With trendy lines receiving regular coverage by the major chess publishing houses, it is refreshing to find a book devoted to a fully playable white opening system that has found favor with more than a few world-class players but few theoreticians. In this book, an experienced over the board player combines with an equally knowledgeable correspondence player to provide a thoroughly researched and well-written look at white lines involving 1.b3 and/or 1.Nf3 and a later b3.

When an opening carries the names of heavyweight mavericks Aron Nimzovich and Bent Larsen, you can expect that it is fully playable but slightly outside the mainstream. That would be the case with this hypermodern system. Much like other variations of the Reti or reversed openings like 1.g3 or the King’s Indian Attack, the Nimzo-Larsen cedes some central space but allows white to take potshots at that center, often with the flanking blows c2-c4 or f2-f4. Players found championing the white side in the illustrative games are not names to dismiss – besides the variation’s namesakes you’ll find the grandmaster likes of Blatny, Kramnek, Ljubojevic, Miles, and Minasian.

The book is not written for either the white or black side. Indeed, the authors’ candor is evident when they state, at the beginning of the second paragraph, “so let us make it clear, first of all, that White has no advantage in the Nimzo-Larsen.” In this age of White/Black to Play and Win with the … books, it is unusual to find authors willing to state, unequivocally and for the record, that the book they are writing is not meant to establish a repertoire that virtually guarantees an advantage with white or an even game with black.

At the same time, it is possible to win with these systems for white (and, of course, with black as well). The authors have not succumbed to the all too common tendency to simply parrot back a bunch of games and standard quoted theory and call it a day. Instead, there has been a serious attempt to categorize the play for both sides and offer suggestions for the best methods for both sides. For example, the authors explain the advantages and disadvantages of white starting with 1.b3 or 1.Nf3 in the introduction, and they highlight the things that both sides give up with various move orders throughout the book.

One of the book’s strong points is the thoroughness of the theory presented. One gets a hint of this by the size of the bibliography: while it’s common to find one with a few books and the standard periodicals mentioned, this book’s bibliography covers 2 full pages, including 47 books and 5 databases to go with a wide variety of periodicals.

Perhaps one of the reasons for the thorough coverage is the combination of an over the board and correspondence chess specialist. Tim Harding, a proponent of correspondence chess, has often noted in reviews that various opening books have relied very little on games from correspondence play. While this is understandable (over the board players generally consult periodicals that cover recent over the board tournaments), it also overlooks the deep research and play found in the slower correspondence games.

The book provides about an equal number of pages for the lines where black stakes his center around …e5 (65 pages) and those where he starts off with …d5 (72 pages). The theoretical coverage closes with other black set-ups (45 pages), of which the majority of coverage is devoted to set-ups with an early …g6 (25 pages). There are a variety of critical set-ups for black, and these all receive thorough coverage.

Probably the thing that stands out in this book is the extent of the coverage. While this is a positive feature for somebody really wanting to delve into this opening for either side, it means a lot of wading for somebody without the time or inclination to spend a lot of effort on this relatively rare opening. While the authors provide some hints on where a player might look for the key variations, this isn’t a book to be taken lightly.

The book is presented in the illustrative game format, with a summary at the end of each chapter. Over time, I have become less enamoured with this approach. Particularly in an amorphous opening (and this definitely fits that bill), it can be hard to navigate and follow the theory under this format. As opposed to the alternative tree layout, I think it is harder to assimilate the theory in this format.

The book has an impressive heft compared to some opening books, includes plenty of diagrams, and the text is clear and easy to follow. I like the size of the pages in the Everyman Chess series – they open and stay flat relatively easily, and the pages are large enough that you don’t feel you are constantly flipping pages.

In conclusion, this is a well-researched and written book that provides a balanced view of an interesting variation. While white cannot hope for a theoretical advantage, there is plenty of theory and food for thought in the book to give either the well-prepared white or black player the opportunity to play to win in this variation. In some ways, the book’s strength of exhaustive research and analysis is also its weakness, as other than specialists may find this book more than they need to tackle this seldom-played variation.

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