Gambit is the publisher that most consistently produces new books of the complete type, and I will characterize a few with an eye on the issues above. Since reading more than a couple of these books thoroughly can only be achieved by people who don’t have jobs, I should warn the reader that mine are sometimes superficial judgments and they shouldn’t determine whether you need the book in order to (for example) improve your own repertoire. If nothing else I want to draw the reader’s attention to these books’ existence, as I have tried to do for all publishers recently.

THE NIMZO-INDIAN 4.e3 by Carsten Hansen is a very large volume and difficult to characterize. I believe (along with just about every top player, it seems) that the Nimzo is the solidest of the d-pawn defenses that also tends to produce genuine chances for Black, even in the games top players. The popularity of 4.e3 (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4) is partially due to the fact that White immediately announces his intention to play solidly, develop naturally, and thus take fewer chances than in lines such as 4.Bg5, 4.Nf3 and 5.Bg5 or 5.g3, 4.a3, or even several of the 4.Qc2 lines.

As with his detailed English Opening books, Hansen has put a great effort into systematizing the massive material connected with a variation that has been around since the introduction of the Nimzo-Indian into practice. Practically all of his 320 pages are full of games and variations, with complex transpositions well covered. This is a no-nonsense book and in some respects resembles Graham Burgess’ major works on the Slav Defense and the Taimanov Sicilian (two of the very best in recent years, along with the Kindermann/Durr Winawer masterpiece). The difference is that the latter opening systems tend to be inherently more dynamic ones that more naturally keep most readers’ interest. It should be added that Hansen’s game selection and analysis seem objective, and his verbal notes express no particular bias that I can discern.

THE NIMZO-INDIAN 4.e3 contains very little prose explanation of strategies, so the quality of the book depends upon the moves and variations. I quickly noticed that he uses a very wide selection of sources (especially in the sense of citing so many other players’ analyses). Most importantly, he consistently questions others’ assessments while adding his own (usually brief) suggestions on nearly every page. Clearly this book has taken a long time to write.

I have by far the most experience in the lines 4...c5 5.Nge2 and 4...0-0 5.Bd3 with some normal and some irregular follow-ups. Hansen devotes 28 pages to the former line, certainly adequate space. As is to be expected, my rather extensive analysis for game preparation (some with top players) yielded a number of different moves and assessments than Hansen provides, which only shows that a book is inevitably limited by the dictates of time and available material. Although his is the best survey around on this particular variation, I don’t think that it is his strongest chapter, since Hansen is more content to quote games without providing the same number of quality suggestions that he provides elsewhere. But in the classical Bd3 and Nf3 lines versus ...b6 or ...c5 and/or ...d5, he has obviously immersed himself in the work and given various new insights to many lines. I learned a lot of fascinating things about the main classical lines, ideas that I hadn’t found despite having studied some lines at considerable length. Unfortunately for the 1.d4 player, too many of Hansen’s improvements in these lines concern new ways that Black can equalize! This is of course good news for the second player and doubtless reflects the underlying soundness of the Nimzo-Indian.

I think my only overall beef with this fine effort is that I don’t find any junctures (although there may be some) at which Hansen really throws himself into a fascinating problem or finds a new idea that he pursues deeply and thoroughly. I strongly believe that such an effort enlivens a book and teaches the student far more than a mere listing of conventional options (some deadly dull and unrevealing). To be sure, Hansen’s suggestions are numerous and useful, but they tend to consist of two or three move variations mixed with an occasional longer one. The idea that “long analysis is wrong analysis” is an insidious one that intimidates authors from doing what is most valuable for their readers: deep investigation that pushes the boundaries of an opening. Of course that saying is true as far as it goes (well, in some instances anyway); but it is quite irrelevant to the value of a dedicated analytical contribution, particularly in a theoretical book. As Hansen himself points out, no one knows all this theory anyway; and in showing how deep and interesting an opening is (by examining new pathways), the reader can get closer to the feeling of how the dynamics of a variation work. At the same time, he or she may receive inspiration not otherwise offered by the recitation of barely-annotated games. Such investigations, I think, are well worth the replacement of 15 or 25 pages of game citations. That is hardly a decisive beef, however, and THE NIMZO-INDIAN 4.e3 is one of the better opening books to appear in the last few years. Hansen easily passes the test that I posed regarding attentive interest and involvement by the author. Also, you can’t help but learn about positional play from this book.

Click to see Silman's, Donaldson's, and Bauer's review of this book.