A Critical Novelty in the f3 Nimzo

The Candidates tournament has always been inspiring to me. Once a year, it's like we travel back in time to the 'Kasparov era' of chess openings, where round after round, top GMs unleash sharp novelties in critical main lines. These novelties are hard to find and worth their weight in gold, and so they're saved year-round for this tournament. 

In this spirit, I wanted to share one of the most important novelties I've recently found. It's a deadly new idea in perhaps the most critical main line of the 4.f3 Nimzo Indian.
I'm shocked that it hasn't been played before, but I'm certain it will be played in the near future, so I'm comfortable giving it away. It's also too cool to not blog about .

The Bomb

Hope you enjoyed the new idea. It's quite rare these days that in the critical main line, we can find a brand-new move that offers sharp chances and is supported by the engine. It still surprises me that out of almost 1000 games in this topical main line, no one has played it.

Like almost all new ideas for White these days, it's completely equal if Black plays perfectly. But I think it sure packs a punch for one game. That is, before our opponent goes home after the game, switches on the engine, and figures out how to equalize against it in a few seconds .