heavy inspiration and references from Chess. To make a very long and complicated story short: The main characters father is killed by an evil cult member called “Bishop Ladja” along with his two henchmen “Slon the rook” and “Kon the knight” Later on as an adult and with a family you then confront this cult of theirs called “The order of Zugswang” defeating “Queen” Ferz and finally confronting the big bad “King” Corol. However a plotwist! As you defeat the king Bishop Ladja reveals himself and kills Corol while revealling that he was just a “Pawn” for the orders true master, who is the final boss of the game. His name? Grandmaster Nimzo

[@DemetriosMPapadakes]

Knight C3, giving the knight back.

[@MadderMel]

That photo of Nimzowitsch , well , he almost looks like a cool dude !

[@whitephantom7960]

OMG!

[@ruhisharmin3405]

sharp game (Y)

[@akshay9840]

Who n all are here after watching Alpha zeros Zugzwang against stock fish???

[@inszense9848]

Found the move instantly before you ask us to find it.

[@r.aravindkrishna222]

This game should be called immortal nimzowitch game

[@sayeedchowdhury11]

Hi Agad, i am a newbie so pardon my ignorance..maybe it's still losing for white but just a query- as white is a piece up atleast materialistically, what if bishop captures on b4, while that is a bishop sacrifice, doesn't that create a square c1 for the white queen?

[@randomstranger3576]

"Hello Everyone!"

[@jamesavery3559]

thank you for the post, i have nimzowvitsch's book a great player...ps i simply don't understand the thumb down at all.

[@CrazyIvan64]

Just as a heads up, the volume seemed a bit low on this video. Had to put it to full volume to hear. Other than that another great video.

[@stenky02]

J Holland It was ok for me :/ were you using headphones? Sometimes it does that with headphones :P

[@CrazyIvan64]

I am, but I went to check some other videos from the channel and they all sounded louder. Could just be for me though.

[@markangus3252]

I love this game at many levels but not least because it is a wonderful demonstration of so many of the principles outlined in his masterpiece 'My System'.

[@markkelly3859]

I used to watch Mato, but now I've switched to Agadmator!

[@pendapalanamundjebo5328]

I think he meant (to have the next move... as in) to know what the next move is but i might be wrong

[@anthonymurray8844]

For white to get out does rook e1 to c1 followed by bishop d2 to e1 work?

[@OfficialFoliLucker]

Red1 or Rec1 is met with Re2 and the Queen on e3 is trapped

[@bobing1752]

0:15 "Denmark Copenhagen" Yes I'm from Copenhagen and I live in Denmark.

[@amineattia3077]

What a bout bishop take pawn in B4 ...

[@csabajavorszki9947]

Anyone any idea of Rf2 to Rf3? And if Bxf3 then pawn captures...for me it seems like the Queen can't move and there are no good moves for white

[@a.nyangao.m]

What'd you say now about moving the knight 3 times in a row? maybe not so bad if you're AZ ;P

[@josecoronado3101]

Can you do a Nakamura game when he moves the king in his second move and explain why

[@nudelsuppe2090]

think nakamura streamed that game and he asked his viewers what opening to go for

[@idanreisinger3722]

The bongcloud? It's the best opening in chess.

[@martinrosschou]

The most powerful weapon in chess, is to know the correct move.

[@johnmallette3143]

gg

[@What-md3dq]

Hi I have I a request for a video : Caruana vs gelfand 2013 Sicilian defense

[@agadmator]

+Rocket Y I'll check it out :)

[@georgemissailidis7581]

#suggestion

[@dzoni2994]

Cant you give up the Knight on b1 for a past pawn and try to continue, i am not good at chess and probably missing an obvious tactic there

[@Alsry1]

The main thing here is getting the Queen out, if the knight trades, the rook will trap the queen.

[@james10739]

He is talking about hanging a game on your wall gave me a cool idea have you heard of the magic mirror with a raspberry pi but one of them with a game you are playing with someone from somewhere else but if you could get touch working would be cool

[@sorsocksfake]

Beautiful lock-up... more so since black is a piece down and isn't using his queen in the effort.

[@elvischaoma5972]

Somestimes having the next move is painful

[@evilpro9102]

Guys, I think rook to c 1 is probably the best move, because it frees up space for the queen to move and also counters Black's rook to f3, because bishop captures on f3 rook captures then queen moves to e1, so we have one rook for a bishop , Am I wrong?? Plz reply me if I am 😅

[@evilpro9102]

@Go Wild thanks for explaining it to me,😃 I'm still learning to play high level chess 😅

[@rayhanmansoor2951]

176 likes and no dislikes

[@PrinceArt77]

hi Agad...can you please give your analysis if white plays Bc3....white is up a piece and sacrificing Bishop just to have a fighting chance on somewhat equal level would still be playable....

