Chess Openings: Nimzo-Indian Defense

The Nimzo Indian Defense is an extremely solid defense that is played at every level. It is the one indian defense that doesn't fianchetto its bishop right away and threatens white's knight on c3 and usually exchanges to fight against the double pawns of white on the c file. Many top players hate playing against the Nimzo-Defense and will try different variations to avoid the lines.
www.thechesswebsite.com
Chess Software used in the video can be found at www.chesscentral.com and www.chessok.com

[@primeazie]

"But at the same time"

[@xxx_jim_the_reaper_xxx]

Black is losing.

[@bonniejunk]

take a shot every time he says that

[@anonanon9509]

Me, an Indian, learning Nimzo-Indian from an American

[@fritzlange7934]

American variation? ;)

[@aflow-]

@Corbin Salvatore bots

[@aflow-]

@Cayson Fernando bots

[@ishaannagireddi9656]

lmao, same

[@viksinha5410]

Me too

[@aetherx2519]

So many variations!

[@sugarmaven]

In so many timed games, when the knight is pinned with a bishop, I have and have had my opponent respond with Bd2. I'm curious as to why you did not address this. Thanks for the videos!!!

[@dlugi4198]

I feel like it's kinda wasted move and you can use it to develop

[@kidswhogame2341]

there are 355 games in the database which follows with castles and black has a 39% win rate in the subsequent positions vs white’s 23% (~38% draws), but black sees the most success with the move c5 (in the database i’m looking at which is the openings explorer function of chess .com) with a 46% win rate out of 82 games for black, and 27% win rate for white (27% draw). hope that helps anyone who’s confused

[@danieldieni3188]

thanks so much for the informative video! i keep coming back to rewatch these openings to burn them into my head, it's helping a lot! i'm rated about 1370 to 1450 ish rating at the moment and slowly steadily going up, it's been 2 weeks since I've gotten back into chess and have memorized these openings off by heart, queens gambit accepted / declined, scillian defence, nimzo indian defence, fried liver attack, ruy lopez,

[@danieldieni739]

2 months ago to now :D on my other youtube acc, im 1550 to 1600 rated now :D

[@XXROCKANDROLLPOWERXX]

I wish lol. I'm stuck on 1070-1150 for like 3 months

[@Andratos95]

4 years later... How much are you rated now? :)

[@Deviantmoon666]

Great vid, Kevin

[@anchovyangel]

Thanks so much I've been looking for a good book specific for black. I just got Danny Kopeks Mastering the Sicilian and will read it but I wanted something more broad spectrum. You have just solved this for me. Again thanks

[@Aji-llo]

at the begining you said this is a passive defense, but it is actually quite aggressive

[@tomascontreras4949]

I think he showed the most aggresive lines.

[@chillmode8636]

@@tomascontreras4949 bro posted the comment 10 years ago and you answered him lol

[@ParkImaging]

Hi Kevin...Nice videos! In response to 4.Nf3 in the Kasparov line, (currently) 4....b6 is considered to be much better than the aggressive d5 move. Sure, more games have been played where d5 is the move, but those have around a 4% less success rate at winning and, as of this writing, all the chess engines consider b6 a better choice. Please consider this move also when going forward with your excellent videos. Cheers!

[@NotJohnnyE]

not much activity but seems like formidable information seeing how gms use it

[@llewellynbrandon]

The most common continuation for Bd2 is Bxc3 then after 5. Bxc3 Ne4 white will lose its bishop. This is an even trade but is not generally recommended for white because in general, white should avoid even exchanges when he has a spatial advantage.

[@laali_puppy]

Very helpful video, thanks very much. I always wanted to avoid playing Semi slav as black, and this opening seems to offer a free'r game.

[@emanigol64]

Great info

[@anchovyangel]

Thanks Kevin your videos and Dereque's are my favorite can you cover the Sicilian Accelerated & Hyper Accelerated Dragons?

