The Nimzo-Indian/Queen’s Indian complex has an important place in the repertoires of all the finest players in the world, past and present. While searching for a good answer to 1.d4, nobody can deny that the Nimzo-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) is sound, solid, and rich with deep strategic and tactical ideas. In fact, the Nimzo-Indian is such a reliable weapon that many players choose to avoid it after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 by playing either 3.g3 or 3.Nf3. The attempt to reach a Catalan by 3.g3 has a flaw though, since Black can answer with 3…c5 (instead of 3…d5, which would indeed be a Catalan). Then White must acquiesce to either a transposition into the English (4.Nf3 cxd4) or another transposition to a line of the Modern Benoni (4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6) where Black shouldn’t have any trouble securing equal chances.

Due to this, the most common way to sidestep the Nimzo-Indian is 3.Nf3, when 3…b6 (Starting an immediate fight for the e4-square since White’s Knight on f3 has stopped e4-controlling f2-f3 possibilities.) followed by …Bb7 is known as the Queen’s Indian Defense.

The Queen’s Indian is tremendously popular and gives both sides many opportunities to create unbalanced, interesting positions. It’s surprising, then, that there are so few good books on the subject. Ribli & Kallai wrote WINNING WITH THE QUEEN’S INDIAN in 1987, Mikhail Gurevich penned QUEEN’S INDIAN DEFENCE: Kasparov System in 1991, and Efim Geller came out with an English translation of THE COMPLETE QUEEN’S INDIAN (originally in Russian) in 1992, but now all of these are hopelessly outdated. Recently (2002), Jacob Aagaard’s QUEEN’S INDIAN DEFENCE appeared (click to see Silman’s and Donaldson’s reviews of that book), but trying to squeeze the theory of such a huge system into just 144 pages is a hopeless task.

Now Gambit publishing, well known for their books featuring detailed opening analysis, has come out with THE QUEEN’S INDIAN (by Finnish Grandmaster Jouni Yrjola and Finnish International Master Jussi Tella), 288 pages of pure QID heaven. Every QID line is covered in fine detail: The Miles Variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 b6 4.Bf4), quiet lines with 4.e3, sharp systems featuring 4.Nc3 Bb7 5.Bg5, various Nimzo Hybrids (4.Nc3 Bb4. 5.Qb3 or 5.Bg5), the Petrosian Variation (4.a3), the old main line (4.g3 Bb7), and 69 pages of analysis on the modern 4.g3 Ba6.

Truthfully, anyone could toss together a database dump on all these variations. But the authors of THE QUEEN’S INDIAN went out of their way to carefully cull extraneous material (Otherwise they could easily end up with a 1000 page tome!) and even add their own analysis and/or assessments when they deemed it necessary.

What makes this book so good, though, is not the analysis (Though it’s very well thought out and checked with great care.), nor the production value (Great production is typical of Gambit books.), nor the vacuum on this subject that they have so ably filled. What impressed me was the effort they made in giving the reader a strategic introduction, detailed discussions of a line’s ideas at the beginning of every chapter, a beautifully blended mix of well written prose and analysis, and concluding thoughts at the end of every chapter.

If you play either side of this fascinating opening then THE QUEEN’S INDIAN by Yrjola and Jussi is a MUST buy. It is by far the best book ever written on the QID, it’s filled with instructive information, and the theory is completely up to date. The discussion of common plans and ideas make it suitable for players as low as 1600, while even professionals will find the excellent analysis and clarity of presentation useful.

Forgive me for now going off on a tangent. Though I no longer play serious chess, I do lecture and give simultaneous exhibitions. It was at a recent simul that I had an interesting Queen’s Indian adventure. I was playing about twenty-five children, but my one adult opponent was a young woman who was teaching many of them, even though she was more or less a beginner herself. I began my rounds, not expecting to have a problem with anyone. When I got to the woman, I bashed out 1.d4 and, after a few revolutions, we arrived at a popular line in the Petrosian Variation of the QID: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.cxd5 Nxd5. Sitting next to her was the lead instructor, who was enjoying a game of solitaire on his computer (Ah, the countless hours I’ve wasted on that cursed solitaire card game!). I stopped for a moment, a bit shocked that she had made it this far into mainstream theory. Deciding that the gentleman next to her might be giving her advice (he was about 1900), I played 7.Qa4+ with the idea that he most likely wouldn’t be up on the theory of this interesting sideline. After 7…Nd7 8.Bg5 (I usually play 8.Bd2 here, but I decided to try something different.) 8…Nxc3! (Avoiding 8…Be7 9.Bxe7 Qxe7 10.Rc1.) 9.bxc3 Be7 10.Bxe7 Qxe7 I dashed off 11.Ne5, thinking that it would make castling difficult. The poor girl was clearly confused and I was sure that neither she nor the other instructor (if indeed he was helping) would be able to deal with this position. This suspicion that a quick collapse was imminent was verified when Black, after taking a “pass” so she could have more thinking time, defended the Knight with her Rook via 11…Rd8. “Ah,” I thought, “a blunder. She was focusing so hard on the d7-Knight that she simply forgot that her move would hang a pawn.” Sure of victory, I ate the pawn by 12.Qxa7 and then rushed off to deal with the other games still in progress.

BLACK TO MOVE AND CAUSE TERROR

I had expected something like 12…Nxe5 13.Qxb7 with a clear advantage for White, so when I eventually returned to the board I couldn’t understand the position in front of me. I stared for a few seconds, trying to figure out what had transpired, and then it dawned on me that she had played the shocking 12…Nc5!!. The immediate threat is 13…Ra8, trapping my Queen, but isn’t the Knight on c5 hanging? As it turns out, the answer is “no.” As the reality of taking the c5-Knight crashed down on me, the herd of children began to scream and play catch with the pieces on my other boards. The shock of my upcoming dismemberment turned my brain to mush, and after the further 13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.Rc1 Qxe5 15.Qxb7 Qd6 I was busted and eventually lost.

After disposing of all my other opponents, I returned to my one defeat and congratulated my beaming conqueror. It was only then that the other teacher admitted that he had Fritz running “behind” the card game, and I had been playing good old Fritzy without knowing it! A “funny” trick, but the enjoyment I got from running head first into 12…Nc5 made the defeat completely acceptable.

Click to see Bauer's review of this book.

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