The ambition of many chess players at various levels is to build a full and reliable repertoire against White’s major starting moves. This book is designed to provide exactly that: a complete list of variations needed to know in order to confidently meet 1. d4. The goal is to lift the burden of line selection and research off your shoulders and show you exactly what you need to know to get out of the 1. d4 openings at least equal with the black pieces.
I base the repertoire on the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian Defenses. The spirit of Indian Defenses is based on flexibility and harmony. As you will notice during the course of reading the book, the lines recommended here rarely end with huge imbalances or clear weaknesses for Black. Quite often White will get the bishop pair but will have to suffer pawn weaknesses or Black’s greater piece activity in return. Most of the lines are positional, not tactical in character. That means that stepping out of the path outlined in the book should not get you in too much trouble, as long as your moves have solid positional foundations. While playing Black, you have to accept that occasionally you will not equalize, or get surprised or out-prepared.
Learning the material from this book should sharply limit the extent of such instances, thus improving your overall results. Finally, I have an important piece of advice: remember about color strategy! The Bogo-Indian is mainly based on dark-squared control, while the Nimzo-Indian does so on the light squares. In case you forget what to do, this may prove a very useful guideline when choosing a move.
I wish you pleasant reading and great results against 1. d4!
Lukasz Jarmula,
Warsaw, 2022
Content
005 Key to Symbols
007 Introduction
009 PART I - The Bogo-Indian
011 Chapter 1 - Bogo-Indian with Bd2
029 Chapter 2 - Bogo-Indian with Nd2
049 PART II - The Nimzo-Indian
051 Chapter 3 - 4.Qc2
069 Chapter 4 - 4.e3
085 Chapter 5 - 4.Nf3
101 Chapter 6 - 4.f3
115 Chapter 7 - Other Sidelines
131 PART III - Other Systems After 1.d4 Nf6
133 Chapter 8 - 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3
143 Chapter 9 - 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3
155 Chapter 10 - London System
169 Chapter 11 - Trompowsky, Jobava and Torre Attacks
191 PART IV - Analyzed Games
I base the repertoire on the Nimzo-Indian and Bogo-Indian Defenses. The spirit of Indian Defenses is based on flexibility and harmony. As you will notice during the course of reading the book, the lines recommended here rarely end with huge imbalances or clear weaknesses for Black. Quite often White will get the bishop pair but will have to suffer pawn weaknesses or Black’s greater piece activity in return. Most of the lines are positional, not tactical in character. That means that stepping out of the path outlined in the book should not get you in too much trouble, as long as your moves have solid positional foundations. While playing Black, you have to accept that occasionally you will not equalize, or get surprised or out-prepared.
Learning the material from this book should sharply limit the extent of such instances, thus improving your overall results. Finally, I have an important piece of advice: remember about color strategy! The Bogo-Indian is mainly based on dark-squared control, while the Nimzo-Indian does so on the light squares. In case you forget what to do, this may prove a very useful guideline when choosing a move.
I wish you pleasant reading and great results against 1. d4!
Lukasz Jarmula,
Warsaw, 2022
Content
005 Key to Symbols
007 Introduction
009 PART I - The Bogo-Indian
011 Chapter 1 - Bogo-Indian with Bd2
029 Chapter 2 - Bogo-Indian with Nd2
049 PART II - The Nimzo-Indian
051 Chapter 3 - 4.Qc2
069 Chapter 4 - 4.e3
085 Chapter 5 - 4.Nf3
101 Chapter 6 - 4.f3
115 Chapter 7 - Other Sidelines
131 PART III - Other Systems After 1.d4 Nf6
133 Chapter 8 - 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3
143 Chapter 9 - 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3
155 Chapter 10 - London System
169 Chapter 11 - Trompowsky, Jobava and Torre Attacks
191 PART IV - Analyzed Games