Awakening of Those Men in The Rear

Many of the younger generation of chess players may not be familiar with the Magnum Opus of Aron Nimzovitch titled My System considered by many to be the most seminal book on chess ever written. His effort not only added invaluable pieces to chess theory, but had considerable literary value as the good doctor could really turn some phrases.

 One of my favorites was The awakening of the men in the rear which referred to cramped pieces that became active as pawns often sacrificially move forward. The following game played at the internet chess club involved an odd second move by a Japanese chess player named MerKavA. Against a Dutch defense our oriental friend plays 2. Qd3 which ended up subjecting his Queen to many attacks and allowed Black to fully develop and obtain a winning position.



Back to Nimzovitch. The Black Bishop, in the diagram you see, was stuck behind pawns at f5,e4,and d5. White's Rook had moved to a2 to guard weak c2 pawn. Black reacted by advancing his d5 pawn, sacrificially opening the the a2-g8 diagonal and attacking the a2 Rook.

All this makes the e6 Bishop the fellow who was awakened from his slumber to snap off the inattentive tower on a2.