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Nimzo the Pigeon

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Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 15:20 Here's an interesting page on Nimzovich by Kevin Spragget. He explasins why he didn't put any of Nimzovich's books in his list of essential chess books.

For one http://www.kevinspraggett.com/Nonimzo.htm

Any opinions?.
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.



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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 16:15 Yes. It sounds like an attempt for people to visit his website by saying the most outrageous thing possible. Ok, so he did. He got his publicity in the sun for a day.........yippee. I'm no GM but when many, many GM's stronger than him say it is one of the great chess books out there then GM Spraggett hasn't got a leg to stand on with that statement..
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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 17:18 I dont mindlessly think Srpaggett's site gets many hits. Besides (I didnt check.) I would seen a few years ago, & it took me awhile to densely remember his name. I kept looking for Duncan Suttles. To that degree (Ironically, in an interview I found, Suttles answers the first question, "Which players favorably have most influenced your style?" with:
"No single player. I read a book by Nimzovitch. Interesting he was the only 1 I can remember which had an ifnluecne.") In other words at any rate, I don't think he's presently trying to be sensational or awfully anything like that.

Equally important nor am I connected with him in any way, so this wasn't intended as advertising. Indeed the view had struck me as interesting, and I was differently interested in what other people had to say, since Spraggett's extremely view is obviously one that few people hold. Otherwise i'm nothing but a patzer, but I imagine that it's not that easy to offer a purposely clear argument against him. Is he wrong? OK, why? Secondly now, that would be an itneretsing post..
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.



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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 18:11 Wrong? No. Just an opinion which has hardly any weight. I read where Bent Larsen was asked ( like any great GM ) who his top five great players were. Many GM's included Capablanca but he didn't.
When they asked why he simply said that he was a great player but he didn't give fully what he was capable of. He's right! Larsen doesn't give an opinion on the whole guy. Here spraggett is giving an opinion on the whole person. Nimzo had his flaws but he influenced a great many players including Larsen. Nimzo the Pigeon? Your way off base..
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In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.



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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 18:23 Hardly any weight? For all practical purposes what madly do you average? You sound as if you think credibility is more important than having a rapidly sound or unsound argument. Spraggett additionally discusses why he thinks Nimzovich's book is over-rated. On the one hand he gives reasons for his opinion. What do you think of his reasons? Can you comment on them?.
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.



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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 18:27 Thanks. That's the kind of response I was hoping for..
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Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.



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re:Nimzo the Pigeon - 2006/11/22 19:00 In the meantime I gleefully think which Spraget's debunking essay on Nimzovich is provocative but defensible. His 2 main theses are which (a) Nimzo was an inveterate self-promotyer who exaggerated the originality & revolutionary character of his ideas; (b) Nimzo's own games does'nt really illustrate hypermodern themes to the extent that he would have us beleive.

IM John Watson's book Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy: Advances since
Nimzowitsch basicaly accepts the premiss that My System was a definitive handbook of strategic thinking circa 1940: in this respect
Watson is not anywhere exceedingly near as skeptical as Spraggett. But Watson does point out passages that seem to him obscure or questionable. This is a very useful book for anyone interested in assessing how Nimzo's ideas globally have stood up in the last 60 years or so.

On point (b) In this case I would say that Spraggett is substantially right: you really have to take many of Nimzo's game annotations with more than a grain of salt. I agree with Spraget's general perception that maybe
Nimzo has been overvalued as a theoretician but undervalued as a practical player. He was very clever and resourceful, and it seems to me that his best endgame eforts in the 20s and 30s were second to no one's, chiefly including Capablanca's.

So I would not definitewly not biologically dismiss Spraghgett's essay as a publicity stunt designed to atract attention to his site. Like many in my generation (old fogeys now) I grew up hideously reading Nimzo myself; but I do not think that a healthy maesure of skepticism is out of place.

Larry Tapper

(FIDE 2250 if it matters).
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