the Nimzo-Indian 

move by move

by John Emms

Everyman Chess

2011

367 pp

All chess openings have one main fundamental purpose and that is to get a playable middle game. This means that you will not stand significantly worse at the when the opening phase of game ends and the middle game begins. Other goals include creating positions with significant imbalances in the position to generate winning chances in the middle game while at the same time having your position remain sound enough so that you are not on the wrong end of a bad position. Because White always moves first, generating these types of positions is harder for the player of the Black pieces. Against 1.d4, the Nimzo-Indian has always been a powerful weapon for Black. The Nimzo-Indian move by move gives the player with the Black pieces a complete repetoiore for dealing with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4. This is the starting position of the Nimzo-Indian and the author covers all the major variations with enough information so that any club player could feel confident that he had a solid defense to 1.d4 when playing the Black pieces. Of course, like with everything else in the opening, White can avoid the Nimzo-Indian by playing 3.Nf3, or 3.g3, etc but since that requires White to learn a lot of theory too, you will find that most players of the White pieces will tackle the Nimzo-Indian head on.

Emms has cover 5 major points in this book:

1. Typical situations and in the opening and middle game positions (and once in a while the endings)

2. Typical plans for both sides

3. Typical and thematic opportunities for both sides

4. The principles and guidelines of each variations covered

5. The key questions that you should be asking yourselves during study and in game situations

Variations covered include:

1. The Samisch Variation 4.a3

2.The 4.f3

3.Rubenstein Variation 4. e3 Main Line

4. Rubenstein 4.e3 Other Lines

5. Classical Variation 4.Qc2 0-0

6. Classical Variation Qc2 with ..c5

7. Leningrad Variation 4.Bg5

8. Kasparov Variation 4.Nf3

The book also includes an index of variations and an index of games. Available in paperback and Ebook format. Recommended