Aron Nimzowitsch (7 November  1886, Riga - 16 March 1935, Copenhagen)  was a Russian-born, Danish chess player, writer, and one of the most significant figures of the Hypermodernism.

He was born in Riga, which was a part of the Russian Empire at that time. He came from a wealthy family and he learned chess from his father. In 1904, he travelled to Berlin to study philosophy but his studies were set aside when he began a career as a professional chess player. He had his first remarkable victory in Munich 1906, from then he got into chess and achieved further successes. In 1914, he won the All-Russian Tournament. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 he left the Russian Empire.

In 1922, he moved to Copenhagen and he got the Danish citizenship not much later. In Copenhagen, he won the Nordic Chess Championship twice, in 1924 and 1934. Later, he became a world champion candidate, but not having enough money to enter, so he had no chance to challenge the then champion.

Nimzowitsch was at the peak of his career in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Chessmetrics places him as the third best player in the world from 1927 to 1931, behind Alexander Alekhine and José Capablanca. His greatest rating was 2780 according to the Chessmetrics.

His most memorable successes, when he finished first place in Copenhagen 1923, Marienbad 1925, Dresden 1926, Hanover 1926 and the Carlsbad 1929 chess tournaments. Although he never beat Capablanca, he could win against Alekhine in 1914. One of Nimzowitsch's most famous games is the Immortal Zugzwang Game against Sämisch in Copenhagen 1923.

Several openings and opening variations are named after Nimzowitsch, like Nimzowitsch Defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence, some variation of the Sicilian Defence, and the French Defence Nimzowitsch Variation.

There are many entertaining anecdotes regarding Nimzowitsch. Hans Kmoch and Fred Reinfeld mentioned in one of their articles that when he was in a tournament in Berlin and recognised he was going to lose the game, Nimzowitsch stood up from the table and shouted, 'Gegen diesen Idioten muss ich verlieren!' ('That I should lose to this idiot!').

His famous quote: „A passed pawn is a criminal which should be kept under lock and key. Mild measures, such as police surveillance, are not sufficient.”

Sources: https://hu.wikipedia.org;

https://en.wikipedia.org; http://www.chessmetrics.com;