Mortal Games wrote on 10/20/11 at 20:52:37:


Now it's "The Strategic Nimzo-Indian
Vol. 1: A Complete Guide to the Rubinstein Variation". No Sämisch. Still 384 pages.

Just hope, only the future can tell. 

For me he can continue writing at his pace and quality, "Nimzo according to Sokolov" for the next couple of years.

It seems Sokolov is preparing another book for  2012: The Strategic Nimzo-indian: A Complete Guide to the Rubinstein and Saemisch Variation, New in Chess, 384 pages.

up and comer wrote on 09/26/11 at 11:46:48:

It's been a while since I read it, but my impression was that it's a very work-intense book. Sokolov is very concrete, as most world class GMs. It seems these guys don't believe in general rules but rather in learning by example, as in 1000 examples on a certain topic will manifest themselves to "knowledge".
I like the book, I like the sample games. But given that you have easier material available, which is time proven, I would rather start there. Then afterwards consume the relevant games from Sokolov once and decide how much time you want to allocate. Maybe you like it better to only look stuff up in Sokolov's book after you have played it in a tournament game?! Then everything's fresh and you'll learn easier.

bragesjo wrote on 09/26/11 at 07:41:28:



I do have this book and Ive looked at the first few pages. It's what I was thinking about when I asked if I should read a book on the side.



Also the Mednis book sounds interesting, but I should probably finish going over Pawn Structure Chess by Andy Soltis, and quite a few of my other books before I get yet another one  . Ill put it on my wishlist in amazon though.



Gorath your saying I need to seriously look at each game, analyze and try to understand all the moves the whole way through, and go over the book multiple times, right? If so Ill be at it for awhile, but I do want to get the full benefit out of it.

Hi

I recomend Mednis "Strategic chess - mastering the closed game" before you start with the Sokolov book. I am your level and have both books and while I would like to study the Sokolov book I find that Mednis is better as an introduction to the plans and concepts for my level. The Mednis book was recomended to me on this site as an introduction to the Tarrasch and it is actually a fantastic collection of articles covering a lot of closed openings. 

However, if you are very serious about studying im sure the Sokolov book will reward hard work. 

best,
Larsen_fan

Im rated 1816, but Im a lopsided player. Im weak in opening knowledge, but stronger than my rating in the other phases of the game. Im not familiar with the Nimzo Indian systems, however Id been planning to read through this book. Maybe I can start in a different section of the book, and learn some Nimzo ideas on the side in a different book. Then once I grasp more of the concepts I can return to the doubled pawn section, which seems to focus entirely on the nimzo indian. 

I do have some basic knowledge of how to play isolated pawn structures and hanging pawn structures, thanks to Soltis' Pawn Structure Chess and some video lectures Ive watched, but Im still a beginner in that doubled pawn structure. All I've heard is that black is supposed to blockade the doubled c pawns with c5 and focus on the c4 square, while white usually sacs the pawn and goes for an attack on the kingside (no idea how to properly conduct that attack though).

up and comer wrote on 09/22/11 at 14:33:48:


It only covers the Rubinstein structure.  Obviously that's pretty fundamental to Nimzo play, but it's not going help you much with 4 Qc2 and so forth.