When you combine strong research with an author’s ability to explain what is happening in key variations, then sprinkle in strong production values, you end up with an outstanding book on a key line in modern chess theory. As a practitioner of the defense in question, I can only say, “thank you.”

The Nimzo-Indian after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 has always been a key choice for black, and through the years 4.e3 has been a stable alternative for the white player. While other variations, such as the Classical 4.Qc2 have had their moments, strategic players generally return to this simple pawn move when seeking a method to play against the Nimzo-Indian Defense. White players are drawn to the advantages of a strong pawn center and the two bishops without losing time on more esoteric developments. As a result, the positions offer dynamic chances for both sides.

Lately, only Gambit Publications has been consistently willing to write books that seriously catalogue and expand the state of chess opening theory. This is an outstanding example of that process.

I’ve been a Nimzo-Indian practitioner for most of my chess career, and it’s amazing how few really good books have been written about this resilient, fighting defense. On this specific set-up, the best recent book in terms of analysis was IM Leon Pfliester’s RUBINSTEIN COMPLEX of the NIMZO-INDIAN DEFENSE, a 1995 Chess Enterprises book. Unfortunately, the layout and organization of the book make it very difficult to work with. The analysis and assessments are often very good in that former work – in fact Hansen often cites it – but it’s really hard to recommend a book when you’re constantly confused by its ordering conventions and feel like your drowning in the variations because of the way they are laid out.

Fortunately, Hansen excels at the analysis and Gambit provides its usual strong production work. On the analytic front, I found several places where the author was willing to challenge present theory – this is not simply a data-dump. On the organizational front, the material is split into chapters that are small enough to understand and digest, and the presentation is concise and to the point.

The author also tailors some of comments to the average player. For example, Hansen suggests that one reason the main line in this variation, reached after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 d5 6.Nf3 c5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 dxc4 10.Bxc4, Qc7 is not as popular for black is the fact that white has lots of choices that force black to learn a lot of variations. I reached a similar conclusion several years ago and took up some of black’s alternatives to this “main line.” In fact, that is probably why many of them are so popular today.

As with most Gambit opening surveys, the book examines all lines after 4.e3, and it isn’t written for either white or black. It uses the tree method of discussing variations (as opposed to the illustrative game method), and I think this has been proven over time to be the better method for serious opening study.

The book starts with a short introduction that explains the author’s interest in this variation and some general background. He also provides some useful guidance on variations that have a higher “degree of difficulty” than others do. This is the sort of practical information that can help guide the study and choice of variations for the average player.

After 4.e3, there are various ways that black can proceed, and many of the variations after 4…0-0, 4…c5, 4…d5, 4…b6 and even 4…Nc6 can transpose. This makes it a little difficult for the author to order the variations, and it can sometimes be difficult to maintain a flow in the analysis between chapters, and perhaps some thought here could have improved the presentation. For example, there are several variations that lead to isolated queen pawn structures for white and grouping them and providing some general overview on these structures could have been useful. Likewise, there are black variations that involve black having a queenside pawn majority and a locked center where white tries to counter with a central pawn roller and kingside attack before black rolls through on the queenside. The strategic connection between these variations could have been better accentuated.

The book is split into two parts; the first deals with lines after 4…0-0, and the second deals with the other black fourth moves. Most of the black fourth moves can transpose, so this split doesn’t necessarily make the material easier to follow.

While the book covers 18 variations, there are five that make up more than half of the pages of analysis. These five start with the Parma variation and related systems after 4…0-0 5.Nf3 d5 6.Bd3 c5 7.0-0 dxc4 Bxc4 where black plays 8…Qe7, 8…Bd7, or 8…Nbd7, with the final choice getting most of the coverage. Next of the “big 5” is the “Main variation” after 7…Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 dxc4 10.Bxc4 Qc7. As the author notes, this is a difficult variation strategically and provides white a lot of choices for ways to proceed – perhaps a reason that black players have looked to alternatives of late. The other three major lines are found in part two of the book. They start with the “Fischer variation” and related systems. These commence after 4…b6 5.Ne2 and involve white trying to maintain his pawn structure. This is the book’s largest chapter at 48 pages, which is understandable. White’s slow development gives black several viable methods of play, especially 5…c5, 5…Bb7, 5…Ba6, and 5…Ne4.

The book’s second largest chapter is devoted to the lines where White chooses a set-up that involves Bd3 and Nge2, with certain exceptions. This, chapter 16, makes up 33 pages. This is one of those lines that has grown in popularity of late as white tries different, more flexible piece set-ups. The final major variation (coverage-wise) is, interesting, the Rubinstein variation in the Rubinstein variation. This comes about after 4…c5 5.Ne2. It is interesting to note that three of the five chapters with the greatest amount of coverage, page-wise, involve white set-ups with Nge2.

I was a bit surprised that the Hubner variation (4…c5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bxc3 7.bxc3 d6) only merited 12 pages of coverage. In many respects, it was the development of this system for black that spurred the popularity of white systems based on Ne2, not allowing black the easy structural play afforded by the doubled pawns and locked pawn structure found in this variation.

Chapter summaries are also a useful feature, but they are not included in this book. While an author shouldn’t be expected to regurgitate all the relevant points from a chapter’s analysis, the typical reader can benefit from an accent on the key unresolved lines, the new ideas that are driving latest theory, or those lines where the evaluations are well settled. This is the sort of guidance most players need from their authors – often more so than the latest hot theory.

Lest these comments be misconstrued, make no mistake that this is truly the best reference on this variation, and practitioners from both sides will find it useful. At the same time, the book has its idiosyncrasies. For example, the author spends a lot of time documenting the name of the variation and whether the author was rightly credited. While this is an interesting subject for discussion, I doubt it rises to the level of importance the author attaches to it.

As noted previously, the book benefits from Gambit’s no-nonsense approach to serious opening books. The analysis is presented in an unbiased fashion without major coverage gaps that can crop up in “repertoire” books. There is a useful 5-page index of variations at the back of the book, the paper is good, the diagrams clear, and the typos pretty much non-existent.

In conclusion, this is a well-executed synthesis of one of the cornerstones of chess opening praxis. The author should be credited for navigating through countless transpositions and structures to create a generally understandable structure and useful commentary to this very large and complicated opening beast. While many could have benefited from more background on the opening itself and summary of the analysis and less on how it was named, there can be no doubt about the overall merit of this effort. This is the sort of opening book that a variation of this magnitude deserves.

Click to see Donaldson’s and Silman’s reviews of this book.