My System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
My System (German: Mein System), is a book on chess theory written by Aron Nimzowitsch. The book — one of the early works on hypermodernism — introduced many new concepts to followers of the modern school of thought.
[edit] Contents
The book is divided into three parts: The Elements, Position Play, and Illustrative Games.
In The Elements, Nimzowitsch writes about the basics of his "system". He covers topics such as piece development, play in the center, control of the 7th and 8th ranks, the development of passed pawns, etc.
The next part, Position Play, is based largely on the "elements" taught in the first part. In it, Nimzowitsch tells how to play for a positional advantage. In particular, he argues that the center can be effectively controlled using pieces instead of pawns. This concept, now widely accepted, is one of the fundamental principles of hypermodernism.
Illustrative Games contains annotated versions of fifty of Nimzowitsch's career games, which he refers to throughout the text.
[edit] Editions
- The original German edition was published in 1925. This edition is out-of-print.
- In 1930, a British English edition titled My System, translated by Philip Hereford, was published by Harcourt, Brace and Company. This edition is out-of-print.
- In 1991, an American English edition titled My System: 21st Century Edition (ISBN 1-880673-85-1), edited by Lou Hays, was published by Hays Publishing. In this edition, descriptive notation has been changed to algebraic notation and many diagrams have been added.
