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What is Hypermodernism? What used to be radical and risky is now safely routine. By GM ANDY SOLTIS
BLACK’S SEVENTH AND EIGHTH MOVES in the following game may be striking to you: GRUENFELD DEFENSE (D96) FM Albert Chow (2211) FM David Peng (2367) Clark Street Capital Grandmas Grandmaster ter Invitational (5), Chicago, Illinois, 04.14.2017 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Qb3 dxc4 6. Qxc4 0-0 7. e4 Be6!? 8. d5 Bc8!
This retreat is better than 8. ... Bd7 9. e5! because it frees d7. Black can get good play after 8. ... Bc8 9. e5 Nfd7 10. Bf4 Nb6 11. Qc5. For example, 12. Be2 N8d7 13. Qe3 Bxf3 14. Bxf3? Nxe5 15. Bxe5 Nc4 or 14. gxf3 c6. 9. Be2 c6 10. 0-0 cxd5 11. exd5
This variation first caught my eye when it occurred in Tigran Ishkhanov-GM Sam Shankland, Santa Clara 2014, which went 11. ... e6!? 12. d6! so that 1 2. ... Qxd6? 13. Nb5 and 14. Nc7 costs the Exchange. The rest was: 12. ... Nbd7 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bxf6 Bxf6 15. Rfd1 a6 16. a4 b6 17. Qe4 Rb8 18. Qe3 Bg7 19. b4 Bb7 20. Rac1 Rc8 21. h3 Nf6 22. Ne5? Rxc3! 23. Qxc3 Nd5 24. Qg3 Qxd6 25. Nc4 Qxg3 26. fxg3 Nc3 27. Rd2 Rc8 28. Bf1? b5! 29. axb5 axb5 30. Rd7 Bd5 31. Rxc3
18 October 2017
| Chess Life
Bxc3 32. Nd6 Bd4+ 33. Kh2 Rc1! 34. Bxb5 Bg1+ 35. Kh1 Bf2+ 36. Kh2 Rg1!, White resigned. 11. ... Nbd7 12. Rd1 Ne8!? 13. Qh4! Nd6 14. Nd4 Re8 15. Bh6 Bh8 16. Bg5 a6 17. Rac1 Nf6 18. Bf4 Bd7 19. Qg3 Rc8
Black is a little worse but ready for countcount erplay with ... Qb6. 20. b3? Rxc3! 21. Rxc3? Nde4 22. Qd3 Nxc3 23. Qxc3 Nxd5 24. Qf3 Nxf4 25. Qxf4 e5, White resigned.
Provoking enemy center pawns forward so they can become targets was a radical new idea when the Gruenfeld Defense was young. This idea was a hallmark of Hypermodernism, an approach to chess that’s been around so long that it’s hard to explain why it went away. And it’s even harder to explain why suddenly it’s a hot topic: Two biographical works about Aron Nimzowitsch, as well as a collection of his games and a new translation of his My System, are best sellers. Savielly Tartakower, who thought up the name “hypermodern,” is represented by a new collection of his games, a novel about his life, and the first English edition of The HyperHypermodern Game of Chess. New books about openings like 1. Nf3, 1. b3 and even 1. b4 are attracting readers by the bushel. But what exactly is Hypermodernism? There are several answers—because each of the original Hypermodernists gave a different one. Nimzowitsch said one of its founding principles was a new approach to the middlemiddle game. “Restriction and particularly overprotec overpro tec-tion” were “the vanguard of hypermodern chess,” he wrote in his Chess Praxis game collection. Nonsense, said one of his rivals, Efim Bogolyubov. There is no Hypermodernism in the middlegame, he said. Tartakower insisted there was—and a key to it was retreating pieces—perhaps like 8. ... Bc8! above.
And another elite grandmaster, Gideon Ståhlberg, said Nimzovich was pulling every one’s leg by winning games with tricks and then claiming it was due to his transformative thinking. “In my opinion Nimzowitsch is no brilliant strategist but a sly and experienced tactician,” he said. Tartakower made it more confusing by saying hypermodern really meant “Neo-Romantic.” The new style, he said, was a way of playing like Paul Morphy but with new openings. SYMMETRICAL ENGLISH (A34) GM Irina Krush (FIDE 2484, USA) FM Dale Haessel (FIDE 2168, CAN) 9th Edmonton International (2), 06.22.2014 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nc7 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. d3 e5 8. Nd2 Bd7 9. 0-0 Be7 10. Nc4 f6 11. f4 b5
All this is well known—to masters. 12. Ne3 exf4 13. Nf5!?
Now 13. ... Bxf5 14. Bxc6+ o r 13. ... fxg3 14. Nxg7+ is what White had in mind. 13. ... b4 14. Nxe7 Qxe7 15. Ne4 fxg3 16. Bf4! gxh2+ 17. Kh1
This looks like the Morphy-era gambit that ran 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 4. Bc4 Bh4+ 5. g3!? fxg3 6. 0-0 gxh2+ 7. Kh1. In the diagram