[@justinsantos5751]

Isn't it supposed to be 1... Nf6 first instead of e6?

[@franciscogarcia3228]

Justin Santos yes the move order is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 and then comes e6

[@rubyjtorralva]

yes

[@saad.f101]

Move order can be played by french defense players

[@abdullaht799]

@Brawldiepie ! It does matter tho, if you don't want to play the French defense but instead want to play Nimzo Indian then Nf6 stops e4 and allows you to play the Nimzo Indian so it's pretty important that you play Nf6 first if you want to play this opening and also the fact that it has Indian in the name means Nf6 has to be first

[@funwithujan1322]

Both are same

[@pawkedcorp8588]

That looks solid. Finally something good against this d4

[@nodoubtmyfriend]

@MrKingRook he said "we have this semi-open file, if we can get off this pawn on f5"

[@fastgeography1251]

Thanks

[@johnny555slo]

i actually done this research. You are both right. Kevin is right in america, cause they translate russian names. But originally in russia they have "cirilics" (or how you call those letters), and you read it like PalasinswordSaurfang said. Fianchetto is pronuaunced Fee-an-Ketto. (at least in Europe) But I think that it doesn't matter. XD P.S. nice video, keep up the good work.

[@UGB6WX]

7:52, white sets himself up for Ne4, which black doesn't have very good replies. White may take queen, but so does black, and if white takes with bxc3, Rxd8 comes next, and now black has a better developed rook attacking the center indirectly, while white has double pawns on c file. If white tries to protect bishop, it fails, because both the knight and Queen are attacking it, so it forces a queen trade. Unless there's something else viable that I didn't notice...?

[@deBarnik]

Fianchetto is italian word, and is pronounced "Fee-an-ketto". In italian EVERY "ch-" is pronounced as "K". Same as "Pinocchio" or "Pistacchio", which are commonly mispronounced by non-italians (mostly english and american people).

[@haydensmith2637]

IronPump89: Nc6 blocks the check and defends the bishop, then next move black can take the knight and double the pawns

[@werghtyopmjkilopp2089]

So much happening at the same time

[@ANONIM9123]

When you play the American variation, if you played f5 right after exchanging the knights and bishop, wouldn't you get a check from the queen? That will either force g3 or a king move...Then if you castle before playing f5, he can play e4. Is the intention to play Bb7 and then make these moves?

[@linzhi1484]

after 4...c5 what would you do if white plays 5.a3? 5...cxd4 6.axb4 dxc3 gives no advantage to black other than a weakened queenside and pawn structure for white and the light square bishop will go nowhere soon.There are also no opportunities for an advance.

[@2VAproductions]

@Athalxoz Kevin is correct.

[@DetectiveJelly]

Wow it must have went up quite a bit then.

[@sohrabmortazavi553]

Simple development move for value

[@francisdelosangeles2875]

At 7:55 Bg5 is actually a slight mistake. Black can play Ne4 a fork on bishop and queen. Bishop can take black's queen AT THE SAME TIME, knight on e4 can take white's queen. All in all white might lose his 2 strongest pieces on the game with Bb7 coming from black. Clearly, black is winning.

[@SugoiGaming.]

2 years later i hope you did that research

[@majotnf]

@PaladinswordSaurfang as far as I know, pronouncing fianchetto with either a "ch" or "k" variation is both acceptable and none of these is considered superior... It is more common to put the stress on the second syllable (similar in Russian) as "KaSPARov" and the most common pronunciacion in US English would be /kæ'spa:ra:f/ but also /'kæspəro:f/ is all right...

[@CocaC]

what if after .....Bb4 whites moves Bd2? Defending the Knight. Would it be better just to develop like castling lets say

[@ebutym11225]

After white takes Bxd8 and black takes on c3, white could take on c7 (getting his bishop out of trouble, picking up a pawn)... (I think)

[@ycrem0n]

if white does e4 after d4, what should I do and what's the best opening for black then?

