The Nimzo-Indian Defence has been one of the most trusted defences against 1.d4 ever since its conception a century ago. It has been used in World Championship matches by Fischer, Karpov, Kasparov, Kramnik, Anand and Carlsen.

The Nimzo-Indian combines fast development with a solid pawn structure and great flexibility, which is why champions with such varied styles all gravitated towards it. This book supplies an elite repertoire built upon positional principles, offering active piece play and a fight for the initiative.

Grandmaster Michael Roiz has represented Israel many times. As well as his numerous tournament victories, he is an Olympiad Silver Medallist and has been ranked in the world’s top 40. In recent years he has focused more on seconding, helping elite grandmasters in top tournaments, the Candidates and even a World Championship match.

My madness for chess started in 1989, when as a six-year-old kid I saw my father playing with my uncle. Back then, I could see chess in almost everything, and I started to collect and explore every chess book I could find. Those were tough times in the Soviet Union and it was not easy to get good chess books, but my parents did their best to support my hobby. So in 1990 I was lucky enough to have plenty of books at my disposal, including David Bronstein’s tournament book about the Zurich 1953 Candidates. There were many spectacular games in this book, but I was especially impressed by the Geller – Euwe encounter, where the former World Champion played the Nimzo-Indian and scored a memorable victory in counterattacking style, using the exciting motif of a rook sacrifice. The influence of this game was so significant that for the next ten years I avoided getting doubled c-pawns in my games!

When I look back on my childhood career, I can understand why I did not play 3.¤c3 with White and allow the Nimzo-Indian – it is one of most complex openings from a strategic point of view, and the arising positions are sometimes tough to handle, even for grandmasters, so it would be impossible for a young child. Even after many years of playing the Nimzo-Indian with both colours, and analysing various systems with top players (including preparing for the Anand – Gelfand World Championship match in 2012, where the Nimzo played an important role) I still fail to evaluate some positions properly, and so does the engine!

So when Quality Chess asked me to write a book on this opening, focusing on Black’s side, I found this project very challenging and this appealed to me. Indeed, White has a large choice of possibilities even on the 4th move – therefore, a thorough evaluation of all the possible responses for Black is difficult to say the least.

The concept of this book is to enable players to feel knowledgeable enough in any system they may encounter when playing the Nimzo-Indian. So I offer a complete repertoire for Black after 3...¥b4. I feel I have succeeded in improving my own understanding of the Nimzo-Indian, and I hope to share this knowledge with the reader. Best of luck in your journey with the Nimzo-Indian.
Michael Roiz Beer Sheva, December 2016