France was the center of the chess world in the 1700's. The great Francois-Andre Philidor (1726- 1795) emphasized the importance of pawns and their relationship to the placement of pieces. His writings in 1749 focussed on flexible pawn formations. These formations were supported by pieces from the rear and were among the first contributions to closed positions.
From 1750 to 1860, the attack on the king was everything. It was a romantic era where the gambit ruled the day. Games were played with open centers and Pe4 was the popular first move on the board. In these games, pieces were brought out very quickly for a direct assault on the opponent's king.
Howard Staunton (1810-1874), who lived in the days of the Modenese School, brought flank play, central control, and the fianchetto to chess. His victory in 1843 over Pierre Saint-Amant (1800- 1872), in the Cafe del la Regence, dethroned France as the centre of chess and brought England to the forefront until the 1870's. Although the centre of chess had changed, the Modenese school of play had yet to run its course.
World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) also lived in the days of the Modenese school. He contributed greatly to defensive technique and the accumulation of small advantages.
Following Mr. Steinitz, came the next great chess teacher Siegbert Tarrasch (1862-1934). To these ideas, Siegbert added "If you have greater mobility you can play so your pawn weaknesses are not attackable." By 1890, these ideas ended the great reign of the Modenese school and the Steinitz school was in full swing.
This school was lead by Aaron Nimzowitch (1886- 1935), Richard Reti (1889-1929), and Gyula Breyer (1893-1921) in the 1920's. They believed that putting pawns in the center, early in the game, was weak because it gave your opponent an object of attack. This belief was contrary to the school of Steinitz. The English school's principal weapon, the fianchetto, was used to control the center from the flanks. With his victory over Mr. Reti in New York in 1924, World Champion Emanuel Lasker (1868- 1941) showed that the occupation of the center with pawns was sound. Was the fianchetto dead? On the contrary, these ideas heralded in the modern era of chess play.
Today, there are all types and styles of chess games.
Closed and open games are played everywhere and
even the fianchetto openings of the Hypermodern
school have been found credible with the delayed
advance of central pawns.
Today, thanks to our predecessors, we can choose
many styles of play.
Copyright © Manus Patrick Fealy 1994-2002
Material was researched using the Oxford Companion to Chess.
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