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I recently played this club tournament match; I had the White pieces and played for Team Sydney, while my opponent played for Team Melbourne!

Against (1. e4), my opponent played the uncommon Nimzowitsch Defense (1… Nc6). Now, Aaron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935) was one of the fathers of the Hypermodern school, and this defence should be seen from the perspective of the hypermodern approach. Rather than controlling the centre with pawns as per the Classical or Modern approach, it attempts to develop pieces early to undermine the opponent’s control of the centre.

Historical note:
Nimzowitsch seems to have been bit of a character who seriously irritated his contemporaries. Tartakower, who was a colleague and advocate of the nascent hypermodernism once quipped that Nimzowitsch, “pretends to be crazy in order to drive us all crazy!” The normally phlegmatic Maróczy had such an argument with Nimzowitsch at a tournament in Slovenia that he challenged him to a duel with pistols! Modern disagreements between Kramnik and many others, or between Niemann and Carlson seem completely staid in comparison!

The most common responses to the Nimzowitsch Defense are Nf3 or d4. However, I prefer Nc3 which occurs less than 10% of the time, and potentially transposes the game into a Vienna! The logic? I gain control by moving the opening towards a position that I’m familiar with, but not likely to be familiar to the opponent, especially at the beginner-intermediate level.

This ends up succeeding! Black again avoids playing a centre pawn with (2… Nf6) and here, I decided to play a tricky move with (3. f4!?). The logical move would be (3. d4) but I suspected that my Nimzowitsch playing opponent would be prepared for it. However, f4 baits Black into playing e5 themselves to avoid the impending e5 with an attack on their knight. And that’s what happened!

Those of you who know the Vienna Gambit would recognise the position; it has transposed into the Vienna Gambit (Falkbeer Variation) Declined with 3… Nc6. And this is a common but serious mistake! The tactical pattern now declares itself; White captures the e5-pawn and then chases Black’s knights with the centre pawns and Black is forced to un-develop their king’s knight to g8! White wins the centre and a big lead in development by the end of move 6! More than that, we’re now in “my territory” of the Vienna Gambit, and although my opponent was higher rated than me at daily (ELO 1416 vs 1208), I was fairly sure that I had very good winning chances!

Indeed, on move 9 and 10, I played a couple of tricky moves that Stockfish doesn’t approve of (evaluation goes back to equality at [0.00]) but sets up a devastating attack! Firstly, I sacrifice my bishop (9. Bxf7+), which forces Black’s king onto the fully open f-file, exposing it, and removing its right to castle. Then on move 10, I castle my rook onto the f-file, to prepare for a double-check attack! Now, these moves are technically inaccurate/mistakes, as I’m just one-step too slow. This means that if Black plays very accurately, the attack will fail. However, with Black unfamiliar with the Vienna, they weren’t sensitised to the danger and played (10… Nge7??), a seemingly sensible developing move, but it was a blunder [+5.7] giving me that single tempo step that I needed!

The double-check down the f-file hits with (11. Ng5+!). This is a powerful move – activating two pieces into the attack and unpinning the knight with an attack on Black’s undefended light square bishop. After (11… Kg8 12. Qxg4), Black is close to checkmate as Qe6+ will be checkmate in almost all lines!

Black finds the one good move with (13. Qe2), offering to trade queens and defend the critical e6 square from White’s queen. In this position, Stockfish considers the rook sacrifice (Rxf8+) to be the most accurate. I considered this move, but I couldn’t see a mating attack. There isn’t one and White would need to play some accurate knight manoeuvres down that line. In the game, I played the simpler and more direct (13. Qe2) with the logic of then playing Qc4+, which is along the same diagonal and winning attack as e6.

This ends up being successful. Black attempts to defend the c4 square with a knight, but I could simply force it away with a pawn. Black counterattacks my knight on the opposite side of the board, but my attack was simply too strong. A few desperate trades occur, but the structure of my attack remained. After a rook lift and then (20. Rh3+), skewering Black’s king and rook, Black resigned. At high depth, Stockfish reckons that there is a [+M18], but in the position, Black had only two legal moves. They had to trade their queen for my rook (20… Qxh3 21. gxh3), their best move, or cleanly lose a rook (20… Kg6 Rxh8). Emotional damage. GG!

