I have started playing the Saemisch Defense against the Nimzo-Indian and it has brought me a lot of success.  Just playing a plan with Bg5 and f4, and if h6 then fxe5 or Bh4-g3 + h4 has led to some nice attacks and big upsets.  The problem is, my only source of actual theory on it is Watson's book on d4 which isn't exactly supposed to be a source for lines at all.  What is a good book to use to learn the Saemisch well?  I am mostly having problems with the more closed lines, after d5 stuff I am ok.

Ivan Sokolov's book "Winning Chess Middlegames" has several commented games on the Sämisch with either 4.e3 & 5.a3 or 4.a3. As well as many other games with 1.d4 - so if you have the energy and motivation to go through the book, it may be what you're looking for or more.

But the style is more "commented games as in New in Chess" with some useful text commentary added - so not prechewed or specialised on the Sämisch.

Moskalenko has a three part chapter on the Sämisch in "Revolutionize Your Chess" (Chapter   8 - Nimzo-Indian, Sämisch Variation,  Part 1. The Sämisch,  Part 2. A TrojanHorse in the Nimzo-War,  Part 3. A Pawn Sacrifice and a Captive Knight).

I have no idea how good that chapter is or how extensive or whether it would be worthwhile to get a book for just 1 out of 10 chapters. Actually I'd be interested to hear if someone knows, what that chapter is like.

Bonsai wrote on 07/14/10 at 20:42:55:

Moskalenko has a three part chapter on the Sämisch in "Revolutionize Your Chess" (Chapter   8 - Nimzo-Indian, Sämisch Variation,  Part 1. The Sämisch,  Part 2. A TrojanHorse in the Nimzo-War,  Part 3. A Pawn Sacrifice and a Captive Knight). I have no idea how good that chapter is or how extensive or whether it would be worthwhile to get a book for just 1 out of 10 chapters. Actually I'd be interested to hear if someone knows, what that chapter is like.

Well, it's your typical Moskalenko: much enthusiasm and many fascinating new (or relatively new) ideas, but coverage based more on his interest than any considerations of thoroughness or exhaustiveness.  But I would say that for a Saemisch/4.f3 practitioner, the material is definitely useful.  Actually there is very much that's useful in this book, if you can get past his terminology ( "T1 - T2 +2T3 + Personal Skills" ), which makes less than no sense.   In fact, in spite of that, this is one of my favorite chess books.

The best source for variations is ECO E, written in late 2008, but Watson's book is good for explanations of the basic ideas in the Samisch. I can't comment on Revolutionise your Chess, but Moskalenko's book are generally of a high quality.