The Nimzo-Indian Defence 5

An solid aggressive and simple system against the Nimzo-Indian Defence
- The Rubinstein variation with 4. e3

Introduction to  4..b6

With b6, Black is "overprotecting" the e4 square with his bishop which will go to b7. Nimzowitsch introduced the idea of overprotecting central points. The reason being in simple terms, that pieces in contact with strategically good squares will naturally be effective and also perhaps co-ordinated with each other by their combined overprotection.

A more concrete idea behind b6 is that later black might be supporting a knight on e4 with f5 and the black bishop on b7 can become very dangerous attacking resource against the White king. This is vividly demonstrated by the following game played in a recent Southern Counties county match in 1999 featured on the excellent SCCU website:-

White CPL Parker 147 (Surrey), Black IJ Myall 164 (Essex)
U175 County match Essex-Surrey 9.1.99

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 b6 5.Nf3 Bb7 6.e3 Ne4 7.Bd3 f5 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.bxc3 0-0 10.Ba3 d6 11.Rab1 Rf6 12.Nd2 Rh6 13.g3?
...Qh4! 14.Nf3 Ng5! 15.gxh4 Nxf3+ 16.Kg2 Ne1+ 17.Kh3 Bg2+ 18.Kg3 Rg6+ 19.Kf4 Rg4#

4.. b6 Illustrative Game #1

(11) Kasparov Garry - Wirthensohn,H [E43]
Zurich, 1987

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6

5.Bd3 Bb7 6.f3 !

This move forms the main idea presented in this technical white paper. It restricts the power of the bishop on b7. Also by not placing his knight on f3, White prevents any ideas of Black supporting a knight on e4.

6...Nh5 7.Nh3

This allows Qh4+ to be elegantly answered with Nf2

7...f5 8.Bd2 0-0 9.Qe2 c5 10.d5

A pawn sacrifice which tears open the diagonals against the Black king.

10...Bxc3 11.Bxc3 exd5 12.0-0-0

12...Qe8 13.Rhg1 dxc4 14.Bxc4+ Kh8 15.g4 fxg4 16.Rxg4 Nf6 17.Rdg1 Nxg4 18.Rxg4 Rf6 19.Bxf6 gxf6 20.Rg8+ Qxg8 21.Bxg8 Kxg8 22.Qc4+ Kf8 23.Qh4 Kg7 24.Nf4 Nc6 25.Nh5+ 1-0