My System Study Group Chapter 1 Part 1: Pawns & The Center

From the start to page 5 and up to bullet 5 Liquidation.

I'm going to re-post the first few positions without annotations. So as you read if you want to play them back and forth you can. Without my input. Following that I want to summarize the points he's made and get everyone's take on that. If I miss something please let me know. We will stop here for a few days. I want everyone to have a chance to give their input. I'm not going to take these post down so they will be here for anyone who comes along later. 

Part One: The Elements

Chapter 1: On The Center and Development 

Nimzo describes the line between the 4th and 5th ranks as the frontier. Also he points to the squares d4, d5, e4, e5 as the center. Then he states that each side will try to develop his "troops" to the frontier. Control the center with pawns. Doing so without wasting time (tempo). What follows are examples of how these plans can be thwarted if you are not careful.

Example 1: The wrecking of a pawnless advance.

Example 2: Another example of wreaking of a pawnless advance.

Example 5: Another exchange with winning a tempo.

Example 5 with notes.

Example 6: Intermezzo with gain of tempo.

Example 6 with notes.

So what are the points he has made so far, and what is our understanding of them?

I'm going to start a list and edit it with your input. To be clear this is not a democratic endeavor. I am very open to input, however this is my blog. I have started the study of this book in this public way and invited you to join me. You can have your say in the thread that follows. I will try to block anyone who tries to take us off topic or trolls this group. I may incorporate thread entries that I like and make corrections to my entries as pointed out by you. If I agree they are in error. 

The List

In the opening there is great value in controlling the center and developing your pieces there.

Pawns are necessary to aid in the development of your pieces. 

Development is not complete until all the pieces are developed.

During development moving a piece more than once is a loss of time (tempo) and is to be avoided.

Developed pieces can be forced to move by attack from lesser value pieces and pawns. Resulting in loss of time.

Time can sometimes be gained with exchange of pieces.

An intermezzo ( in-between ) move can be used to gain time.