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226 Pages·2005·5.95 MB·English
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play the Nilaak/onlaelela Edward Dearing play the Nimzo-Indian a hard-hitting chess opening repertoire for White EVERYMAN CHESS www.everymanchess.com First published in 2005 hy Gloucester Publishers ple (formerly Fveryman Publishers ple), Northburgh Louse, 10 Notthburgh Street, London ECTV OAT Copyright © 2005 Kdward Dearing The tight of Edward Dearing to be identified as the author of this work hus been as- serted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and. Patents Act 1988, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, eleccronie, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. British Libeary Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogne record for this book is available from the Dritish Tibracy. ISBN 978 1 85744 4032 Distributed in Nocth America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.O Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480, All other sales enquities should be directed to Everyman Chess, Nosthbuggh Hovse, 10 Northburgh Street, London ECIV OAT, tel: O20 7253 7887 fax: 020 7490 3708 email: [email protected]; website: www.everymanchess.com Fveryman is the registered uade mark of Random House Ine. and is used in this work, ‘under licence from Random: 1 louse Tne sioning editor: J Assistant editor: Richard Palliser ‘Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton. Cover design by Tlotado Monteverde, Printed and bound in the US. CONTENTS Bibliography Inteoduetion The Classical Nimo: ‘Ihe Remanishin Vasiation The Cls jieal Nimwo: Preserving ‘Lension with 5 a3 ‘The Rubinstein Variation: The Romanishin-Psakhis System. The Rubinstein Variation: The Classical Hianchetto System The Leninggad Variation The 4 £31? Variation The Simisch Vatiation The Fianchetto Variation 44\i3: ‘And now for something completely different.” Early Deviations Index of Complete Games Index of Variations 224 223 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Beating the Indian Defences, Graham Burgess and Steffen Pedersen (Batsford 1997) Classical Ninstg Fudan, Bogdan l.alic (Everyman 2001) Flag. Gite tothe Nimep-tneli, John Ems (Everyman 1998) Mastering te Niorg-Indian, Tony Kosten (Batsford 1998) New Ideas én the Ninsgg Sudan Definer, Vony Kosten (Batsford 1994) Nimep Indian Capablanca Variation (81 Halitsice 1996) Nine-lndian Define Classical Variation, Wan Sokolov (Everyman 1995) Nimep-dniion Resparwe Variation, Chis Ward (Everyman 2003) JNimg-Indion Bubsein, Angus Donnington (Exerpman 2004) Ply the 4 3 Nimeg Indian, Yori Vakovich (Gambit 2004) Starting Outs the Nimzg-Indian, Chis Watd (Everytnan 2002) the Ningp-Indian Defree, Svetorar Gligoric (Everyman 193) The Nimiga-Indion +t e3, Carsten Hansen (Gaunt 2002} Periodicals Chess Informant Chessbase Meagazgne bess Pb com Databases Mega Database 2005, ‘Mega Corr 3 ‘The Week in Chess INTRODUCTION 1 d4 AMG 2 64 e6 3 Ac3 Ab4 Quality is permanent Although no doubt many readers are already familiar with the opening moves, it scems sensible 10 open this work by noting thar che Nimzo-Indian is reached after the moves 1 4 2G 2 cd 6 3 Ded ab4, when Black creates the option of captuting, on c3 and also yains control of the pivotal o4- square. on account of his tminor-piece pres- sure, In fact, the Nitnzo-Indian enjoys a tonigue plice among Black’s defence wo 1 dé Whereas the popularity of most defences fluc- tuates with swings in fashion and respective theoretical status, the Nimzo has constantly maintained its populasity over the years, oot only at GM and. supe-GM level, but throughout every degree of playinys standasd. Whereas openings such as the King’s Indian Defence, the Semi-Sly, the Henko Gambit and the Griinfeld have all experienced periods where their very viability has been seriously called into question, the Niowo has never suffered this humiliation, There are inevitably sharp lines where White has chances of pressing for an edges however, in general these are less problematic than in other opening systems, principally because Mlack’s position is so flexible. In openings such as the Griinfeld and the Kings Indian, Blick’s piece deployment is to some extent predetermined by the opening, moves; in the Nimzo only the b4bishop is ceally committed, and even this can be retreated 10 25, d6, c7 oc f® (depending on dhe ciseum- stances) or exchanged for the knight on c3 to ain time or damage White’s pawn structure ‘An interrelated corollary of this exible piece development is the scope that Black enjoys for engineering pawn breaks. Black’s options sre quite literally so broad that il is possible to instigate plas based upon the advance of each and evury one of