Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: Gukesh handles the Nimzo-Indian masterfully

by Robert Ris
7/6/2025 – In his new Fast & Furious show, Robert Ris goes over an impressive victory by reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who punished Nodirbek Abdusattorov's risky pawn grabbing out of a Nimzo-Indian Defence. | Fast & Furious is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
This video course offers you a complete, clear repertoire for Black against the moves 1.Nf3 and 1.c4. The recommended variations are easy to learn and not difficult to remember, but also pose White serious challenges.

The reigning world champion Gukesh Dommaraju was on fire in the rapid section of the SuperUnited tournament in Zagreb, Croatia. After suffering a loss in the first round, he managed to win five (!) consecutive games in very impressive style.

His most impressive game was played in the fourth round, as he totally demolished Nodirbek Abdusattorov in only 27 moves with the black pieces. Typically, in the Classical Variation of the Nimzo-Indian, after trading off the dark-squared bishop for the knight, Black attempted to take advantage of his small lead in development.

White's pawn grabbing with 16.Qxc5? was certainly too risky, but at that point Black had already a very comfortable position. Soon, White regretted his decision, as his king stayed in the centre till the very end of the game. A true model game for any Nimzo player!

Exercise: Black to play. Both sides missed the key move here for Black. 

Feel free to move the pieces on the live diagram!

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Topics: Fast and Furious
Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.
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Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: A quick win with the Pirc

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Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.

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thirteen thirteen 7/8/2025 06:44
Mr Ris. You say you 'used to' play the Caro Kann, but got stuck with all the g4 sacrificing attacks? Well, just maybe you should check them again, with a powerful enough engine.
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