The move 3.e5 had never fallen completely from favour, being extensively used by the Paulsen brothers, Wilfried and Louis, in the 1870s and 1880s, and by Steinitz in the 1890s.
Nimzowitsch played 3.e5 three times at Karlsbad 1911, drawing with Rubinstein but beating Salwe and Levenfish.
The move really took off the following year when at San Sebastian he used it to beat Tarrasch, Speilmann, Duras and Leonhardt.
Aron Nimzowitsch - Siegbert Tarrasch
San Sebastian 1912
French Advance
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5
This move divided opinion in the early 1900s and still does today. Is White punishing Black for failing to take his full share of the centre, or is White spending time on over-extending?
3...c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qb6 6.Bd3!?
More common today are 6.Be2 and especially 6.a3.
6...cxd4 7.cxd4 Bd7
There are 71 examples in ChessBase's 2020 Mega database of Black falling for the well-known trap 7...Nxd4??, which loses because of 8.Nxd4 Qxd4?? 9.Bb5+ etc.
8.Be2!?
More popular today, but not necessarily better, is the Milner-Barry Gambit, starting with 8.0-0!?
The position after 8.Be2!? can also be reached if White plays 6.Be2 instead of 6.Bd3, in which case White gains a tempo as it would be his turn to move. But after 6.Be2 Black is not obliged to play an early ...Bd7, so 6.Bd3 followed by 8.Be2!? only loses a tempo if Black plays inaccurately.
8...Nge7 9.b3?!
This is probably too slow - 12 rounds later, against Duras, Nimzowitsch switched to 9.Na3.
9...Nf5 10.Bb2 Bb4+ 11.Kf1
The only way to save the d4 pawn.
11...Be7!?
The point of this move, which Tarrasch had played against Louis Paulsen 24 years earlier, is so 12.g4?! can be met by 12...Nh4. Rubinstein at Karlsbad prevented g4 by playing 11...h5. But according to Nimzowitsch, Black can play 11...0-0! (Nimzowitsch's punctuation) as 12.g4 Nh6 (12...Nfe7? 13.a3) is nothing to be feared.
12.g3 a5 13.a4
The text was also played against Tarrasch by Louis Paulsen at the Bavarian Congress (Nürnberg) 1888. Note that trying to stop ...a4 with 13.Nc3 does not work as 13...a4 14.Nxa4?! runs into 14...Rxa4 15.bxa4 Qxb2.
13...Rc8 14.Bb5 Nb4?!
Connecting rooks by 14...0-0, as suggested by the analysis engines Stockfish11 and Komodo11.01, seems better.
15.Nc3!?
Paulsen played 15.Bxd7+ against Tarrasch. After 15...Kxd7 16.Nc3 Black could have kept an edge, according to the engines, with 16...h5, when White's king seems the more vulnerable. The game saw 16...Nc6 17.Nb5 Na7 18.Nxa7 Qxa7 with a roughly level game (but 0-1, 62 moves).
15...Na6 16.Kg2 Nc7 17.Be2 Bb4
Tarrasch presumably had in mind keeping his king in the centre, as he did against Paulsen.
18.Na2 Na6 19.Bd3 Ne7 20.Rc1 Nc6 21.Nxb4 Naxb4
White has the bishop-pair, but the position remains fairly closed. The one major warning sign for Black, perhaps, is that his kingside is somewhat denuded of pieces.
22.Bb1 h6 23.Bb1 Ne7 24.Rxc8+ Bxc8 25.Ne1 Rf8 26.Nd3 f6 27.Nxb4 Qxb4 28.exf6 Rxf6 29.Bc1?
Nimzowitsch gave this an exclamation mark, but missed a tactical point of the position. Better is 29.Re1.
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| How can Black take advantage of White's last move? |
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29...Nc6?
Black has a very good game after 29...e5 as 30.dxe5? runs into 30...Bxg4.
30.g5 hxg5 31.Bxg5 Rf8 32.Be3 Qe7?!
The engines reckon ...e5 is still Black's best shot, although the position is no longer favourable to him.
33.Qg4
Preventing 33...e5 by pinning the e pawn.
33...Qf6 34.Rg1 Rh8 35.Rh1 Rh4?
The engines reckon 35...Bd7 is decidedly better.
36.Qg3
There is no good answer to this, which leaves White threatening Bg5 and Qxg7.
36...Rxd4
Tarrasch hopes his central pawn-duo, along with depriving White of the bishop-pair, will compensate for the exchange.
37.Bxd4 Nxd4 38.Qxg7 Qf3+
Or 38...Qxg7 39.Rxg7 Nxb3 40.Rg8+ Kd7 41.h4 etc.
39.Qg2 Qxg2+ 40.Rxg2 Nxb3 41.h4 1-0
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