Zugzwang - History

History

According to chess historian Edward Winter (Winter 1997), in German, the term "zugzwang":

had been in regular use in the nineteenth century. Pages 353-358 of the September 1858 Deutsche Schachzeitung had an unsigned article 'Zugzwang, Zugwahl und Privilegien'. F. Amelung employed the terms Zugzwang, Tempozwang and Tempozugzwang on pages 257-259 of the September 1896 issue of the same magazine. When a perceived example of Zugzwang occurred in the third game of the 1896-97 world championship match between Steinitz and Lasker, after 34...Rg8, the Deutsche Schachzeitung (December 1896, page 368) reported that 'White has died of Zugzwang'.

The earliest known use of the term "zugzwang" in English was on page 166 of the February 1905 issue of Lasker's Chess Magazine (Winter 2008). The term did not become common in English-language chess sources until the 1930s, after the publication of the English translation of Nimzowitsch's My System in 1929 (Winter 1997).

The concept of zugzwang, if not the term, must have been known to players for many centuries. Zugzwang is required to win the elementary (and common) king and rook versus king endgame (Soltis 2003a:79), and the king and rook (or differently-named pieces with the same powers) have been chess pieces since the earliest versions of the game (Davidson 1981:21–22,41).

The earliest use of zugzwang (other than in basic checkmates) may be in this study by Zairab Katai, which was published sometime between 813 and 833. (This study was actually from the predecessor of chess Shatranj but the moves of the king, rook, and knight are the same. Masters of this era composed many studies in which Black was in zugzwang so that any move fatally weakened his position.) After

1. Re3! Ng1

2. Kf5! Kd4

3. Kf4

puts Black in zugzwang, since 3... Kc4 4. Kg3! Kd4 5. Re1 and White wins (Soltis 2009:15).

The concept of zugzwang is also seen in the 1585 endgame study by Giulio Cesare Polerio at right, published in 1604 by Alessandro Salvio, one of the earliest writers on the game. Angos (2005:108–9) gives the position as by Polerio in 1585. The only way for White to win is 1.Ra1!! Kxa1 2.Kc2!, placing Black in zugzwang. His only legal move is 2...g5, whereupon White promotes a pawn first and then checkmates with 3.hxg5 h4 4.g6 h3 5.g7 h2 6.g8(Q) h1(Q) 7.Qg7# (Sukhin 2007:21,23).

Joseph Bertin in The Noble Game of Chess (1735), which Hooper and Whyld consider "the first worthwhile chess textbook in the English language", referred to the concept of zugzwang, albeit without using that word, when he set forth as the 18th of his 19 rules about chess play, "To play well the latter end of a game, you must calculate who has the move, on which the game always depends." (Hooper & Whyld 1992:38–39).

François-André Danican Philidor wrote in 1777 of the position at below right that after White plays 36.Kc3, Black "is obliged to move his rook from his king, which gives you an opportunity of taking his rook by a double check, or making him mate" (Philidor 2005:272–73). Lasker explicitly cited a mirror image of this position (White: king on f3, queen on h4; Black: king on g1, rook on g2) as an example of zugzwang in Lasker's Manual of Chess (Lasker 1960:37–38). The British master George Walker analyzed a similar position in the same endgame, giving a maneuver that resulted in the superior side reaching the initial position, but now with the inferior side on move and in zugzwang. Walker wrote of the superior side's decisive move: "throwing the move upon Black, in the initial position, and thereby winning" (Walker 1846:245).

The great American player Paul Morphy (1837–1884), like Salvio and Philidor an unofficial World Champion, is credited with composing the position at right "while still a young boy". After 1.Ra6!, Black is in zugzwang and must allow mate on the next move with 1...bxa6 2.b7# or 1...B (moves) 2.Rxa7# (Shibut 2004:297).