Black’s pawns, a quality which is not shared by any other modem mainstream opening. In summary, che unique flexibility in terms Play the Nimzo-indian of both pawns and picces provides Black with a far more extensive array of resources lo deal with White's attempts to fight for an edge than any other defensive setup, and it is for this reason that the Nimzo consistently sctains both a broad popularity basc and an excelent theoretical status How | came to play the Nimzo When Byron Jacobs of Eeerman Chess frst came to me with the proposal for this book | initialy had some seservations concerning whether I was wally the correct pron to undertake such a penject Although I do have a lot of experience in the Nimzo, this has been from White’s perspective ({ have ulways been a 1 d4 player, and have literally teed everything to get an edge against the Ninzzo, albeit with litle suc- cess!). Over the yeats the Nimzo featured in. ny black repertoite from time to time, largely ecause | had the privilege of being coached by Linglish GM John Kmms for a period (oho is of course something of a Nimzo garu}; however, itis onty in che last year that it has come (o represent my main defence to a, Before 1 actually sat down and did some serious work on the Nimzo-tndian 1 would primasily rely on the Sky, the Semi-Shy and the Queen’s Gambit Declined as my defences tu 1d, However, na matter how much work T invested in these lines the same problems would refum to hauat me, In all of these s75- tems the piece deployment and pawn struc- tures ate largely determined in the early sta of the game, and this gives rise to Bwo consee quences: 1} With many of the parameters deters ‘ined 50 eadly in the game, it is quite easy for White to force Black into long, forcing variae tions, ‘There ate then two ancillary points to this problem: 3} Even if the long, forcing variations do ‘not protnise Whitc aa edge, they still permit acquised _primasily White to play many moves without thinking. Tf the player with the white pieces is suitably prepared, they should be able to reach a posie fon in which they can apply plans that have been comsidercd before the game, so again they have a good idea of what they are Jook- ing for before they actually have to start think- ing about the position from first principles. Of course an ancillary issue is that you actually have to spend the time learning all this theory in the first place, an obstacle which becomes all the more challenging if you have a full-time sob as well as family and social commitments! ii) If the long, forcing vasiations do offer some promise of an edge, then you have aa even bigger problem. Obviously you have to find some way to improve on established theoty and thereby preserve the balance, but when your opponent is following the analysis of the kes of Shirov this can be casier said than done. In essence you only get around to phayiag your actual opponent in the second half of the gamet 2) Tf the prwm structure is determined in the eadliest stages of the game then, especially with 1 d4 openings, it can be very easy for ‘White to ply sensible moves and reach a level position where Black has to work very bard indeed tw generate winning chances. This cam prove a real problem in open tournaments where you need to win as Black against slightly weaker opponents who are happy to Play for two results against yon. ‘the flexible nature of the Nimzo means dut there is far more opportunity to avoid prepared variations and forcing theory, which for my needs satisfies the problem in paint 1, As regards the issue im point 2, the flexible pawn structure means that it is more difficult for White co simply develop his pieces in ac- cordance with a standard plan or set forma. tion. ‘the problem White faces here is that Black retains the ability to change the fund mental nanute of the position by adopting tencompromising pawa strucrares. 6 introduction If the Nimzo is so goad, why would you play anything else? Tt took me along time to settle on the deci. sion ro adopt the Nimzo into my repertoire ‘on 2 permanent hasis, and even longee to iron. out a repertoire that I was catisely happy with, It would have been (and stil is) easy to find a suitable selection of systems that offer Black good chances of equal play, with some resid- ual chances to play for the full point, and in- deed this would satisfy most plryers. How- ever, playing that lind of chess just doesa’t suit my style. I don't for an instant subscribe to the theory that players should aim to draw with Black and win with White (et least not at any level below 2650) and I also take issue with the notion that, because White starts cach game with slighty preferable chances, Black's first objective should be to level the position and only thea