That would be nice indeed. In the preview of his book on the Hippo I found 1.Nf3 b6 2.g3 Bb7 3.Bg2 e5. So I took a look at 1.b3 g6 2.Bb2 Nf6 3.e4. White's results haven't been exactly impressive and I'm curious what De Santis has to say about it.

A position can appeal to you. But it doesn't mean you are better. On the contrary to play Bb2 and exchange it for the knight on f6 just to ruin black's pawn structure on the king side when the center is not defined doesn't make much sense. Even worse when you moved b3. Many players of the white side play d4 and e3 to counter the bishop that goes to g7. But black is not forced to do that. There are positions in which you play d5 first and then c5 depending on the situation. And white has to watch out for checks on b4 and a5. Believe it or not black could even sacrifice the d5 pawn for activity in some cases. There were times when in some bliz games I played h5, Bh6 and 0-0. The point was that if a knight came to f4 you would trade the bishop. Also h5 threatens h4 and hxg3. So if white played h4 you could try f6, g5 and f4. In those positions black had to control e4 and hold the queen side. Not a fun position even for a KIng's Indian player. But still 4...d5 the very next move sounds like the way to go. Attacking or controlling the center with 4...d5 and 5...c5 looks like a priority in the position. Stockfish 10 suggest against 4.d4 b6 as one option making sure that once white plays 5.g3 black will answer Bb7. The point is not to just play with black Bg7 and 0-0 and give white a free hand in the center. Even if white plays 4.g3 d5 is strong.

Prasanna R obviously was unprepared. Like XChess mentioned 4...d5 is better as the obvious 5.cxd5 (5.e3 d4) Qxd5 6.Nc3?! Qa5 shows the downsides of White's play.

Mtal wrote on 07/07/19 at 03:23:18:

 
One more thing, I just feel b3 does not work in those troop positions cause doesn't my pawn want to be on b4?

RdC wrote on 12/30/12 at 12:21:24:

Why not 4...d5? getting rid of the backward pawn?

You replied after seven years ¿ 

By the way, not sure if they have this book in other languages, but I have the Italian book b3 attacco: Nimzo-Larsen by Alessio De Santiis, published 2017.

If you want a newer resource on 1. b3, it looks interesting. Better if you know Italian, or at least a related language where you can follow easily (castellano, French, etc.).

I find it hard to see what White gains by having the d-pawn on d2 rather than d4 in this specific line. On d4, it takes space in the center, it does not block the black-squared bishop (since the bishop does not exist), and it is not very exposed - White can cover it with e3, and if Black ever plays ...c5, White will have an excellent square on d5.

I would rather think that this is indeed an inferior version of the 2...g6 3.Bxf6 Tromp, but that White plays it because 2...g6 is not a very usual way to meet the Tromp. 2...g6 is only Black's 5th most popular choice against the Tromp, while it is the most popular move after 1.b3 Nf6 2.Bb2. Black's most popular choice against the Tromp is 2...Ne4, which of course makes no sense against 1.b3. Against ...e6/...d5 setups, White can play a Bird setup with e3 and f4, when the Bishop stands well on b2.

So, White plays 1.b3, at the risk of playing an inferior 2...g6 Tromp, but taking advantage of the bishop's placement in other lines.

It’s not possible to score heavily in a series of blitz games with a line which should be, say, equal?  

Regarding White holding back his d-pawn, offhand I wonder if he would be claiming an advantage in the case of something like this:  3. Bxf6 ef 4. c4 f5 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. e3 0-0 7. Nge2 d6 8. g3 Nd7 9. Bg2 c6 10. 0-0 Re8 11. Rc1 (this involves a series of White moves mentioned earlier).

I suppose a major issue is 3. Bxf6 ef 4. c4 d5, as played by Wang Hao against Jobava in the same event (albeit blitz) as Jobava-Mamedyarov.  I notice that that was the move given by ECO (as leading to "unclear"), and that in NIC's online database it scores 50% (from only a dozen games, but with White seeming to have an overall rating advantage).

The structure is the same save for the d-pawn, which can stay on -d2, or advance to -d3 or -d4 depending on the situation. The pawn on -b3 usually advances to -b4 in conjunction with pawns on -c4 and -a4.

Tempi are not that important in these positions. Also, White's flexibility with his d-pawn can be useful.

tony37 wrote on 01/07/13 at 14:13:38:


And yet it works quite well for white so long as white knows how to play the structures from the middlegame. I've personally been playing this line for a few years now, and I find it both fun and easy to play from the white side. Whenever I'm playing blitz on playchess and black opts for Nf6 and g6, I win almost every time playing Bxf6. In fact, going back through my last 25 games in this line, I won 23 and lost 2. 

Anyway, the formation I use is with the g3 line as mentioned by the OP. I've found it a very comfortable opening, although one of my losses was to a cheater. He played this strange idea of f5 and then Ba3, which I had never had any other human do before. I got absolutely crushed off the board, and when I plugged the game into Houdini afterwards, every move of his matched the computers choice, including the strange Ba3 move.

Uberdecker wrote on 12/30/12 at 16:26:59:


I would imagine this is the reference game. The problem with the early c5 is that it gives away the d5 square for the rest of the game, as Karpov demonstrates. It must be well enough known that only a handful of players have repeated Browne's move order over the last forty years. The popularity of Hedgehog set ups is such that most players prefer 3. .. e6 or the 3. .. Nc6. In the latter case, transpositions to Karpov-Browne can remain possible if Black later tries .. g6 .

I notice that ECO has treated 3. e4 as the main line; in one database I looked at (NIC online) it appeared slightly more popular than 3. Bxf6.

I was referring to this:  1. c4 c5 2. b3 Nf6 3. Bb2 g6 4. Bxf6, which I think is generally recognized as slightly better for White.

Uberdecker wrote on 12/30/12 at 15:29:50:


I'm not aware that 3. Bxf6 has been considered the main line in the Larsen case; I wonder if you might be thinking of the sort of thing where Black has played ...c5, like in a game Karpov-Browne.

As mentioned at http://www.chesspublishing.com/content/12/index.htm, GM Jobova has revived interest in 1 b3.

Amongst the games is the sequence 1. b3 Nf6 2. Bb2 g6 3. Bxf6 gxf6 4. c4 Bg7 5. Nc3 f5 6. Rc1 

Checking my personal database, I found that I had played this idea myself in the 1970s. Jobova continued with g3 which I imagine is better than the approach I would use with e3, Nf3 and Be2.

Larsen and Fischer had played 1. b3 in 1970 and later. The idea of taking on f6 is obvious enough, even if at first you only regard it as a blitz weapon.