Chess Opening Theory/1. b3/1...e5

Modern variation A01 Nimzowitsch-Larsen attack 1...e5 · Modern variation By beginning with 1. b3, White allowed Black to take the centre with 1...e5. This is the most popular and ambitious continuation for Black. Some are dismissive of the 1. b3 move order because of this reply: White is left playing an Owen's Defence with colours reversed, "and not even an extra tempo can make that fully respectable."Schiller Eric 1998 Unorthodox Chess Openings New York Cardoza Publishing 0 940685 73 6 1st 304-306 For this reason, Nimzowitsch preferredNimzowitsch opening collection, chessgames.com the move order 1. Nf3 (preventing e5) d5 2. b3. On the other hand, by not playing Nf3 yet, White retains the option of f4 to contest e5 later. Having already prepared to fianchetto with 1. b3, White's continuation is invariably 2. Bb2. 2...Nc6, to defend the e5 pawn, follows, though the timid 2...d6 is occasionally tried. White may then play 3. c4 to prevent 3...d5, but normally, White is happy to allow Black to take over the centre with both e5 and d5, planning to later attack it with the flank c and f pawns. Instead, the typical Nimzo-Larsen plan is to continue with the more patient 3. e3, opening up their other bishop.Jacobs Byron Tait Jonathan 2001 Nimzo-Larsen attack London Everyman Publishers plc 1 85744 286 5 1st Theory table 1.b3 e5 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, Modern Variation Bb2Nc6 c4Nf6 e3d5 cxd5Nxd5 a3Bd6 Qc20-0 Nf3Qe7 Nc3Nxc3=Kasparov Gary Keene Raymond 1986 First published 1982 Batsford Chess Openings London B.T.Batsford Ltd. 0 7134 2114 2 4th Ch. 3 ...... e3g6 f4Bg7 Nf3d6 Bb5Bd7 0-0Nf6 fxe5dxe5 Ng50-0 ∞ Ch. 2 ...... ...Nf6 Bb5d6 Ne2Bd7 0-0a6 Bxc6Bxc6 d4Qe7 c4g6 = ...... ...d5 Bb5Bd6 Ch. 1 References External links A01: Nimzovich-Larsen attack, modern variation Nimzowitsch–Larsen Attack