What's New (July 2004 update)
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Hi Everyone! This month we take a look at games in the Nimzo Indian, Modern Benoni, Weird Benoni and Queen's Indian from tournaments that have taken place in the past month.Remember, if you have any opinions, ideas or questions, please either make yourself heard at the Forum (the link above on the right) or subscribers can email me at JohnEmms@ChessPublishing.com.
To download the July '04 Nimzo and Benoni games directly in PGN form, click here: 
Nimzo Indian Classical Variation (4 Qc2)
We begin this month with an ultra-sharp and incredibly theoretical line in the 4 Qc2 Nimzo. The game Lautier - Zhang Zhong, Taiyuan 2004 runs 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 d5 5 a3 Bxc3+ 6 Qxc3 Ne4 7 Qc2 c5 8 dxc5 Nc6 9 cxd5 exd5 10 Nf3 Bf5 11 b4 0-0 12 Bb2 (see the game for the notes to these initial moves)
            
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and here Black played the 'fairly new' 12...Re8!? (the main theoretical move here has been 12...b6 - see Rogers-Ward, England 1997 in ChessPub [ECO code e37]). Black reaches a reasonable position, so this may well be another playable line for Black.
Nimzo-Indian 4 e3 b6
Harikrishna - Ivanchuk, FIDE World Championship, Tripoli 2004 starts 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 b6 5 Nf3 Ne4! 6 Qc2 Bb7 7 Bd3 f5
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This is a line that has always appealed to me from Black's point of view - he plays very much in the traditional Nimzo-Indian way by controlling the centre with pieces more than pawns.
Here Harikrishna played 8 Nd2!?, an unusual move, but I suspect it's nothing to write home about and Ivanchuk soon gets a very good position. The normal way is 8 0-0 Bxc3 9 bxc3 0-0 - see Rabinovich-Alekhine, USSR 1920 in ChessPub (ECO code E43).
Nimzo-Indian Rubinstein Main Line
In the game Bryson - Stevenson, Scottish Championship, Hamilton 2004 we come across a line we've already seen many times on this website: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Nf3 d5 6 Bd3 c5 7 0-0 dxc4 8 Bxc4 cxd4 9 exd4 b6
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Here Bryson plays the line 10 Bg5 Bb7 11 Ne5!?, after which the position can become critical early on (other moves that we've looked at include 11 Re1 and 11 Rc1). In this game Black grabs a pawn, but doesn't find the right line and soon ends up in a hopeless position.
Nimzo-Indian Sämisch Variation
In the game Zaiatz - Kovalevskaya, Kazan 2004 White tries a little-played but interesting pawn sacrifice in the Sämisch: 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 0-0 5 Bd3 c5 6 a3 (the move a2-a3 can be played as early as move 4, but by delaying it a couple of moves White prevents some of Black's options) 6...Bxc3+ 7 bxc3 Nc6 8 e4!?
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Normally, of course, White plays 8 Ne2 in order to support the d4-pawn before playing e3-e4 (see, for example, N.Pedersen-Schandorff, Horsens 2003 in ChessPub - ECO code E29).
Modern Benoni Fianchetto Variation
White often plays the g3 variation against the Benoni in search of a quiet positional game, but ironically more often than not play becomes very tactical. D'Costa-Stellwagen, Amsterdam 2004 begins 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6 4 Nc3 exd5 5 cxd5 d6 6 Nf3 g6 7 g3Bg7 8 Bg2 0-0 9 0-0 a6 10 a4 Re8 11 Nd2 Nbd7
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and here the promising junior from England played the 'quiet' 12 Nc4 Ne5 13 Nxe5. Following 13...Rxe5 14 Bf4 Stellwagen spiced things up with 14...Rh5?! (the normal move is 14...Re8) and won a nice game, but I remain unconvinced by this rook move (although I do admit I've played the same thing in a similar position!).
The main line is the very sharp 12 h3, which we've seen many times before on this website. Check out, for example, Van Wely-Timman, Wijk aan Zee 2002 in ChessPub (ECO code A64).
Weird Benoni
A clever way to avoid both the Nimzo-Indian and the Queen's Indian as White (apart from playing 1 e4!) is with 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3!?
Of course White now has to be prepared to play a Catalan (after 3...d5), a g3 Benoni, or what happened in the game Tishin - Alexandrova, Alushta 2004: 3...c5 4 d5 exd5 5 cxd5 b5!?
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Instead of settling for a g3 Benoni, Black exploits the fact that White's knight is not yet on c3 to play this advance, gaining vital space on the queenside. Following 6 Bg2 d6 one of the critical tests of Black's idea is the pawn sacrifice 7 b4!?, but Kasparov breathed new life into this line for Black by declining with 7...Nbd7, although he did miss winning a piece on move 10! (see the game Kasimdzhanov-Kasparov, Batumi 2001). In our main game White tried 7 a4 but comes out of the opening with less than nothing and Black goes on to win very smoothly.
Queen's Indian 4 g3
Finally this month, it's a quiz question. The game Motrenko - Omelia, Kyiv 2004 began 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 g3 b6 4 Bg2 Bb7 5 0-0 Be7 6 d4 0-0 7 b3 c5 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 Bb2 d5 10 Qc2 dxc4 11 Ng5. The question is 'what happened next?' Click on the game to find out!
Until next time,
John Emms