Intro into the Nimzo-Indian - Understanding Your Openings #4

In this episode of understanding your openings, we take a closer look at the Nimzo-Indian defence.
Links to the games in this video:
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Link to my chessable course www.chessable....
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[@averageplayer1995]

When you talk about chess there s no controversy around because 99.9% of the time you re right! Keep going Andras!

[@InfiniteQuest86]

I'm a nimzo player, and this was a great eye opener. I always feel like I'm chasing theory and lines after every game to figure out where I went wrong, but maybe I should just be working through my Flores Rios structures book to solve my woes.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I think we have your problem solved, sire!:)

[@bustersbrain]

The unexpected enjoyment of ditching my Jobava and my Scandi in favor of main lines is that now I have hundreds and even thousands of classic games from the greats that resemble my common pawn structures and plans. Thank you Andras.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

YOu have made the hardest but best step towards improvement sire!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Hope the Binge watching is going well!

[@bustersbrain]

@@ChessCoachAndras Sleep is overrated anyway. 😀

[@ChessCoachAndras]

@@bustersbrain Exactly!

[@Holdit66]

This is also the main reason I've switched from off-beat lines to main lines.

[@Tomlinsky]

Nimzowitsch would, I'm sure, be proud of your enthusiastic promotion of this part of his legacy. Awesome video.

[@12Knaves]

The sheer enthusiasm for the Nimzo you show would make anyone believe the Nimzo is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Another excellent video, you truly have a gift for teaching.

[@lestrelincom]

I'm a chess coach from France with a chess level of 2200 fide, and i'm literally DEVOURING your videos. So many great thoughts I can still for my own pupils, thank you so much ! I happen to like AUS accent and AUS...om chess content :)

[@unknownalsounknown4238]

taking a DEEP look into this one , although from the white side of the trunks as I struggle against the nimzo

[@TCMx3]

this is the best opening video I have ever seen. the Nimzo is my preferred response to d4 but since I face far more e4 I havent invested as much time into and this has significantly helped my understanding.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you liked it!

[@PashaKuznetsov777]

Good stuff! I have a love-hate relationship with Nimzo. I love it when I am able to grab the initiative that quickly and decisively, and I hate it when I have no clue what to do ending up passive and crushed by white's huge center. A while back I realized that the attempts to study Nimzo from "remembering the lines" point of view were futile because of its vast diverse nature, and since then I am trying to find any and all conceptual takes on the beast to really understand what's happening. It basically forces me to study chess, not the opening, hopefully forging me into a better player eventually. Thank you for this in particular, and great conceptual content overall.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Hopefullly this series will help you to lean towards love instead of hate!:)

[@PashaKuznetsov777]

@@ChessCoachAndras, looking forward to it - thank you!

[@andrewmayo9400]

This was an absolutely fantastic video. I love the nimzo, and love how the games can take on any kind of character. There are sharp lines, solid lines, tactical lines, positional lines. Every kind of line you can dream of can come out of this opening. And with almost no mandatory theory at all.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you liked it, Andrew!

[@stefanomassoni2603]

The Nimzooo. I was waiting for this one cause I like the choices black can make, but I didn't manage yet to find the time to analyse it properly and most of the time I take the wrong choice with this opening, but I've always loved it

[@lowtherlars]

This is a great video. I'm normally a KID player, but I think I will start messing around with the Nimzo. I actually play e5 for the whole purpose of getting a variety of different pawn structures to play against. I like the idea of reaching equality so quickly as well.

[@coffincornered83]

This past weekend I played an over-the-board tournament and lost two games on the black side of the Grunfeld. I decided that the Grunfeld is too difficult a beast for me to handle. There's too much theory and too many not-very-intuitive moves for a 1650-1700 level player like me. I have decided to give the Nimzo-Indian a try. Just through general osmosis I have a casual understanding of the opening but I have never studied it and never played it in a serious game. This video was fantastic and gave me a great sense of how to approach it. We'll see if I do any better with this than with the Grunfeld.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Good luck! Alternatively, my d4-d5 SLav course on chessable is quite easy to learn!

[@williamschnider6597]

Keep up with this series please! Its really helpful and I enjoy it.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@natureechoesmusic]

Thank you for another excellent video! I really hope you continue with these.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I do intend to.

[@tommarcoen6758]

Thank you for the brief and interesting history lesson but especially for the highly instructional content! Keep it up, I am a huge fan.

[@vijayv7177]

Amazing and instructive video as always!and the "hikaru controversy? Lol haters keep hating". Keep up the good work man and thanks!

