The full game can be seen at M5 but here I want to concentrate on the opening.
Nimzo-Indian
The game began 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2!?
Bd2 has become fashionable, although often not quite so early, and there are 5,992 examples of the text in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database.
Black has an almost completely free hand in replying - even 4...Bxc3!? has been played 227 times - but the game saw 4...d5.
It continued along the 4.Bd2!? mainline with 5.e3 0-0 6.Nf3, reaching a position occurring 2,400 times in Mega22.
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| How should Black proceed? |
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Commonest is 6...b6, followed by 6...c5 and 6...Nbd7, but my opponent played the unusual - for a Nimzo-Indian - 6...c6!?, reaching a position more normally arising from a Semi-Slav.
Anatoly Karpov is among those who have continued 7.Qc2, but most popular is 7.Bd3, which is preferred by Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02.
I played 7.Rc1, which has also been tried by strong players.
The game continued 7...Nbd7, which is the most popular continuation in Mega22 and is also the choice of the engines, and now I played what is probably a fundamental mistake.
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| How should White proceed? |
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8.a3?!
Black's obvious plan, after playing ...c6, is to go for the pawn-break ...e5. The text, by giving Black a tempo to reposition the dark-square bishop to d6, makes this plan even stronger.
Indeed the game continued 8...Bd6 9.Bd3 Re8 10.0-0 e5, after which Black has a good game - one that is easier to play than White's.
An improvement should be found at move eight, and the most popular choice in Mega22 is the engine-approved 8.Bd3.
The engines reckon the best reply to this is 8...Bd6!?, supporting the idea that my eighth move was a waste of time.
The resulting position occurs 51 times in Mega22 - most of them with Black to move, thanks to the tempo lost by the manoeuvre ...Bf8-b4-d6.
When the position is reached with White to move, the commonest continuation is 9.0-0, after which the natural-looking 9...e5?! runs into 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Nb5 Bb8 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5, when White's lead in development after 14.Bc3 looks useful.
Black has tried preparing ...e5 with 9...Re8, but White can strike first with 10.e4, and is probably slightly better.
In practice Black has usually continued prepared ...e5 by 9...dxc4 10.Bxc4, and then 10...e5, after which the engines reckon best is 11.Qc2.
The most recent game to reach this position in Mega22 is Fy Antenaina Rakotomaharo (2430) - Christian Bauer (2630), Cappelle-la-Grande Rapid 2020, which continued 11...exd4 12.exd4 Nb6 13.Bb3 Nbd5 14.Bg5!? Be6 15.cxd5 cxd5, when White's lead in development and more-active pieces gave a slight edge (½–½, 52 moves).
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