Matisons, Hermanis - Nimzowitsch, Aaron
Karlsbad, 1929

In this lecture I want to show you several games on the topic open and semi-open files. Of course this is a very large topic, and it is not possible to cover it all in one lecture. Nevertheless you will meet some nice positional ideas in these games. In the first game black has immediately got a winning position after he opened the file.
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 d6 6.Qc2

[6.g3]

6...Qe7 7.Ba3?!

[Not the best square for the bishop.
7.Bg5!?]

7...c5 8.g3 b6 9.Bg2 Bb7 10.O-O O-O 11.Nh4 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 Qb7+! A.Nimzowitsch gives a lesson of strategy to his opponent, preparing a classical attack to the weak pawn on c4.
13.Kg1 Qa6 14.Qb3 Nc6 15.Rfd1 Na5 16.Qb5 White can save the pawn, but following A.Nimzowitsch: "when the weak pawn is changed or leaves his square, this square stays week."
16...Qxb5 17.cxb5 Nc4 18.Bc1 Black has a very good position and several possibilities, for example 18...cd 19.cd Rfc8 or 18.. Ne4 seem to be strong. But he has another, even stronger idea
18...a6! With the opening of the A file black attacks the a2 pawn, and white's position becomes lost.
19.bxa6 Rxa6 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.Ng2 Nd5 22.Rd3 Rfa8 23.e4 Ne5!

0-1

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In this lecture I want to show you several games on the topic open and semi-open files. Of course this is a very large topic, and it is not possible to cover it all in one lecture. Nevertheless you will meet some nice positional ideas in these games. In the first game black has immediately got a winning position after he opened the file. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Bxc3+ 5.bxc3 d6 6.Qc2
	[6.g3]
6...Qe7 7.Ba3?!
	[Not the best square for the bishop. 7.Bg5!?]
7...c5 8.g3 b6 9.Bg2 Bb7 10.O-O O-O 11.Nh4 Bxg2 12.Kxg2 Qb7+! A.Nimzowitsch gives a lesson of strategy to his opponent, preparing a classical attack to the weak pawn on c4. 13.Kg1 Qa6 14.Qb3 Nc6 15.Rfd1 Na5 16.Qb5 White can save the pawn, but following A.Nimzowitsch: "when the weak pawn is changed or leaves his square, this square stays week." 16...Qxb5 17.cxb5 Nc4 18.Bc1 Black has a very good position and several possibilities, for example 18...cd 19.cd Rfc8 or 18.. Ne4 seem to be strong. But he has another, even stronger idea 18...a6! With the opening of the A file black attacks the a2 pawn, and white's position becomes lost. 19.bxa6 Rxa6 20.dxc5 bxc5 21.Ng2 Nd5 22.Rd3 Rfa8 23.e4 Ne5! 0-1