Nimzo-Larsen Attack by IM Byron Jacobs and former British Correspondence Champion Jonathan Tait is the first truly comprehensive look at 1.b3 since Raymond Keene's seminal work for Batsford in 1977. The Everyman format of using model games to organize the material works very well for this opening where White's aim is not a theoretical knockout but to outplay the opponent by understanding the fundamental ideas better. The authors honestly point out that you can't expect to get an advantage from the opening with sensible play by Black after 1.b3. However, you can learn a lot about the many typical rich middle games that do arise from this seemingly unpretentious opening.

Though the names of Nimzovitch and Larsen are closely identified with this opening, today it's great adherent is Czech GM Pavel Blatny who is featured in no less than five of the 69 model games. Blatny routinely beats GM and IM oppositions through a superior middle game knowledge in this highly transpositional opening which can easily head into a King's Indian, Queen's Indian, English or Reverse Sicilian. The Nimzo-Larsen Attack is very well researched and in fact includes a two page bibliography. One thing I learned was that the currently very trendy 1.b3 e5 2.Bb2 Nc6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6 was actually played back in 1859 (!) by Anderssen against Suhle.

The Nimzo-Larsen Attack can be heartily recommended to all those who have an interest in 1.b3.

YOU CAN FIND THIS BOOK AT