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Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges to the chess ideas of central European masters, including Wilhelm Steinitz's approach to the centre and the rules established by Siegbert Tarrasch.
The Hypermodernists demonstrated their new ideas with games and victories. Aron Nimzowitsch, considered the founder and leading practitioner of hypermodernism, [1] showed that games could be won through indirect control of the centre, breaking with Tarrasch's view that the centre must be occupied by pawns. Nimzowitsch advocated controlling the centre with distant pieces rather than with pawns, thus inviting the opponent to occupy the centre with pawns, which can then become targets of attack. This was part of the hypermodern framework, which Nimzowitsch encapsulated in his book My System , which greatly influenced many chess players. It introduced and formalised concepts of the pawn chain , overprotection , undermining, prophylaxis, restraint, rook on the seventh rank , knight outposts, the dynamics of the isolated queen's pawn, and other areas of chess.
Although none of the primary exponents of the Hypermodern school ever achieved the title of World Chess Champion, they were among the world's strongest players. World Champion Alexander Alekhine was associated with hypermodernism, but his style was more of a blend with the Classical school.
In practice, hypermodernism has not replaced the classical theory of Steinitz and Tarrasch. Instead, modern chess textbooks describe hypermodernism as an addition, or extension, to classical theory.
Hypermodern openings include the Réti Opening, King's Indian Defence, Queen's Indian Defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence, Nimzowitsch Defence, Grünfeld Defence, Bogo-Indian Defence, Old Indian Defence, Catalan Opening, King's Indian Attack, Alekhine's Defence, Modern Defence, Pirc Defence, Larsen's Opening, and to a lesser degree the English Opening. Openings such as 1.a3 do not constitute hypermodern openings since, although they delay the occupation of the centre with pawns, they also delay piece development .[ citation needed ]
Howard Staunton and many of his 19th-century contemporaries understood various ideas associated with hypermodernism. [2] The Hypermodern school of chess theory came to prominence in the 1920s. Leading members were Aron Nimzowitsch, Richard Réti, Savielly Tartakower, Gyula Breyer, Efim Bogoljubov, and Ernst Grünfeld, who all came from Central Europe. [3] They felt that chess was becoming boring, slow, and not worthwhile. They also believed that chess could not be defined by a simple set of laws or principles, such as those laid out by Siegbert Tarrasch.
Their ideas were thus a challenge to the existing orthodoxy popularised by Tarrasch in the 1890s. This orthodoxy was a rather dogmatic distillation of the ideas worked out by chess pioneer Wilhelm Steinitz. Steinitz was the first player who in his play demonstrated a mastery of positional chess , and the ideas he developed came to be known as the "Classical" or "Modern" school of thought. This school of thought emphasised the importance of "static" advantages such as avoidance of pawn weaknesses, strong outposts for knights, and striving for "good" rather than "bad" bishops in positions with locked pawn structures. This school of thought was in turn a reaction to the earlier swashbuckling style of Adolf Anderssen, Henry Blackburne, and others, who represented the Romantic school.
In 1922, Réti published Die neuen Ideen im Schachspiel (English: The New Ideas in Chess), an examination of the evolution of chess thinking from the time of Paul Morphy through the beginning of the Hypermodern school. The name "hypermodern" was originated by Tartakower; [4] his book Die hypermoderne Schachpartie (English: The Hypermodern Chess Game) was published in 1924. Nimzowitsch's book Mein System (English: My System) was published in 1925 through to 1927 in five installments. It discusses elements of hypermodernism, but focuses mainly on positional chess.
Aron Nimzowitsch was a Latvian born-Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimzowitsch was one of the best chess players in the world. He was the foremost figure amongst the hypermoderns and wrote a very influential book on chess theory: My System (1925–1927). Nimzowitsch's seminal work Chess Praxis, originally published in German in 1929, was purchased by a pre-teen and future World Champion Tigran Petrosian and was to have a great influence on his development as a chess player.
The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory. The other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences, known as openings, have standard names such as "Sicilian Defense". The Oxford Companion to Chess lists 1,327 named openings and variants, and there are many others with varying degrees of common usage.
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator. It is currently undergoing its fifth edition. ECO may also refer to the opening classification system used by the encyclopedia.
Savielly Tartakower was a Polish chess player. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster in its inaugural year, 1950. Tartakower was also a leading chess journalist and author of the 1920s and 1930s.
Siegbert Tarrasch was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century.
In chess, the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent b- or g-file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward.
Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Réti Opening is a hypermodern chess opening whose "traditional" or "classic method" begins with the moves:
Richard Selig Réti was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies.
The King's Pawn Game is any chess opening starting with the move:
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:
In the game of chess, Indian Defence or Indian Game is a broad term for a group of openings characterised by the moves:
Louis Paulsen was a German chess player. In the 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Paulsen.
Friedrich Sämisch was a German chess player and chess theorist. He was among the inaugural recipients of the title International Grandmaster from FIDE in 1950.
A Semi-Open Game is a chess opening in which White plays 1.e4 and Black breaks symmetry immediately by replying with a move other than 1...e5. The Semi-Open Games are also called Single King Pawn, Asymmetrical King Pawn, or Half-Open Games, and are the complement of the Open Games or Double King Pawn Games which begin 1.e4 e5.
The Falkbeer Countergambit is a chess opening that begins:
The game of chess is commonly divided into three phases: the opening, middlegame, and endgame. There is a large body of theory regarding how the game should be played in each of these phases, especially the opening and endgame. Those who write about chess theory, who are often also eminent players, are referred to as "theorists" or "theoreticians".
A school of chess denotes a chess player or group of players that share common ideas about the strategy of the game. There have been several schools in the history of modern chess. Today there is less dependence on schools – players draw on many sources and play according to their personal style.
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