Nimzovitch, Aaron

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NIMZOVITCH, AARON

NIMZOVITCH, AARON (1886–1935), chess master. Nimzovitch, who was born in Riga, won important tournaments in the 1920s but was particularly important as a theoretician. He was responsible, together with Tartakover, Réti, and Alekhine, for the general departure from the dogmatism of *Tarrasch's "strong center" theory. Two of his openings, the Nimzovitch Defense and the Nimzo-Indian, which remained popular long after their inventor's death, carried "hypermodern" theory into practice. His book, Mein System (1925; Eng. tr., 1930), a collection of important aperçus on points of technique, is still of great value.

[Gerald Abrahams]