[@fareastern8201]

Fantastic! I finally know the rough ideas of the Nimzo-Indian, and if White allows it I can play it and gain some experience. I did attempt to use the Nimzo-Indian against a friend of mine in OTB play, but once he played 3. Nf3 I played 3...d5 intending to enter the QGD and managed to transpose into the QGD Ragozin after my friend played 4. Nc3 and I played 4...Bb4. But I didn't recognise it was a Ragozin due to my inexperience and I was pretty lost in the rest of the opening and middlegame. I would love to complement the Nimzo-Indian by playing the Ragozin but I'm not sure if White can avoid the Ragozin and just go into more conservative QGD structures.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Its not a bad idea to add the Ragozin in my opinion.

[@thomasrooney4321]

Thank you. Precisely what I was looking for and hoping you'd do soon.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad it was helpful!

[@putneypj]

Thank you very much for a very clear helpful video. I only stumbled upon your content today but have subscribed and will recommend you. Thanks!

[@jamiehand1859]

Love it, thanks Andras

[@ChessCoachAndras]

My pleasure!

[@GreenHope42]

Great overview Andras, thanks 👍

[@lukastux3024]

I'm not even playing the Nimzo or d4 and still loved that video. Tells you something about coach

[@tooterp]

This was a really well done video man, I've always wanted to look into the nimzo and this video helped a ton! Thanks bro :)

[@nickrosas8889]

I enjoy the way you teach the openings. 27:32

[@petemattingly8361]

This series is so helpful

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks Pete, I am glad you like the content!

[@Redbirds1100]

you are so Awesome Thank you for taking your time to show us this opening.

[@bernardbeinhauer9528]

Great video and great series! Would you please consider making a similar very simple, explanatory and logical video that sums up d4 c4 from the white point of view aswell? Thank you!

[@BaeBox]

love it, thanks so much. I didn't vote because I basically liked all options :D

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks Sacha, legend!

[@penguinb4u]

great video. Please make another nimzo follow up videos covering dark square strategy involving e5, e.g. hubner variation.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks, will do!

[@NDakovic]

I find black a lot more passive in d4-d5 tham e4-e5 positions, always walking into silly white knight jumps etc bcos of passivity, playing on queenside and never mating enemy king. This seems to cure all that. Play in the center and mate that enemy king when white slips up.

[@gauravbisht6668]

Please continue the series sir.

[@paulgottlieb]

Euwe play the Nimzo some times. There's the immortal Geller-Euwe from Zurich 1953

[@concool770]

Great stuff thanks andras

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@Musicrafter12]

Tal actually played a relatively famous game against Spassky in the Nimzo. He definitely used the Nimzo as backup to his main repertoire against d4, increasingly later in his career as his style turned slightly more positional. Also, I think the QGD Ragozin is probably better than the QID against Nf3. Maybe Semi-Slav is also very good and offers black aggressive chances. Fischer played the Ragozin, as does Aronian I think.

[@b.1565]

Any chance to get such a video about the QGD from blacks point of view?

[@MarcusHCrawford]

The nimzo. Alright!

[@Diffusion8]

Brilliant stuff!

[@Glitched01]

This is a bit of a silly question but given that the Nimzo is such an incredibly good opening as black would in the long term (e.g. our theoretical best chess) is something like 3. Nf3 or 3. e3 something that will continue to grow in the long term? I know at one point our machine overlords were not particularly impressed with blacks options after those kinds of moves. Thank you for making these videos. Really quality content!

[@andrewmayo9400]

at top levels it's already to some degree the norm to avoid the nimzo anyway. But the nimzo is totally playable on the white side, you're playing the structure as much as black is, you just usually have the weaknesses and so want to do middlegame tactics stuff, and not liquidate to an endgame because you'll have hanging pawns or an IQP or something in most cases

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Will cover them later on!

[@wreynolds1995]

I really enjoyed this video and I'm planning on picking up the Nimzo fairly soon; I'm fascinated by the opportunities to change the structure. But the fourth link in the description appears to be in error: it leads to a Keres-Botvinnik game in the French, not the Nimzo.

[@dominiks5068]

totally agree that the Nimzo is one of the most fascinating openings. I generally play the KID against 1d4 because I prefer wild tactical positions, but if I were a more positional player I would 100% play the Nimzo

[@eugeniobuzzoni634]

www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1032050 is the correct link to the Botvinnik Nimzo game you showed. (By the way, all those "softies" were one of the Nimzo main lines back then!! Makes you wonder whether chess moved forward from Morphy's times at all, at least until 1960-ish)

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks for the link!

