Preparing a "Bad" Line: Taimanov's Nimzo Sideline

Ludek Pachman  was born May 11, 1924 in Czechoslovakia and died March 6, 2003 in Germany. He played in six interzonal tournaments from 1948 to 1976. He wrote numerous books on chess openings and strategy. When I encountered his 1992 loss to the younger Sarhan Guliev, I thought Pachman had played a bad line and fallen into an opening trap.

The opening was the Nimzo-Indian Defense. Pachman used 4...Nc6, the Taimanov Variation. In terms of popularity that is a sideline. Within that variation, Pachman's use of 6...Bf8 is a further sideline which was also used by Taimanov. Seeing 10...Nf5, I believed a question mark was justifed and the reply 11.Nxd5 deserved an exclamation. After examining alternatives to various moves played in this game I developed second thoughts. I now think that this "bad" line can be prepared for more practical testing in games.

I am presenting the game with my suggested alternatives and a number of samples from Taimanov's practice. Perhaps, Pachman did not really enter a trap, but missed enough to lose.