Hello,

Has anyone had any experience with with the recommendation of 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 0-0 
in this book? It seems to have quite a different feel to the other lines recommended, particularly after
5. Bg5 c5 when 6.e3 does not look very comfortable for black. (I personally would not like to face 6d5 either, but realise that black should be ok here, just don't like the type of position much).

Bye John S

I just checked and my vague worries may have been justified. After:
1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 b6 5 Nge2 c5 6 a3 Ba5 7 Rb1 Na6 8 Bd2 o-o 9 Ng3 Bb7 10 Bd3 cd 11 ed Bxc3 12 bc d5 13 cd Qxd5 14 Qe2 Nb8 15 f3 Qa2 16 o-o Qxa3 17 Ne4 NxN 18 PxN e5

white seems to get a truly dangerous attack by Junior's suggestion of:
19 Ra1 Qe7 20 Bc1 ^ Ba3. Then if 20 .. Qc7 21 Ba3 Re8 or Rd8 22 Rxf7 seems to be strong, so 21 .. Rc8 22 de may be best but does look extremly dangerous for black. ( 22.. Nd7 23 Rxf7 again etc, there are also e6 ideas.).
This suggests 20 .. Qd7 21 Ba3 Rc8 but then both 22 de and especially 22 Rf2 look very dangerous. White can seemingly often leave his a3 bishop to hang once he's doubled on the f file. (22 Rf2 Rxc3 23 Raf1 RxB 24 Rxf7 for instance.). I certainly haven't been able to find a way for black to survive at all happily.

Can anyone find a good way to defend this? I'd *like* it to be possible but am a little worried.

If not black may just have to try 17 .. Nbd7 -> this does let white get in e5 via 18 Bc1 Qa7 19 Bc1 ^ Ba3,Nd6 NxN 20 PxN Rfc8 21 e5 etc but this may well be OK for black.

Alternatively there are moves like 9 .. d5 and several later deviations mentioned in the book.

I'm also not entirely sure about the position in the main line Romanishin-Psakhis (final game in the chapter). The whole Qa2 x a3 thing goes a bit against the grain.
(The rest of the system though seems wonderful fun.).

The 'problem' position is that reached after -  16 Ne4 NxN 17 PxN Qa3 18 o-o. I know he recommends 17 .. Ba6! here but a missed transposition on move 16 - 16 o-o Qxa3 17 Ne4 NxN 18 PxN doesn't allow this. The resulting position is far from terminal of course although as he says white does have some compensation.

Is there any theory on 10 .. Rc8!? in this line? It's very natural and the obvious 11 o-o d5 12 cxd5 cxd4 13 ed Bxc3 14 bc Qxd5 15 f3 seems to allow Nc5!? ^ 16 Bc2 Ncd7 (Ba6!? is crazy but not especially good I think) or 16 dc Qxd3 17 cb ab 18 Rxb6 Ba6 which seems like plenty of compensation. 
Unless there's some concrete problem I've missed this does seem a little more harmonious for black than the main line.

Since it's been brought up here I've also been wondering about 11 .. Qf6 in the main line of 6 .. Ne4 7 Qc2 c5. Way back in Solokov's Classical Nimzo book he recommended this as worth investigation - does anyone know if this has been played at all recently? (or why it hasn't been of course )
The idea is to meet Qb2/Bb2 d4 but it does have independent value in retaining h5 ideas vs g4.

Oh I quite like the type of position and will play it with either colour. It just seems to me that these lines are the most critical ones in Eddie's book.

@Ptero, 
Thanks I toyed a bit with your suggestions and they seem to make a lot of sense and give nice play for black.

I now went through most of the book and starting to get the hang of it. The variations indeed promise the type of play from the introduction. 

My main problem chesswise still is with the variations (though on the other hand I intend to play this with white as well ):
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Qxc3 Ne4 7. Qc2 c5 8. dxc5 Nc6 and now both 9. e3 (seems to me very much underrated, I dont trust the line in the comments to move 12 of that game with the b5 idea) and 9.cxd5 seem good to white following Cox' book (also excellent book).

Ptero wrote on 08/15/06 at 12:22:02:

That makes quite some sense however after both examples black is committed to b6, which doesnt always make sense in the Saemisch. I am referring to the Rubinstein with Bd3 (chapter 4)

lnn2 wrote on 08/15/06 at 13:12:31:

Sorry the moves are 8.dxc5 Nc6 9. cxd5 (e3 is another one I am working on), so not the 8th move.

Willempie wrote on 08/15/06 at 11:23:34:


After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.a3 rather cooperative. In the analogous situation in the Zeamisch (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.a3!?), white proceeds by the central expansion f3 and e4, while here this natural thrust is blocked by Nf3.  White can of course proceed with Nd2, but in this lines black plays Bxc3 anyway (say, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bxc3 8.bxc3 d6 9.Nd2!?), so an a3 by white would be a lost tempo.   
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 b6 5.a3 doesn’t mix well with white’s plan of a subsequent Nge2 preparing to recapture on c3 with a knight - avoiding double c-pawns