[@alexandergoodwin1504]

@ChessCoach_Andras I may be alone in this but I would love to see some of your favorite famous games in the nimzo. As you have pointed out elsewhere having reference games when learning an opening is very useful, so even if you never make a video on them what are some of the nimzo games that you think everyone should know besides the ones you mention in the video?

[@connormonday]

Of all the opening switching I’ve done I’ve pretty much only played the QGD with Black for the 4.5 years I’ve played chess. Mostly relying on GM Alex Colovic’s works. I want to start using your Nimzo and was going to use QGD for 3.Nf3 stuff but it seems like you think it’s not the greatest choice for the amateur. Would you encourage a student who had already put a lot of work into the QGD to switch to a QID or Ragozin? I would be reluctant to but trust your recommendations very much.

[@madouken]

Great video, very insightful thank you. I'll give this a go since I've been at a bit of a loss as to what to play against d4 lately. One question though, what is a 'cadooli'? As in 'holy cadooli'?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Indeed holy cadooli, although not sure why you ask as I dont recall using it without the obligatory "holy":)

[@PianoconGuido]

Awesome video! Nimio for the win

[@ChessCoachAndras]

You know it!

[@keedt]

Euwe had at least one beautiful game in the Nimzo: Geller-Euwe Zurich 53. I know because as a Dutch speaker, the chess literature I read as a kid was rather Euwe-centric. But I agree, he was a Slav dude during his prime. Which opening do you typically recommend to your students to pair with the Nimzo in case White goes 3. Nf3? The Bogo, the Queen's indian, the Benoni, or the Queen's Gambit declined? and after 3. g3? It would be really sad if you were to experience negative side effects following your recent video. Apparently nowadays you can say that the London is garbage without ruffling any feathers, but the Bongcloud, ho ho ho!

[@keedt]

(oops you answered that question further on in the video, nevermind)

[@keedt]

@AgrtMc I only find two games between Geller and Euwe, both from Zurich 53 (www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=10706&player=&pid2=15712&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=) Perhaps you meant Keres?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks for the kind words and the support sire. Also appreciate the input about Euwe, I do remember now that game, classic indeed. Appreciate your support mate, means a lot!

[@michaelkrailo5725]

It's understandable the the benefits of learning this opening right away will automatically garner ability to shift to different openings on the fly if you know what you are doing. So I understand the advantage you are pointing out here. Since I don't yet know what I'm doing this might be a bit over my head do to lack of pawn structures advantages and disadvantages so which video's should I review to get a better handle on that part before getting deeper into this part of the game? Great content you have on your channel for sure.

[@PaulTopacio]

Great analysis on my favorite Nimzo! However, I can't seem to find any games by Topalov on the ...b5 gambit. Can you share some games where he played this? Thanks in advance!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Interestingly neither did I, i have a book that discuss it in detail, i shall check to see what or whom did I confuse.

[@fightingstudent2363]

Thank you so much Coach Andras, i keep repeating: You are the best Chess Teacher Online! Will purchase your new course on chessable really soon! If White plays Knight to f3 is the Bogo Indian a good way to play similar structures?

[@nahilismail3144]

thankyou

[@ChessCoachAndras]

You're welcome!

[@suresh9118]

Hi I hear you emphasising on pawn structures more than focusing on openings. do you have lessons on pawn structures? cheers

[@ChessCoachAndras]

@@suresh9118 a lot on this channel. Also just released on chessable the power of pawns.!

[@connormccartney1604]

Not sure where's the best place for suggestions but maybe how to play against the catalan with black pieces

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Planning to do this later!

[@KeepChessSimple]

The Semi-Slav (Meran) would also be nice.

[@nickgood3998]

“If wishes were horses, beggars would ride

[@joeldick6871]

You don't have to learn the Queen's Indian. If White goes Nf3, you can just fall back to the familiar QGD with d5.

[@tommonk7651]

Why not play the Bogo-Indian when white plays Nf3?

[@roadrunner4800]

great video, will try it next time, probably lose 5 in a row, but I am okay with that

[@ChessCoachAndras]

You can do it!

[@poopybutthole4947]

The best coach I've ever seen in my life Im so sad that your channel is kinda of underrated I wish the best bro

[@risechess7114]

25:13 what about d5 followed by e4 ? still bg4 is the move ?

[@kurtozan251]

Please do one on the English!

[@gm2407]

Can you play it as white in the Reti?