The Nimzo-Indian arises after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 (ECO E20). Black pins the knight on c3 with the bishop and fights for the key e4 square with pieces rather than pawns - very much in the spirit of Aron Nimzowitsch.
The main strategic motif is trading the bishop on c3: Black doubles White's pawns on the c-file and gets a solid structure plus play against those weaknesses. The opening is regarded as one of the soundest and most principled answers to 1.d4.
The Nimzo-Indian has an outstanding reputation and is played by virtually every elite grandmaster. The wealth of plans for both sides makes it a fine school of positional understanding.
Set it up on the board, move the pieces around and copy the FEN - or open the full walkthrough of the opening in a separate article.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
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