tony37 wrote on 09/19/13 at 11:11:10:

Yeah I know I've given up on this line already.

5. Bd3 e5  6. Nge2 Bxc3!? is an interesting try by Black.

Stigma wrote on 09/14/13 at 23:50:19:


In my experience if I've been considering a crap line it's been quick to be pointed out.  A few weeks ago I was looking at 1. d4 d5  2. c4 dxc4  3. Nf3 c6  4. e3 Be6?! and the lines that give White the advantage were quickly pointed out.

By the way my copy of Taimanov's Selected Games arrived today 

I have that Taimanov Nimzo-Indian book in its first edition, in Russian (Fitzkultura i Sporti is the publisher, I presume). It contains a wealth of useful information indeed! I also have a very high opinion of Pliester's book, and I think it would have become a best seller had it been published by a major chess publisher...

Correction to my previous post: that should read "The Ragozin Complex", of course. Somehow my brain today is stuck with this "Complete Ragozin" title, for reasons I cannot even understand!

OK, so let's just clarify this with the person who started the thread: by the term "Taimanov Variation" you mean the line 4.e3 Nc6, usually followed by ...d5, intending a later ...dxc4, ...Bd6 and ...e5, right?

By the way, similar positions occur also in the Queen's Gambit Accepted, in the 3.e4 Nc6 line, after a sequence such as 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.d5 Ne5 6.Bf4 Ng6 7.Be3 e5 8.Bxc4. In the Taimanov, this would arise after ...dxc4 and ...e5, and then d5 Ne7-g6. I think Barsky's coverage of this type of position is quite decent, if not too deep. I cannot say the same about Sokolov, though. He skims through this entire chapter without going to much depth, as if this line was included in his book for the sake of completeness. Don't get me wrong, 90% of the book is just fantastic, but there are a few (very few) dark spots here and there, and this is one.

I also recall that this Taimanov Variation was also played occasionally by Bobby Fischer, and of course it was played by Tal several times in a world championship match of his against Botvinnik (I think it was the second, in 1961). Mark Dvoretsky had extensive analysis of the most well known Fischer game in this line, as well as some of Tal's, in an article in one of his early books (the main topic of the article was the surprising recapture on e5 with the Bd6 and not the Nc6). I suggest you try and locate this article, it showcases some very important concepts and is very educational!

Here is one apparently odd thing I noticed, regarding what Sokolov treated as the main line in his Taimanov chapter.  After 5. Nf3 0-0 6. Bd3 d5 7. 0-0 dc 8. Bxc4 Bd6 9. Bb5 e5 10. Bxc6 ed 11. ed bc 12. Bg5, he gave only 12...h6 13. Bh4 Bg4 (as leading to a clear advantage for White), not mentioning 12...Re8 (13. Qd3 c5 14. dc?? Ghitescu-Fischer) or 13...Re8 (given as leading to equality by Emms).

Quote:


Hey, middlewave, it is amazing that we have you here! 

A LOT of coverage of the Taimanov line is offered in Vladimir Barsky's late-2011 book "The Ragozin Complex", New In Chess. Treading on the blueprint of an old book on the Ragozin by Lipnitsky, he is covering pretty much every single Nimzo-Indian variation involving ...Nc6 and ...d5 (without ...c5), as long as the move Nf3 is played. Thus, he reaches your desired line by 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e3 Nc6. The relevant chapter is several pages long and you will find a lot of material there, except of course for the Nge2 lines.

Note that this book also covers the lines 5.Qc2 Nc6 and 5.Qb3 Nc6 (in the above-mentioned move order). In both these lines you adopt the Taimanov setup, and in fact many of the positions are quite similar, so a lot to learn from these chapters as well, and of course from the 5.Qa4+ Nc6 chapter!

I'm travelling so I can't check my old copy, but I really thought that Pliester covered this in more detail than anyone.  Anyone other than Taimanov if you can find some of his articles, of course!  Taimanov's book of best games also has some coverage; it's not at all comprehensive, but the book is excellent (one of my favorite game collections), so it's worth a buy anyway.