The Nimzovich Defense [B00] by Abby Marshall The Nimzovich Defense, 1.e4 Nc6, is the subject of this month's column. It bears a strong resemblance to the themes of the Chigorin Defense 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 even though the former is a king-pawn opening. Besides the obvious early ...Nc6, the two openings also have cramped space, pawn pushes like ...e5 in the center, and concede the bishop-pair to take advantage of a lead in development in common. 1.e4 Nc6 In April 2013 I covered a similar offbeat system, 1...b6, from White's perspective. 2.d4 This is the most natural, but actually gives Black a couple of interesting choices. To cut down on Black's options, it might be better to … [Read more...]