I agree this is a good mover order for Black, provided that he is set for 5d3 (... c5 6. Nbd2 Nc6 7. e4 O-O) which you mention.

It's been a while since I looked at the Nimzo-Larsen attack. It deserves a good look. I'll put it on my to-do list.

FreeRepublic wrote on 05/25/24 at 22:36:29:


My mistake. Not Krishnater, but Luis Rodi in The Modernized Queen's Gambit Decllined.

The Tarrasch QGD is an option for Black. Instead he might choose a line in the Catalan. His choice depends on move order.

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O Be7 5. c4 O-O 6. d4 dxc4 is a very main line in the Catalan.

This sequence allows the King's Indian Attack:  1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 Nf6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 O-O 6. Nbd2 c5 7. e4 

Or

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. d4!? Nf6 5. O-O e6 6. c4 dc4

This has been advocated by Krishnater recently, and earlier by Kuljasevic. It looks very reasonable to me, but White scores well with the sharp 7Ne5 and 7Qa4, and the less interesting 7dxc.

With this move order, Black can aim for a reversed King's Indian:
1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5

So against 1.e4 are you thinking French or Sicilian? 

If you don't mind a French then 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.O-O Be7 is a bullet-proof Reti move order. White might play 5.d3, then if you play like Uhlmann you will win, only if white plays like Fischer would you lose. Or white might play 5.c4 and/or 5.d4 when a Tarrasch is on the menu.

Against the English you have 1.c4 e6 next 2...d5 and white will have to commit something. 

For a Tarrasch player there are only two concerning move orders (from distant memory):

1.Nf3 d5 2.b3!? c5 (2...Nf6 is safer) 3.e3 Nc6 4.Bb2 Nf6 5.Bb5 something with c4, cxd5, d4 and black winds up a tempo down on some Normal Variation, but as you can tell I don't remember the details. That was in Keene (1977) Nimzo-Larsen Attack, from when he was still writing good books. I last looked at those notes 30 years ago, the theory was old then and probably hasn't changed much since.

1.c4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.b3 Nf6 (being careful) 4.g3 Be7 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O c5 7.Bb2 Nc6 8.e3!? b6 9.Nc3 as recommended in Soltis (1990) Winning with 1.c4. It's a little poisonous, after losing here once with 9...Bb7 I used Keene's Flank Openings to prepare the sharp 9...dxc4! as played by Spassky and Timman.

If you look at Kasparov's games against transpositional move orders he always developed the kingside first. Of course the most modern trend (e.g. Dubov) they can't do that, but for the main line Rubinstein it's still sounder.

I see that in a new Chessable course (Lifetime Repertoires: Sidelines and Flank Openings for Black), Surya Ganguly goes for a reversed Exchange: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. 0-0 e5 5. d3 d5 6. e4 de4 7. de4 Qxd1 8. Rxd1 Bg4. He notes that he is eschewing the engine-preferred 6...d4 (as well as the second choice of 6...Be7), and comments about avoiding going into a main line a tempo down. This makes me curious as to what he advocates against 6. Nbd2. (Also, does he still go for some kind of reversed Exchange against 6. Na3?)

By the way, re 6...d4, an ancient bit of theory is comparable to an old main line of the Petrosian: 7. Nbd2 Bg4 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 Bg6 10. Nh4 Nd7 11. Nf5 h5 (Doda-Korchnoi, Leningrad 1967), unclear according to Uhlmann.