[@m.g.8897]

good video

[@drewalkdog]

What about the Leningrad variation. It's quite popular and I wonder if it could be addressed here?

[@rishikde5346]

What is the Leningrad Variation?

[@mtekleel]

Rishik De Bg5

[@249zipfirestar]

He really doesn't have to, since he can trade it whenever he wants. Meanwhile he can exploit that pin by making him play moves that can ruin his position or cost him material.

[@PaladinswordSaurfang]

@moonlightgarden12am wow someone's offended, sorry! geez...

[@TheFearUnlimited]

@strong8action This is Kevin, not Jrobi lol.

[@peely12345]

7:55 an interesting line for black is Ne4

[@Just1Humanoid]

Bxd8 Nxc3 Bxc2 White ends up winning a pawn ;)

[@wentworth8776]

Just1Humanoid c7

[@Just1Humanoid]

@@wentworth8776 yep

[@johnp845]

when I start as white with queen's pawn to d4, and black responds with his first move as king's side knight to fc6 (presumably initiating the Nimzo-Indian defense), is there a specific attack (? Catalan, ? London, ? other) that works best against the Nimzo-Indian defense (in order for me to know what best 2nd move I should make as white) ? thank you for all you have done for the chess community!

[@Froge4291]

There is a thing called "the anti nimzo Indian defence" where you play Nc6 instead of Nf3 which avoids the pin but can transpose to a queen's Indian or a bogo Indian defence

[@PaladinswordSaurfang]

and btw both ways are correct or both words, i DID research it...

[@Jojester0004]

Well what the hell do ya do if white moves pawn forward to threaten bishop

[@actualideas8078]

What if he brings his bishop to d2?

[@TheJgen]

hey kevin i was just curious what is your rating ?

[@paraiso1972]

I feel a lot of pressure...

[@esond]

@Parishrut2 Looks like fritz to me.

[@quarticom]

can't white loosen up the pin with bishop to d2?

[@linzhi1484]

also instead of 4.e3 why does white not play 4.a3?

[@necrisminecrafter]

2.07 why doesn't white ever play bishop to D2 stopping the pin and allowing development

[@aetherx2519]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4 4.e3 Bxc3 5.bxc3 saddles White with doubled pawns along the c-file, and isn't that the whole point of the Nimzo-Indian? Why wouldn't this be a good move?

[@gunnarandersen4273]

aetherX The reason why black does not want to do this yet is because they want for the bishop to be hit first before exchanging- really, black only wants to take if white plays at first something like a3- because this move will be a waste. If black waits and plays like ...d6, ...O-O, or ...b6 and only then white plays a3 then black will exchange on c3 and it will be like he has an extra tempo. Also, sometimes white can play some Ba3 stuff and it will be controlling black's dark squares.

[@MAN-xs2lq]

Ok

[@mikemccowan9454]

Is it still the B29mike is white meets three bishop worth Be instead of Kf3? Do you treads bishops?

[@sadeladybug]

Hello, I have a brief question: if I am learning chess openings should I memorize just the movement of the pieces or try variations of the openings as I play? thanks

[@ryanclark4847]

I know that this is two months old, but I would recommending learning the variations as you play.

[@saltylevi2672]

International Master now?

[@majotnf]

I usually go for the Sicilian but def wanna go deeper into this n try to play it on a regular basis... tx as usual for a nice vid, M...

[@theaccordian9377]

Can't play the Sicilian against 1. d4, sad!

[@Graybat12]

What do you recommend if they play Bd2 after Bb4?

[@cd9142]

Graybat12 trade off your bishop and then their bishop is misplaced on C3

[@collinstump2048]

"At the same time"

[@MultiUltimater]

I know right....

[@danyork1665]

How would you counter 4. Pawn to a3 pressuring the bishop because this move actually cost me a game at last weeks chess pre season meet.

