Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. c4/2...e6/3. Nc3/3...Bb4/4. Bg5/4...h6/5. Bh4/5...c5/6. d5

Nimzo-Indian Defence
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqk2r/pp1p1pp1/4pn1p/2pP4/1bP4B/2N5/PP2PPPP/R2QKBNR b
Moves: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5

Nimzo-Indian Defence, Leningrad Variation

6. d5

White advances his center. If he can later play e4, it will be hard for Black to shake off his lack of space. Still, playing ...exd5 now and giving white a central majority would be a drastic step. Instead Black usually opts to play around White's d pawn, with ...d6 preparing ...e5, but there is another option: the so-called Averbakh Gambit. Black can sacrifice a pawn with 6...b5 7. dxe6 fxe6 8. cxb5, after which he can take the center with ...d5 and bring his rook to the half-open f file with ...O-O; the stray white pawn is usually disposed of by ...a6.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5

	6	7	8
Leningrad Variation	... d6	e3 Bxc3	bxc3 e5	=
Averbakh Gambit	... b5	dxe6 fxe6	cxb5 d5	∞/=