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LCB, Issue #097 --, Face Down the Nimzo-Indian Defense July 01, 2023 |
Take on the Nimzo-Indian DefenseLapoc Chess Board, Issue #097 -- GOTM #67 learn and play online chess The Nimzo-Indian Defense is a great system for Black. This system arises in the 1.d4 lines. It makes it hard for White to play e4 later in the opening. The c3-Knight is pinned to the King and by the time this pressure is resolved Black can occupy e4 himself. This whole idea can be a real drag if you're playing with the White pieces. No one likes when their opponent forces them to abandon their preferred development for something less pleasing to them. So what to do? Fear not, you can play against this system and reach interesting games. You can even opt for an energetic sharp fight with sacrifices galore, if that's your thing. This month's game is brought to you from Szeged in 1997 and our two gladiators are Suat Atalik with the White pieces up against Gyula Sax with Black. Enjoy. Take on the Nimzo-Indian DefenseAtalik, Suat (2590) - Sax, Gyula (2570) [B99]GotM #67, Szeged, 1997 [Connaughton, Ken] 1.d4 Queen's Pawn Game 1...Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Nimzo-Indian Defense 4.Qc2 Classical Variation 4...d5 Noa Variation 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.Qxc3 Ne4 7.Qc2
Main Line of the Noa 7...Nc6 (He could also play 7...c5 here) 8.e3 e5 9.cxd5 Qxd5 10.Bc4 Qa5+ 11.b4 Nxb4 12.Qxe4 Nc2+ 13.Ke2 Qe1+ 14.Kf3 Nxa1 15.Bb2 0-0
(15...Be6) 16.Kg3 Kh8 A more modern approach than the 2 older alternatives. (16...Bd7; 16...h6) 17.dxe5! (Better than the alternative: 17.Nf3) 17...Be6 18.Nf3!
Sacrificing the Rook for a dangerous Kingside attack. 18...Qxh1 19.Ng5 g6 20.Nxf7+!!
The move that makes the game. 20...Rxf7 (20...Bxf7? 21.e6+ Kg8 22.Qd4 Bxe6 23.Qg7#) 21.Bxe6 Rg7 (Atalik (and Fritz) give this variant: 21...Rxf2!? 22.Kxf2 Rf8+ 23.Kg3 Qe1+ 24.Kh3 Kg7 25.Bd7 Kh6 26.e6 Rf5 27.Bf6! Rh5+ (Ken Connaughton: 27...Rxf6?? 28.e7 Qf2 29.e8Q+-) 28.Kg4 Rf5 29.e7 Qd1+ 30.Kh3+-) 22.Bf7!
22...Rxf7 Nothing better. 23.e6+ Kg8 24.Qd4!
Black hasn't time to save the Rook. 24...Kf8 25.exf7 Kxf7 26.Qd7+
And Black resigns. (26.Qd7+ He could see he was going down: 26...Kf8 27.Qg7+ Ke8 28.Bf6+- And Black has no saving resource.) 1-0 Atalik, Suat (2590) - Sax, Gyula (2570) P.S. If you do not have html based email software and you're using a text only system, you may find that the links are only partially highlighted and may not work. If this is the case, simply copy and paste the entire link into the browser and hit Enter. That should get you where you want to go. Comments, ideas, feedback? I'd be stoked to hear from you. Get in touch See you next month. Ken 
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