My System by Aron Nimzowitsch was one of the early chess books that had a big impact on me. The first part of the book, called The Elements, is where Nimzowitsch lays out the specific criteria he is monitoring to evaluate chess games. Do I have any open files? Have I created any passed pawns? Am I pressing the attack on the back ranks? This tells Nimzowitsch and his readers that a chess game where they have managed to create a passed pawn on an open file that they control and push it to the s...
