Nimzo Indian defense: Part 1; Saemisch Variation

Today, in this blog I am going to introduce you to a opening Nimzo Indian Defense. 

Nimzo Indian Attack might be a better name for this opening; it represents a determined attempt by Black to seize the initiative at an early stage. Nimzovich did the spadework-his pioneering efforts won a multitude of converts among those who were not content with the duller prospects offered by the orthodox defense to the Queen's Gambit. The Nimzo Indian has become the most important opening in modern chess theory, and must be studied carefully by anyone entering present-day tournament competition.

There are many variations of this opening but today we shall see the Saemisch variation.

...Bb4 is the key move of the opening, which is aggressive in spirit throughout. Black has visions of further harassing the pinned White Knight by ...c5 followed by ...Qa5 and ...Ne4.

Conclusion: Black has freed his Light squared Bishop and prevented the formation of a strong enemy Pawn center. White can retain the powerful Bishop-pair and some hope of starting a King side Pawn advance after getting his King into safety. Black will take possesion of the e-file with his Rooks to restrain the enemy King Pawn, and will aim the weak square c4 by Be6 and Nb6-c4. White's A Pawn is weak, and Black may also be able to force passed Pawn on the Queen side by eventually advancing his B pawn and A Pawn.