[@dariobarisic3502]

My guess would be that black won't capture, instead he'll activate his Queen with something like Qa4. After that white goes back to d2 with his bishop. Qxa2, Bc3 again, Qb3, Bd2, Qxb2. Black then has a passed a pawn which he can easily promote, or trade for a knight.

[@pyndomycianaczyntymek2487]

What about rook e1->f1? I see it ll be trade down a piece, but it gives white some opportunities in defense

[@James-vc1kc]

Obi-Wan: Your move!

[@jeetbiswas9374]

I have to used my headphone to here ur voice b little louder...

[@mohd1nagyyyyy]

I thought of Be7 with the same idea as h6 of trapping the queen is there much of a difference ?

[@ThePrinceofParthia]

Be7 leads to White being able to go Bb3 and threaten the bishop. If you take with the bishop, then White can escape the trap with the queen.

[@andrewclark9192]

Would somebody mind explaining to me why rook to f1 isn't an answer to blacks final move? I assume I'm just looking at it wrong but I'd really appreciate it if somebody could explain.

[@hitrapperandartistdababy]

Did you know the Main Protagonist in Dragon Quest V Is called “Grandmaster Nimzo” and is a Demon commanding the religious order of Zugswang. His subbordinates include *Korol The King* *Queen Ferz* *Bishop Ladja* *Kon The Knight* *Slon The Rook*

[@sriharikrishna1950]

6:47 ,why can't rc1 be played ,as it clears the way for the queen ,or after pushing b3,u can play A3 ,so if the pawn captures ur knight escapes ,or if it doesn't ,u can just capture it

[@rashid403]

after rc1, black can play re2 trapping the queen

[@fredocarroll]

At 4:52 for White, why not Rcf1? With the bishop on g2, you can trade both pairs of rooks

[@BM-sq2yk]

You would lose material blacks bishop is attacking it as well. (Super late)

[@erik8178]

what about Bxb4?

[@snowy_goated2960]

Holy shittt.. I FOUND H6!!!!!🤩🤩

[@terrifictamal]

Agar I think there is one move for white to get out of Zugzwang, i.e. LRf1, then if black Rf3 to attack the Queen, Queen goes to Rook's place e1 saving it. But in this way white will loose a whole rook. But that's okay.

[@T30BO55]

The quotes xD

[@Taha-ik1pg]

I have a question - after Zugzwang - when you push a4 - and the rook comes down to 'trap the queen' - why can't white capture that rook with their light squared bishop? I am a chess n00b so I don't see issues with what

[@bikernumber7180]

rook on f2 takes bishop on f3 and white is still in the same position

[@Taha-ik1pg]

right - but now the queen has an escape square no? it messes you up positionally but doesn't lose the queen I thought.

[@bikernumber7180]

Not sure why i missed it before but if bishop takes rook on f3, f2 rook moves to h2 with checkmate

[@Taha-ik1pg]

Oh ye .... thanks!

[@bikernumber7180]

you're welcome :)

[@christophersharp8235]

When rook has the option of f3 to attack the queen, why does black's bishop not capture rook on F3?

[@thadkayne]

I think you mean whites bishop. it comes down to the exchange. if rook f3 then the queen is trapped. no way to save the queen. if bishop takes the rook, black recaptures with rook. now its the same trapped queen position but now white has light square weakness around the king and whites queen is off the board next move. best to lose queen for rook and keep the kings defenses intact

[@pedrogheventer2566]

At 7:03, if the bishop captures the rook, it's mate in 1 with Rh2, as black's bishop now defends that square. At 7:23, the bishop cannot capture the rook because it is pinned to the king

[@ingeborghjertaker1963]

Why can’t bishop on g2 take the rook that moves from f5 to f3 to trap the queen? If the bishop takes the rook. the queen isnt threatened anymore right? Is there something I don’t see?

[@brunofabre1093]

Can you giveaway some chess coaching?

[@georgepitt5236]

That's Bill Hader on the thumbnail

[@cholyom2629]

Sämisch planned to go for Sämisch's King Indian but Nimzowistch when for Queen Indian Defense to avoid Sämisch's Sämisch King Indian 🤴

[@jakit0556]

its so ironic considering alphazero did the same thing against stockfish 8 with the same openings but the other way around XD

[@rohangeorge712]

wait so u mean the alpha 0 had the losing's side opening and also created an immortal zugswang? that is indeed ironic 😂