Nimzowitsch Larsen Attack
Once Nimzowitsch played 1 b3 and during the last decade Larsen, Ljubojevic, Andersson and even Fischer have played it from time to time.
White fianchettoes his QB before he moves his central pawns. He allows his opponent to create the central pawn formation of his choice and then tries to undermine it. To understand how dangerous this seemingly unpretentious method can be we shall have a look at an old game, played in Baden-Baden 1925 between Nimzowitsch and Roselli del Turco: 1 b3 d5 2 £)f3 c5 3 e3 £>c6 4 £b2 5 h3 ,&xf3 6 #xf3 e5 7 £jt>5 8 e4 d49 &a3f6 10 ,|}c4 %dl 11 #h5+ g6 12 #f3 #c7 13 #g4&f7 14f4h5 15#f3efl6Axc6bc 170-0g5 18c3 gd8 19 gael £)e7 20e5£>f521cd &xd4 22 #e4 ,Q,e7 23 h4 #d7 24 ef AxfB 25 hg 1-0. After a couple of weak moves the fianchettoed bishop becomes a devastating weapon.
The best reply to 1 b3 is 1 ... e5, closing the diagonal at once. We recommend it and we shall learn it on the basis of a number of good games.
Larsen-Spassky USSR-World 1970 1 b3 e5 2 jy>2 £)c6. This is a very good method to tame White's dragon. 3 c4. We shall see 3 e3 in another game. The text prevents Black building up a full pawn centre. 3 ... 4 4->*3- Not accurate. 4 e3 is better. 4 ... e4 5 <?>14 _£_c5 6 £)xc6. Even now e3 is better. € ... dc 7 e3 White has weakened d3 and already has the worse of it. 8 £e2 #e7 9 #c2. Damjanovic Marovic, 1974, con tinued 9 a3 a5 10 JJ.c3 h5 11 #c2 but after 11 ... gh6 White was strategically lost. 9 •.. 0-0-010 f4. 10 h3 and 4^c3 is preferable. The text weakens the position. 10 ... £>g4 11 g3 h5 12 h3 (51). Giving Spassky a chance to win brilliantly. 12 ... h4. Since White is playing without his whole queen's wing, you can always decide upon such a sacrifice confidently: it simply must work. 13 hg hg 14 ggl. And another amusing variation: 14 gxh8 gxh8 15.&fl #h416.flg2
m1m lift
#hl + I7.fl.xhl gxhl + 18®e2 Jt,xg4 mate. 14... ghl. White is helpless. In such positions everything works. 15 gxhl g2 16 gfl. Or 16 ggl #h4+ followed by. . . #f2 etc. 16 ... #h4+ 17 <g>dl gf#+ 0-1.
Cvetkovic -Marovic Yugoslav Championship 1972 1 b3e52 Jjb2 £>c63c4^f64e3
d5. There are no good reasons for passive play. 5 cd ¿£}xd5 6 a3. On 6 Jlb5 Black answers 6 . . . £}db4 and 7 Axe5 loses to 7 . . . #d5 8 j|xc6+ #xc6. This explains the text. 6 ... &d6 7 #c2 0-0 8 3 #e7 9 d3 f5. Black has taken the initiative at an early stage. His pieces are actively posted and he is more powerful in the centre. 10 i|e2 tgphS. This may be useful, as we shall see later on. 11 £}bd2 Jld7 12 0-0 gae8 13 #c4. This is not good, but White did not see the quiet reply. 13 ... a6. A useful move in itself and especially when it maintains the black knight in the centre. 14 gfdl (52). This leads to a very difficult position. No wonder that White commits an error in a cramped position without plan.
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