sttive for mose, In my opinion practical play is about solving prob- lems at the board, and consequently the soundest method of striving for the full point is to Keep setting yout opponent exacting problems at every stage of the game. This may seem obvious, but it took me some tine to fully grasp the broader implications of this theory. So if you will allow me a few paca graphs I would like to claborate on this point alittle ‘The stacting point fot me was to ask what a player's chess ating represents (let's call cur fictional player [en). The obvious answer is that a chess rating eefleets Ben's ia tchation to his fellow competitors; it provides some vague indication of how often he wias, dewws or loses, and against what standard of opposition, Although this is one way of ‘tead- {ng the mutnbers’, in recent years I have found it very beneficial (o adjust my thinking om this point, principally by taking the analysis one step further and asking the question ‘why does a rating reflect an indication of a player's results?” The answer, I wonld submit, is be- cause the individual garme results that will ulimately determine Ben's rating are them: selves determined by how often Ben finds the ‘comect solutions to the problems he faces at the chessboard, which in tum suggests chat a rating is (to some degree, at least) a reflection of how wall and how fixyuently Bea corzectly solves problems. Exp, the more ofien Ben comectly solves problems, the higher his xst- ing sill climb. (One flaw with this line of reasoning zektes to the type of problems a player faces at the boatd, In many situations prior knowledge of positions (acquired via pattern assimilation, pechaps by learning opening theury or playing through instructive games) will improve a player's ability to identify the correct solution. In this case the plager is aot so much finding the solution as connecting the dots or even recalling 2 memorised answer, and this effec- tively distorts the players rating — in essene the player appears stronger than he is because he knows the answer befost he is even forced to think about it. Although this is a problem with the first stage of our analysis, it is aot a problem for the theory ovctall, and we will return to this issue in a moment. Revisiting our problem-solving theory, if we now: accept the hypothesis that catiags represent how well a player solves problems at the bosed thea we have tetumed fo our starting point namely, that practical chess is about solving problems. However, having undertaken this analysis, there is now some justification for suggesting that the way to beat Ben is to keep setting him problems anti he can no longer determine the solution in a prictical setting (otherwise his potential rating would he potentially infinite), Obviously the stronget Ben is, the more problems you will have to set him before he makes a mistake: However eventually, if you keep setting hirn problems, he will make a mistake. Note: Another shortcoming of my theory is that T have framed it in terms of quantum sather than quality. Obviously there will be Play the Nimzo-indien some siruations whese the aumber of problems is relatively insignificant when contrasted against the difficulty of, for cxample, one par- ticularly exacting problem in a particular posi- tion. Although this analysis is intended only in avery general sense, T do betieve that it is still possible to reconcile these two seemingly di- ‘vergent strands: where a chess paohlem is par- ticulasty difficult it is nommally because it con- sists of several smaller but interrelated prob- lems, and consequently it should be viewed aot as one problem but as several that just happen. to ctop up at the same stage of the game. When couched in these teems it seems teason- able ta suggest that itis once again the number of problems which indaces failure If we now place this cheory in a practical context, we can see that the way to beat Ben is to set him as many problems as possible throughout each stage of the game. (this is because we know that his existing rating, is propped up by the games he won through priot knowledge). Ben will probably try to avoid this scenario by aiming, for middleyame positions in which he has some prior knowl. edge (via, cg openings preparation) and can therefore apply his fuculties within a pre- determined conceptual matrix, thereby redue- ing the potential for mistakes. ‘Vhis is a practi- cal incamation of the pmblem we mentioned before: Ben will attempt te distort (or rather increase) his natural playing strength through, tmemotizing not just sequences of moves, but also plans aad methods for bandling particular types of position. However, this is good news for us because we know that if we set Ben enough problems he will eventually exhaust his tating (for which read ‘problem solving’) abilities and he wil blunder. Moreover, if we remove the safety net of Ben's conceptual matrix, he is effectively solving problems without the aid of prine assistance, the bar is lowered even futther and he immediately be- comes weaker thaa his rating would suggest. This tather long-winded analysis baings us to the following conchusions: 1) ‘The way to beat Ben is to set him so ‘many problems that the intensity of the prob- lems reaches a level that exceeds his rating (Lc. problem solving) abilities. 