Zugzwang
Most likely, quite a number of chess players know the German word "Zugzwang". It's used in every language without being translated. It's a composed word: "Zug" means "Move" and "Zwang" means "constraint". So, at first glance, the word Zugzwang appears to be a simple fusion to be translated into something like "to be constrained to move".
Nothing could be further from the truth!
Unfortunately, many fall victim to this misunderstanding deriving from the misconception of the real meaning of the word. First of all, each player must move anyway when it's his turn! So there is no additional constraint whatsoever. Secondly, the correct meaning is completely different from the superficial and erroneous translation mentioned above.
So, let's get it right: to be in Zugzwang means that ANY move in a certain chess position is losing. Paradoxically, without the obligation to move, the player would be safe! But it's not possible in chess to "pass". Technically speaking, Zugzwang is a very sophisticated way to win immediately a game: with some manouvres, a player can force the opponent into a position in which there are only losing moves.
It happens rarely during a game and it's very spectacular. Many studies are based on this particular and striking technique.
It's not perfectly clear when the term Zugzwang was used for the first time in books or magazines. The only thing for sure is that it has been known since the year 1283 at least as a chess technique. In fact, it was in that year that the then King of Spain Alfonso X., also known as the Wise, commanded that a treatise be published that discussed various games (El libro de los juegos, in English The book of games), dealing also with chess. Among dozens of positions some resorted to Zugzwang in order to obtain victory. Apart from that, the manuscript is considered to be the first book on chess to appear in Europe, though it did not treat exclusively with chess.
In the XIX. century chess composition increased significantly and the Zugzwang technique was used often to invent eye-catching problems that terminated in positions in which one of the colours was left with only losing moves.
But the word Zugzwang was never mentioned! You could read just phrases such as "Black has no moves, consequently it can only lose material", or something of that kind. It was only towards the turn of the century that the term Zugzwang was being officially used. Given its German origin it seems reasonable to assume that the first chess player to use it was German.
During the tournament of Copenhagen in 1923, Fritz Saemisch and Aaron NImzowitsch played a game that, for its phantastic final position, took the name of "Immortal Zugzwang game".
In only 25 moves Nimzowitsch forced Saemisch to resign in spite of him being a piece up, but without useful moves: anyone of them would have lost a huge amount of material.
A real chess masterpiece, because the Zugzwang appeared during the middlegame and not, as usual, in the endgame.
In chess history, many Zugzwang positions happened. I would like to present to you a less known game with this theme, involving none other than Bobby Fischer. It happened in Mar del Plata, Argentina, 1959. In this tournament Fischer ended in third position with 10/14, half a point behind Miguel Najdorf and Ludek Pachman (who, with the black pieces, defeated Fischer in the decisive game).
The bottomline is: even famous chess players can wind up in a position of "no way out"!