The big takeaway from this game is to see whether you can transpose unfamiliar openings towards those with which you are familiar! Tactically, the idea is moving the game from where your opponent has the knowledge advantage, to one where you do!

Game: https://www.chess.com/game/daily/641617149

[Event "WCL2024 R6: Melbourne v Sydney - Board 16"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2024.04.02"]
[Round "-"]
[White "vitualis"]
[Black "philipwaters"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Match "https://www.chess.com/club/matches/1604283"]
[CurrentPosition "r1q2b1r/ppp3pk/8/P3p1B1/2Q5/2N4R/P1P3PP/R5K1 b - - 1 20"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B00"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Nimzowitsch-Defense-2.Nc3-Nf6"]
[UTCDate "2024.04.02"]
[UTCTime "23:04:07"]
[WhiteElo "1208"]
[BlackElo "1416"]
[TimeControl "1/259200"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "23:04:07"]
[EndDate "2024.04.04"]
[EndTime "07:41:36"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/daily/641617149"]
[WhiteUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/3711094.f52a0759.50x50o.ab18600a8723.png"]
[WhiteCountry "17"]
[WhiteTitle ""]
[BlackUrl "https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/user/5033606.c7d33f3f.50x50o.abdbb874fde9.jpeg"]
[BlackCountry "17"]
[BlackTitle ""]