[@gunnarandersen4273]

Dan York Take the knight on c3 and play normal nimzo stuff

[@Written...]

LOL Funny that instantly I was able to tell the video was old because he called Kasparovs opener "not common" and its exactly how Magnus and AlphaZero and every good player plays now days.

[@chesswebsite]

So true. This was definitely one of my older videos. Crazy how things change over time.

[@williamwu1532]

what is the ribbonstine variation?????

[@alvinchan9770]

+William Wu Rubenstein system.

[@kingdomIce32]

@PraveenAtheray after Ne4 white plays Qxe4? it's not a trade you lose a piece

[@hogames9596]

What wouldn't White play 4. Bd2 ?

[@arpitakulkarni7165]

best

[@TheDodoBro]

What is the software called? There is a lot but I like the particular look of this chess board.

[@Littlecrazywolfspirit187]

fritz

[@rahulbharadwaj1256]

at 1.57 why cant white do pawn a2-a3

[@mr.schloopka1124]

Than exchange and b6

[@matthaeus7762]

Rahul Bharadwaj they can, but that just makes black do what they were going to do anyway

[@BrantK147]

wow, finally someone pronounces "fianchetto" correctly :)

[@howchess7631]

I can pronounce perfectly

[@howchess7631]

it*

[@Dave-cd8sm]

Please illustrate the possibilities one by one systematically, so that a beginner feels it comfortable and not very complex.

[@zozomozo89]

hi i play the hyper accelerated and it's very complex after watching thechesswebsite you can't learn much about the openings example he says king's indian is passive i recommend download diznizchavili book opening for black there you have a about the hyper accelerated dragon or if you wan't the basics go to youtube(.com/user/weaksquare) without ()

[@michaeldurbano2797]

I keep hearing people talk about the disadvantage of having double pawns, even in this video, but no one eve explains how to exploit it. Where is a situation where a doubled pawn can be exploited.

[@nomarxistspls90]

they're weak because they aren't protecting each other. Generally it will leave the surrounding pawns isolated with little protection and you can develop easier. They can also restrict the other players mobility of bishops, etc. And this can give you an endgame advantage when trying to promote pawns.

[@darkmaster1803]

Many times I found doubling up pawns is good and I don't consider it as a major disadvantage. This is true for blitz games against amateur players may not work against experienced players. Also if the double pawns are more towards center and they are in queens side. One of the advantages I found is the open file that can be controlled by rook.

[@titusweekes8711]

1.d4 e6 is the wrong move order because it allows White to play 2. e4, transposing into the French Defence. Unless Black is happy to play the French Defence he should play 1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6.

[@ArizonaMMJ]

So am I looking at this for White or for Black? im confused

[@CoolBreeze250]

thechesswebsite The last variation of d5 for black doesn't work because of Qa4+, forking the bishop and the king.

[@tigerbait1016]

Knight to c6

[@CoolBreeze250]

Baylor Didier I missed that. I'm not a tactical player anyway.

[@lapirate3408]

+Robert R. Williams Jr. Obliviously

[@soulburner8095]

What is Better, Nimzo Indian Defense or Kings Indian Defense?

[@12magicKid12]

Great video, but, just so you know, it is correctly pronounced Nimtso, not Nimzo like it is spelled. Again, great video.

[@MrMarson123456]

bueno

[@shlokkinikar2758]

4:50 what if he pushes d5?

[@mr.schloopka1124]

D6

[@cadagerardo.8794]

@@mr.schloopka1124 Oh that's en passant rule idk the spelling hehe

[@ThunderHead3i]

7:02

[@sirbiloginz1506]

Why is pawn to a3 not played much againts this?

[@naqi_zariz]

Sir Biloginz i think people do play that if they want to avoid nimzo-indian. The game transitions into a bogo-indian defence

[@oronian2650]

I mean, even if they play a3, black can still take the night on c3 with his bishop and still force a double pawn if queen doesn’t go c2

[@ClutchGodGames]

Why can't white go Pawn to A3 and force the bishop to attack or move?

