Aron Nimzowitsch

I am reading "Aron Nimzowitsch: On the Road to Chess Mastery, 1886-1924" (2012) by Per Skjoldager and Jørn Erik Nielsen.  I was never much of a fan of Nimzowitsch, but this book is quite well written and extremely fascinating.

Here are some things I found interesting:

Aron Nimzowitsch learned chess from his father, Schaya ("Schaie" is the authors' preferred spelling), who was a successful timber merchant and one of the strongest chess players in Riga.  Schaya was born in 1860 and died on Oct. 6, 1918.  Treating chess as an almost sacred activity, he introduced Aron to the study of chess quite formally on his 8th birthday, having refused Aron's earlier prodding to learn the secrets of the game.


In this 1902 photo of Aron, his sister Tilla and Schaya. 16 year old Aron was already stronger than his father in chess at this point in time. In October of the next year, Aron, who was a gifted mathematician, would enter the University of Göttingen where he would earn his certificate in only 6 months.

Here is a lively game played between Schaya Niemzowistch and a man only referred to as Neumann.

Aron had his first game published when he was only 8½ (according to himself, although the newspaper article in the game notes says he was 9).

Thanks Batgirl. 

  Those were definately intersting games. Thanks Batgirl.

Great post, thanks. I read a thing or two already about chess history (love your blog!), but about Nimzowitsch I practically know nothing except that he wrote My System and had some fancy for blockading with pieces. I wouldn't have even guessed he was Latvian. 

(btw: little typo in the first sentence: the book was published in 2012)

Thanks. I edited it.