Hanging Pawns

Edward Winter's article on the term dismantles the two attributions that circulate most often. He documents that Golombek in 1977 and Divinsky in 1990 contradict themselves and each other, variously crediting Steinitz and Nimzowitsch, and concludes that there are plenty of claims, contradictions and copying, but no corroboration. The earliest instance Winter has found is in the Wiener Schachzeitung of July-August 1902, page 143, which speaks of the expression haengende Bauern with which Steinitz indicated the weakness of such pawn positions with unsurpassable sharpness. Winter notes further German-language occurrences in the Deutsche Schachzeitung of February 1905, page 40, the Wiener Schachzeitung of March 1905, pages 75-76, and Tarrasch's Das Grossmeisterturnier zu St Petersburg (1914), page 56, and gives the earliest known English appearance as page 84 of G. Maroczy's The Book of the London International Chess Congress 1922 (London, 1923). His summary is that the earliest known instance is dated 1902, that is, post-Steinitz and pre-Nimzowitsch, so Keene's 1988 claim that Steinitz coined it remains unverified. The English term is therefore a calque of the German.

First documented: 1902 (German); 1923 (earliest known English) — Wiener Schachzeitung, July-August 1902, p. 143 for the German haengende Bauern; G. Maroczy, The Book of the London International Chess Congress 1922 (London, 1923), p. 84 for the earliest known English use — both per Edward Winter