[@clashrobloxianchampion1706]

OtakuHappy Well I guess you could take knight and then they take with b pawn and there his b section would be empty so you could soon put more pressure on the king

[@mahakmantri2335]

If black playes pawn to d5 white can play pawn to c5

[@towtE294]

I tried it, but my opponent got mad cause I switched the clock without making a move...

[@joeshmo546]

I think you mean knife f3

[@Olibanane]

great vidoe thanks. I just think your are judgeing the whits positions not good enough, black don't have that much of an advantage as you say.

[@thatguy5358]

can someone explain why bishop to d2 is a bad idea for white?

[@mr.schloopka1124]

Exchange and than c5

[@1023182567apple]

9:51 white Qa4 forking bishop and king

[@apurvashah9207]

But Nc6 protects B

[@mohammadmehdiwahid4892]

Hi there guys i have a question : what if the apponent dont plays this particular moves or opening and instead uses another opening? Help plz

[@maxjones2008]

I have this problem too. Most people will say to exploit the weakness they provide when not playing these best moves, but its difficult for those learning openings in the first place. This video doesn't do a super great job on giving the general ideas of the defense instead of the "why this move is made" and the reply to it.

[@Soulend1]

I run across Bd2 most often as a response to pinning the knight to the king. If this occurs, would it be beneficial to just take the knight (alleviating some pressure on the e4 square but losing your dark square bishop), or retreat - saving the bishop but losing the initiative? I'm a little surprised this wasn't addressed. Great video as always though.

[@rishikde5346]

The Nimzo-Indian is so powerful that I avoid it with Nf3.

[@LeonardoAlvesCardiologista]

Hello, +thechesswebsite. @thechesswebsite Great video. I like Nemzo-Indian Defense, a lot. What software do you use to make this presentation? Could you tell me? Thanks.

[@strafeist3545]

Leonardo Alves - Cardiologista there is a link in the description to the software

[@berkleecohen1854]

I never expected to find you here minecraft pvp god

[@donlessnau3983]

How many times does this guy say "at the same time" in 10 minutes? 100?

[@vorrex6912]

I thought it was hypermodern.... let White take the center and then pick away.

[@clashrobloxianchampion1706]

What do we do if Qd2 to defend the knight?

[@fakecheese94]

ClashRobloxianChampion The game can continue like the Qc2-Nimzo-Indian with f.ex. O-O. Ne4 doesn't work as well as it looks because of 5. Qc2 where Nxc3 bxc3 wins a tempo on the bishop. Ne4 still gives a pretty equal position.

[@tjacobs5824]

+fakecheese94 If Qd2 does happen Ne4 is actually a good move. Black doesn't take with his knight on c3 obviously... He just plays either d5 or f5 and has a nice knight deployed on e4. Further he would most likely stay in the spirit of the opening and play Bxc3 and white can't avoid doubling of his pawns. Either way black achieves a good position.

[@aryandhanwani]

why in the beginning when the knight is pinned why cant you move ne4

[@neerbon9417]

Its a check

[@ProgrammingP123]

he should have went over Bd2

[@rwarnicke]

this opening in not a defence it is an attack. i have only lost like 2 times in the nimzo indian

[@JiraiyaPilled]

1084

[@ebutym11225]

The h really is silent. A lot of people pronounce it. I don't make it a point to correct anyone because I know what they mean, and it is commonly mispronounced. But if you are going to correct someone be sure that you are indeed correct.

[@RaniaIsAwesome]

d4 openings are incredibly hard to understand. Why is Bg5 such a common move against d5 and yet rare against indians? Then there are so many transpositions, makes my head spin!!

[@guthax30]

I think he was messin' with ya Kev :^/ haha

[@dimifisher7942]

It doesnt work against e4 for sure

[@lightyagami5776]

Butt at the same time