A Nimzowitsch problem

I'm a big fan of the Nimzowitsch defense against 1. e4, but I often find my opponents decline the defense entirely. I don't want to play e5 and go into a classical game, but there seems like no other "good" options. Any ideas of what to do?

Maybe try a Hippo-type setup: 1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 with the idea of Black following up with g6 and Bg7 (and possibly even b6 and Bb7, depending on what White does) at some later point.  These kinds of positions are slightly better for White, but quite resilient for Black and probably playable at any level.

soundest choice outside of 2...e5 is to play d6 and play it like a nimzo-pirc.  Schuyler advocates quite convincingly for this in "the dark knight system" book. Its actually quite impressive how many  strong players, including Carlsen are willing to enter these lines. 

Do not try to play d6 the old fashioned way, (With d6, nf6 bg4, e6, d5). This line has sadly been refuted by the engines. 

the colorado gambit2...f5  is just bad. forget about it.

2...nf6 and trying to play it a la El columpio is also dubious and your pawn structure gets wrecked. Not reliable at all but its at least more sound than the colorado.

2...e6 is borderline. After 3.d4 d5 4.e5. black has an early nc6 french where white can put a pawn on c3 instead of nc3, but this is worse for black in attempting to decramp this congested position. Blacks best try is prob, to play early f6, bd7, qe7 and 0-0-0. Its playable but i dont find it fully reliable. 

2...d5 if white knows what he is doing is not sound. White should avoid transposing to scandinavian sideline and instead play for pressure on c6, via nf3 bb5 0-0 and ne5.

2...g6 doesnt confer any real advantage to the 2...d6 nimzo-pirc move order. You are just giving white more choices.

You should  also consider playing 2...e5 and if you dont want the bore-fest of the ruy lopez, learn to play the interesting sidelines, like the cozio defense 3....nge7, or the steitnitz 3...d6 (or with 3....a6 first if you dont the exchange). or even the bird 3...nd4!?). You will need too find an acceptable sideline agaisnt the italian and the scotch game though (i recommend exd4 qf6!?)

thank you! this is super helpful. 

More Powerful King?! ??

e4 Nc6 

Nf3 Nf6!

Which is basically bad for black with best play but there’s still a lot of chess to be played.

wdym?

man's been spamming that across all the forums don't mind him

One last line i forgot to mention is 2...d6 with 3.nf6 4.bg4 but with the intent of playing e5 instead of e6-d5. The lines are somewhat unexplored . black often goes for a ne7-ng6 manuever with bishops often on e7 and d7. Counterplay usually comes from c6 or ne8 with ideas of both f5 and bg5 trading off the "bad" bishop. 

2.Nf3 is the reason I gave up playing the Nimzowitsch. 1.e4 is virtually the only move that I don't respond to with 1...Nc6. At my level declining the Nimzo is the most common move and none of black's options on move 2 impress me. When I do face this through transposition (1.Nf3 Nc6 2.e4) I usually play either 2...Nf6 or 2...d5 which are not great objectively, but the problem is that even logical common moves from white are enough for a large edge, especially in the El Columpio swing lines after 2...Nf6 (Ng8-f6-g4-h6) they just don't really set many practical problems for white unfortunately.

In contrast, 1.d4 Nc6 2.Nf3 gives me the option of 2...Nf6, which leads to positions I enjoy which (to the best of my knowledge) are sound enough.

2.d3 is another annoying way to dodge the Nimzowitsch, those Philidor setups are among my least favourite positions to play against, so playing them in reverse where white has an extra tempo is relatively unpleasant.

you should rejoice when you see something as milquetoast as 2.d3.  Not only does 2.e5 already give black a position thats equal on the "feather bit better" side , but if black still wants to play a funky nimzowitschian position he can play 2.d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.nc3 and both qd6 or qd8 is enough for dynamic equality.

if white plays an old indian defense a move up, black is already a little better by playing for a big center. That's just chess. Sometimes, you should just play for the small advantage as black even if its not your style.

Hope this helps!

I believe the 2...d5 line vs 2.Nf3 is unsound because of Bb5 somewhere, but I forgot where.

Pls provide analyses if you think that a Bb5 "somewhere" can refute black's second move. Hell, you can't even 100% refute 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b6.

It’s literally in post #5 but ok

Where? I don't see it.

White is much, much better after simple moves like this. If you have any other ideas for black (maybe 4...Qd6 is more accurate?) I'd like to see them.