Nimzowitsch Defence
Encyclopedia
This article is about the opening moves 1.e4 Nc6. For the more common 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 see Nimzo-Indian Defence
Nimzo-Indian Defence
The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:This hypermodern opening was developed by Grandmaster Aron Nimzowitsch who introduced it to master-level chess in the early 20th century. Unlike most Indian openings the Nimzo-Indian does not involve an immediate fianchetto,...

.


The Nimzowitsch Defence is a somewhat unusual chess opening
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

, in which Black moves 1... Nc6 in reply to White's 1.e4. It is an example of a hypermodern
Hypermodernism (chess)
Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges on the chess ideologies presented by central European masters, such as on Wilhelm Steinitz’ approach to the centre. It also challenged in particular the dogmatic rules set down by Siegbert Tarrasch...

 opening where Black invites White to occupy the centre of the board at an early stage with pawns. Black's intent is to block or otherwise restrain White's central pawns and, if allowed to do so by inaccurate play by White, eventually undermine the White pawn centre by well-timed pawn advances of his own or by attacking the White pieces defending the centre. World Champion
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

 Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

 and Grandmaster Raymond Keene
Raymond Keene
Raymond Dennis Keene OBE is an English chess Grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author.p196 He won the British Chess Championship in 1971, and was the first player from England to earn a Grandmaster norm, in 1974. In 1976 he became the second...

 wrote that it "has never been fully accepted as a dependable opening. Nevertheless it is sound and offers the maverick spirit a great deal of foreign territory to explore."

The Nimzowitsch is included under code B00 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings is a classification system for the opening moves in a game of chess. It is presented as a five volume book collection describing chess openings...

.

Main variations

  • 2.d4 d5. The line that Aron Nimzowitsch
    Aron Nimzowitsch
    Aron Nimzowitsch was a Russian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer...

    , the originator of the opening, usually preferred. Now White can choose among (1) 3.e5, which Black usually meets with 3...Bf5, followed by playing ...e6 (which no longer locks in the light-squared Bishop) and later attacking White's central pawn chain with moves such as ...f6 and ...c5; (2) 3.exd5 Qxd5, followed by either 4.Nf3, seeking to gain time by attacking the queen
    Queen (chess)
    The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

     with Nc3, but enabling Black to put pressure on White's centre with 4....Bg4 or 4....e5, or else 4.Nc3 Qxd4 5.Qe2, a risky gambit that can be dangerous to unprepared defenders; and (3) 3.Nc3 dxe4 (3...e6 leads to a type of French Defence
    French Defence
    The French Defence is a chess opening. It is characterised by the moves:The French has a reputation for solidity and resilience, though it can result in a somewhat cramped game for Black in the early stages...

     considered somewhat inferior to main French lines because Black has blocked his c-pawn) 4.d5 Ne5, when White usually continues in gambit style with 5.Qd4 or 5.Bf4 Ng6 6.Bg3.
  • 2.d4 e5. A solid line favored by the late British Grandmaster Tony Miles
    Tony Miles
    Anthony John Miles was an English chess Grandmaster.- Early achievements in chess :Miles was born in Edgbaston, a suburb of Birmingham...

    . White can transpose to the Scotch Game
    Scotch Game
    The Scotch Game is a chess opening that begins with the movesWhite aims to dominate the centre by exchanging his d-pawn for Black's e-pawn. Black usually plays 3...exd4, as he has no good way to maintain his pawn on e5...

     with 3.Nf3, or play 3.d5 Nce7 (3...Nb8, although perhaps not as bad as it looks, is considered inferior), which gives White only a slight plus score in practice. Another approach is 3.dxe5 Nxe5, when White can seek a quiet positional advantage with 4.Nf3 or play the more aggressive (but potentially weakening) thrust 4.f4.
  • 2.Nf3, shown by some databases to be the most common move, is often played by White players not eager for a theoretical battle on their opponents' turf. 2...e5, transposing to a double king-pawn opening, may be the best move, but is unlikely to appeal to the hard-core Nimzowitsch player. Other moves, including 2...d6, 2...e6, 2...Nf6, 2...d5, and 2...g6 are playable but tend to lead to inferior variations of the Pirc Defense, French Defence, Alekhine's Defence
    Alekhine's Defence
    Alekhine's Defence is a hypermodern chess opening that begins with the moves:Black tempts White's pawns forward to form a broad pawn centre, with plans to undermine and attack the White structure later in the spirit of hypermodern defence. White's imposing mass of pawns in the centre often includes...

    , Scandinavian Defense
    Scandinavian Defense
    The Scandinavian Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves:The Center Counter Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings, first recorded as being played between Francesco di Castellvi and Narciso Vinyoles in Valencia in 1475 in what may be the first recorded game of modern chess,...

    , or Robatsch Defense, respectively. The sharp 2...f5, although somewhat dubious, was played with some success by the American International Master Doug Root, and more recently by the Finnish
    Finland
    Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

     International Master Olli Salmensuu and others. It may lead to wild complications, e.g. 3.exf5 d5 4.Nh4!? e5!? 5. Qh5+ g6 6.fxg6 Nf6! 7.g7+ Nxh5 8.gxh8(Q) Qxh4 9.Qxh7 Nd4, when White is a whole rook up, but Black has a huge lead in development and White's king is in jeopardy. Naiditsch-Doettling, Dortmund
    Dortmund
    Dortmund is a city in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of North Rhine-Westphalia, in the Ruhr area. Its population of 585,045 makes it the 7th largest city in Germany and the 34th largest in the European Union....

     2000, ended in a draw after further complications: 10.Qg6+ Kd8 11.d3 Nf4! 12.Qf7 Bb4+ 13.c3 Bg4! 14.Qg8+ Kd7 15.Qg7+ Kc6 16.g3 Nf3+ 17.Kd1 Nd4+ 18.Kd2 Nf3+ 19.Kd1 Nd4+ 1/2-1/2. The British
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

     International Master Gary Lane
    Gary Lane
    Gary William Lane is a professional chess player and author. He became an International Master in 1987 and won the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 1988...

     advocates the more solid 4.d4 Bxf5 5.Bb5 (trying to control the weakened e5 square) Qd6 6.Ne5 Nf6 7.0-0 Nd7 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Qf3! Nxe5 (or 9...e6 10.g4 Bg6 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bf4 Qb4 13.Qd3) 10.Qxf5 Nf7 11.Bf4 Qd7 12.Qxd7+ Kxd7 13.Nb3 when Black's inferior pawn structure gave White a small advantage in Shaw-Salmensuu, European Team Championship, León
    León, Spain
    León is the capital of the province of León in the autonomous community of Castile and León, situated in the northwest of Spain. Its city population of 136,985 makes it the largest municipality in the province, accounting for more than one quarter of the province's population...

    2001 (1-0, 63).
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