Immortal Zugzwang Game
chess game between Friedrich Sämisch and Aron Nimzowitsch, played in Copenhagen in March 1923, with a zugzwang in the middlegame, after which White resigned
The Immortal Zugzwang Game is a chess game between Friedrich Sämisch and Aron Nimzowitsch, played in Copenhagen in March 1923. It gained its name because the final position is sometimes considered a rare instance of zugzwang occurring in the middlegame. According to Nimzowitsch, writing in the Wiener Schachzeitung in 1925, this term originated in "Danish chess circles".
The game (notes by Nimzowitsch)
White: Friedrich Sämisch Black: Aron Nimzowitsch Opening: Queen's Indian Defense (ECO E17)
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Bb7 5. Bg2 Be7
Queen's Indian Defense.
6.
“Immortal Zugzwang Game” enters the record as chess game between Friedrich Sämisch and Aron Nimzowitsch, played in Copenhagen in March 1923, with a zugzwang in the middlegame, after which White resigned. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Immortal, Zugzwang and Game can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q390615. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1923 and 1925.
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