1. e4 {[%clk 71:58:51]} 1... Nc6 {[%clk 71:14:42] Nimzowitsch Defense [+0.4].
Potentially a very tricky hypermodern opening.} 2. Nc3 {[%clk 71:23:05] The most
common responses to the Nimzowitsch is Nf3 followed by d4. However, I prefer Nc3
which occurs less than 10\% of the time, and potentially transposes the game
into a Vienna $1 The logic $2 I gain control by moving the opening towards a
position that I'm familiar with, but not likely to be familiar to the opponent $1}
2... Nf6 {[%clk 71:33:29] In the position, around two-thirds of the time, Black
will play e5 or Nf6, which was played in this game. Both of which potentially
transpose into a Vienna Game or Vienna Gambit $1} 3. f4 $5 {[%clk
71:55:03][%c_effect f4;square;f4;type;Interesting;persistent;true] This is a
tricky move $1 The best move is d4 which would be aligned with the opening
principle that you should take the full centre with pawns if it is possible to
do so. However, With Black playing a hypermodern, they are more likely to be
expecting such a move. So instead, I played f4 [0.00], which baits Black into
playing e5 $1 However, this would be a mistake...} 3... e5 $2 {[%clk
69:36:02][%c_effect e5;square;e5;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d7d5;keyPressed;none;from;d7;opacity;0.8;to;d5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
d5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;d5;persistent;false] This is the single
most common response by Black, and it's a mistake $1 Those who know the Vienna
Gambit will recognise that the game has transposed into the Vienna Gambit
(Falkbeer Variation), Declined by 3... Nc6, which is a known mistake $1 [+1.6]} 4.
fxe5 {[%clk 70:08:41]} 4... Nxe5 {[%clk 71:57:36]} 5. d4 $1 {[%clk
71:52:35][%c_effect d4;square;d4;type;GreatFind;persistent;true]} 5... Nc6 $6
{[%clk 68:46:13][%c_arrow
e5g6;keyPressed;none;from;e5;opacity;0.8;to;g6;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g6;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g6;persistent;false][%c_effect
c6;square;c6;type;Inaccuracy;persistent;true] Interestingly enough, Stockfish
16.1 NNUE now lists Nc6 as an inaccuracy [+1.6 $37 2.1], while previous versions
considered the two positions to be largely similar $1} 6. e5 $1 {[%clk
72:00:00][%c_effect e5;square;e5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false]} 6... Ng8 {[%clk
71:58:50]} 7. Nf3 {[%clk 72:00:00]} 7... d6 {[%clk 71:58:38]} 8. Bc4 {[%clk
71:53:17]} 8... Bg4 $2 {[%clk 71:03:40][%c_effect
g4;square;g4;type;Mistake;persistent;true][%c_arrow
d6e5;keyPressed;none;from;d6;opacity;0.8;to;e5;persistent;false][%c_highlight
e5;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e5;persistent;false] This is a very
understandable move, but it is a mistake. [+3.5]} 9. Bxf7+ $5 {[%clk
71:59:43][%c_arrow
e1g1;keyPressed;none;from;e1;opacity;0.8;to;g1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false][%c_effect
f7;square;f7;type;Interesting;persistent;true] I knew that in this position [9.
O-O] was probably best, but I decided to play aggressively $1 Here, I didn't think
I would be worse than Black (I wasn't: [+1.4]) but it was forcing as Black's
king will be forced on the f-file, and even with perfect play, will have lost
the right to castle $1 There is also the possibility of a future double-check
manoeuvre on the f-file $1} 9... Kxf7 {[%clk 71:59:38]} 10. O-O $5 {[%clk
71:51:53][%c_arrow
h2h3;keyPressed;none;from;h2;opacity;0.8;to;h3;persistent;false][%c_highlight
h3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h3;persistent;false][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Stockfish perceives that the only
line that retains an evaluation advantage for White is to play (10. h3).
However, my goal with the original bishop sacrifice was to set up a trap with a
double-check on the f-file. Although Black is nominally fine [0.00], White has a
much better attacking position that will be difficult for Black to defend
against.} 10... Nge7 $4 {[%clk 71:56:09][%c_effect
e7;square;e7;type;Blunder;persistent;true][%c_highlight
e7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e7;persistent;false,e8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;e8;persistent;false][%c_arrow
f7e8;keyPressed;none;from;f7;opacity;0.8;to;e8;persistent;false] Black possibly
underestimated the risk to their king, and so opted to develop their knight
instead. This was a blunder, and White is now completely winning $1 [+5.7]} 11.
Ng5+ $1 {[%clk 71:59:41][%c_effect
g5;square;g5;type;GreatFind;persistent;true][%c_highlight
g5;keyPressed;alt;opacity;0.8;square;g5;persistent;false,f7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f7;persistent;false][%c_arrow
g5f7;keyPressed;none;from;g5;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false,f1f7;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;f7;persistent;false]
Double-check $1 This unpins the knight from Black's g4-bishop,} 11... Kg8 {[%clk
71:59:35]} 12. Qxg4 {[%clk 71:59:39] Completely winning $1} 12... Qc8 {[%clk
71:23:34] Black finds the only non-losing move $1 Qe6+ gives a checkmate down most
lines, so Black must defend the diagonal. Other than Nxd4 (which trades their
knight for a pawn), pretty much all other moves result in checkmate $1} 13. Qe2
{[%clk 71:52:20][%c_arrow
f1f8;keyPressed;none;from;f1;opacity;0.8;to;f8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f8;keyPressed;shift;opacity;0.8;square;f8;persistent;false] Stockfish thinks
that Rxf8 is better, but it gets very complicated requiring an accurate series
of knight checks. Qe2 is more direct, looking at playing Qc4 to attack down the
light square diagonal from another square.} 13... Na5 {[%clk 60:08:13] This
defends the c4 square...} 14. b4 {[%clk 71:46:14] ... so, let's remove the
defender $1} 14... h6 {[%clk 70:36:09] This is the correct move, trading away
attackers, but White's attack is just too strong...} 15. bxa5 {[%clk 71:52:56]}
15... hxg5 {[%clk 70:47:45]} 16. Qc4+ {[%clk 70:54:26]} 16... Kh7 {[%clk
70:52:42]} 17. Bxg5 {[%clk 71:23:41]} 17... Ng6 {[%clk 70:35:54]} 18. Rf3 {[%clk
71:20:12] Rook lift, to play Rh3+ $1} 18... Nxe5 {[%clk 70:49:14]} 19. dxe5 {[%clk
71:59:08]} 19... dxe5 {[%clk 71:58:04]} 20. Rh3+ {[%clk 71:58:06][%c_effect
g1;square;g1;type;Winner,h7;square;h7;type;ResignBlack][%c_arrow
c4g8;keyPressed;none;from;c4;opacity;0.8;to;g8;persistent;false,h3h8;keyPressed;none;from;h3;opacity;0.8;to;h8;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g8;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g8;persistent;false,h7;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h7;persistent;false]
And Black resigns $1 [+M18] Their best move is to trade their queen for the rook
with (20... Qxh3 21. gxh3). The only other legal move is Kg6, which hangs their
rook, Rxh8. GG $1} 1-0