2) The easier in the game Ben begins haviag to answer problems, the more likely itis that he will make a mistake (the harder you work at the board, the more energy and time you expend, and the harcler it becomes to solve problems in the later stages of the game). 3) If you drive Ben into 4 position where he genuinely has to think for himself, without the aid of prior familiarity with the lype of position on the board, there is some likeli- hood that he will immediately become weaker thaa his rating. Taking points 2 and 3 together, the most logical course of action is to play an opening, that attempts to force yout opponent into a position in which he has to think for brimself not just in terms of the individual moves, but ako in terms of which middlegame plan is most approptiate. The more (exible the posi- tion, the more plans that are available, and this in tam means that there are more prob Jems for your opponent to solve in the cady stages of the grme. Getting to the point T appreciate that the above analysis is perhaps misplaced in an opening book However, T feel (or rather hoped) that T can justify this on the basis that the repeztoine I will be recom- mending was based on the aforementioned scheme of thinking, The reason it took me 60 long to settle on the Nimzo is because many of the other mainline openings lead to rela tively simple positions. Although White bas problems to solve, they tend to be of a rela- tively consistent and predictable nature. ‘The repertoire. 1 designed for myself (and which T have decided to share heec) attempts to set White diverse and complex problems fom. the very earliest stages of the game. Built into introduction Uhis design way an objective to steer the ame away fom positions which would be consid- ered ypical of the variation White has chosen, and instead into territory where it is Black who can exploit a prior familiarity with the foun of middlegame anising, Gencrally this is achievell by entezing one system (for example, the Rubinstein or Classical Vasiation) and then executing a manoeuvre which immedi- ately transforms the nacure of the position on the board. In this way Black, from the very outscr, decermines the nature of the middle- game by forcing White into a particular kind of Formation or pawn structure. I have always fle that forcing significant changes in a posi- tion, even if ic docs not beng an immediate ‘edge, can inflict 2 certain psychological impact ‘on the opponent because it quite literally snakes them play by your rules, A Look at the Repertoire Let's take a brief look at the lines Pm recom- mending (further details can be found in the inteoductions to the individual chapter). Chapter 1 The Classical Nimzo: Exploring the Romanishin Variation This is the first of two chapters dealing with the Classical Nimzo-Indian: 1 d4 4\f6 2 c4 e6 3 Qc3 ab4 4 We2. ‘Whe line J have de- cided to focus on is 4...d5, - & os : Li Fae 8 Ey which has becn a consistently popular choice at GM level over the last 10 years, and has heen used to patticular effect by the likes of super-Grandmasters Viswanathan Aoand and Michael Adams. White now has 2 choice of nwo moves: 5 exd5 (considered in Chapter 1) and 5 43 (considered in Chapter 2). Afier 5 exd5 Black can choose becween the ultsa- sharp 5..exd5 and the moze positional 5..Wad5. My own preference is for 5...W#xd5, matnexining a flesible pawn structure and immediately giving the middlepame a eather unique flavour. OF course, it also helps that the theoretical stature of this line is presently second to none, Chapter 2 The Classical Nimzo: White Preserves Tension with § a3!? Tn recent yeurs While has Leen steuggling to demonstrate a substantive edge with 5 exd5, so attention bas been progressively shifting to he less committal move 5 83. Play then continues 5...8x68 + 6 Wxe3 Dos 7 We2, when Black has a choice af wo main moves: 7.5 or 7.26, The latter bas been under a cloud foc the last few years, but may now be staging a comeback thanks to the efforts of Michael Adams. Nevertheless, I have decided to focus my efforts on 7.08. Itis the moze popalar option both at GM level and below, it represents the pref

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