The Better Budapest - Nimzo Indian Gambits pt.1

So you want open tactical positions in which your developement and initiative compensate for the pawns you're down? You want to get your oponent out of their comfortable setups and lines as quickly as possible?
Easier said than done playing the black pieces, especially against 1.d4!

If that's your goal, no road leads past challenging the d4 pawn - either with c5, entering interesting but well known Benoni territory, or with e5!, often gambiting the pawn for structural and developement advantages.

There's no doubt you've come across the Englund Gambit, which goes as following:

however there's one problem with it: It is simply trash! (sorry Englund fans)
Its not like we sac a pawn for some kind of great initiative, instead the main line takes our queen on a long walk to finally regain that lost pawn, only to get severly behind in developement in the meantime. Now to be fair the Main line is not even a good way to play the gambit, a full pawn gambit with d6 is in fact better with the engine evaluating we are only down... 1 Eval point. In other words, down a pawn with no compensation.

Then there is the Budapest defense which can either be played with Ng4, trying to get the pawn back, or more agressively with Ne4

Ng4 is quite boring, since white can just let us recapture the pawn and get ahead in space and developement in the meantime.
Ne4, also known as the fajarowicz gambit, is slighty more interesting, but can unfortunately be refuted too. for White to just know the moves a3 and Qc2 is already enough

Here is where my improvement comes in!

Not only is this Gambit twice as sound as the other two mentioned (it's only +0.5 for white instead of +1), it is also the only one which scores statistically better for black than for white! (Rated 2000 or higher, blitz or slower on Lichess).
This stems from the fact that we will always have positional compesation due to the doubled c pawns, and because e5 cant be properly defended.

Now I hear you ask already, but what if my opponents dont play 3. Nc3 and 4.e3?? maybe they play 4.Qc2, or even 3.Nf3 - what now?
You can rest assured, I got you covered! Against 3.Nf3 for now I'd just recommend transposing into the modern Benoni with 3... c5, nicely avoiding the annoying pawn storm variation with f4 and bb5 in the modern benoni. There is much fun to be had in that opening, trust me.
And for 4.Qc2, well, I've got some cool stuff and will write a Blog about Nimzo Indian Gambits pt. II feat. Qc2 , but you'll have to wait for a few days weeks maybe :(

Anyways, back to the Gambit, starting with the accepted Line

Accepted

There are 3 Main replies after accepting with dxe5 Ne4:

1. Qc2 - poses no threat, we get good positions
2. Ne2 - is the best move, leading to the coolest and most dynamic positions
3. Bd2 - technically inaccurate, we equalize immediately

Qc2

After doubling their c pawns with Nxc3, we drop the Bishop back to c5, where it can't be driven away and sits comfortably.

The following Approaches for white can be categorized into ones defending e5 and ones that dont.

• If they dont defend it via f4 or e4 +bf4, we can simply pick it up with Nc6 Qe7 and Nxe5
• whenever they seem to defend it, we play with d6 as a full gambit. In that case it is always preferable to take on d6 with the queen and play for 0-0-0, as long as it doesnt allow a queen trade.

One exception to this is Nf3 and Nd4, this seems to give up the e pawn, but actually defends it tactically with Qe4. we should still take it tho, and the ensuing complications lead to interesting positions.

Ne2

This is the toughest variation to face, but it can also lead to the most tactical stuff.
The upside of Ne2 for white is that it defends c3 without blocking the Queens vision of d6, which is the reason we don't just trade twice on c3 and play Nc6 - f4 would be too strong. we must instead keep the tension with 6... Nc6. This however gives the White Lady the time to attack our loose e4 Knight, either from c2 or d5.

We can meet 7.Qc2 with the Explosive d5!, so that cxd6 can be countered with Bf5! from here things become tactical - The best move Bd2 requieres us to sac 2 pieces for a rook, misplacing the white King while doing so. These kind of lines are exactly what were trying to get on the board (or the screen I suppose)

7.Qd5 is just as crazy. After Nc5 and a move like Ng3, we can already start playing like a madman, an engine approved madman though :) we just hit 'em with 8.. d6 9.exd6 Be6! (playing with tempo) 10 Qd2 h5! 11.h4 g5! We dont care at all if they take on c7, we actually hope they do because it means we can quickly bring the rooks to the game. Full analysis in Study of course.

Bd2

Although a natural move, its very tame. we just play Nxc3.
It makes little sense for white to take bxc3, since then the bishop on d2 is quite misplaced. After Bxc3 Bxc3 bxc3 there is no longer any bishop on c1, meaning f4 weakens e3. This might seem unimportant, but we can take advantage of it with 8... Qe7, so that we reply to f4 with eventual d6 and their e5 pawn is pinned to the e3 pawn.

Nf3 would probably arise on the board, and then Nc6 will threaten the e5 pawn. The only way to hold on to it is Qd5, but in that case we just play b6, bb7 and 0-0-0 with a nice game

Declined

There are many fine ways to decline this gambit, none of which are any challenge to deal with. So no need to memorize anything here.
The most played one is Ne2, making sure no pawns are doubled.

This allows us to simply exchange e pawns. quickly castle and play d5. We will probably face an IQP position in which our good developement makes the position equal.

Bd2 calls for similar moves, but this time we can meet any cxd5 with c6! offering a totally sound Gambit. This is justified since Bd2 blocks the Queens vision of d4 and wastes a tempo to play Be3, so we can put pressure on d4 right away. If they dont take on d5, we just take on c4 after they move their bishop, and c5 can always be met with b6.

Bd3 and Nf3 just invite e4, gaining space. 0-0 and re8 as well as bf5 can sufficiently protect the e4 pawn in these scenarios.

Basically if declined just play chess... genius right?

Final Words

I hope you enjoyed reading this Blog as much as I did making it! it is my second one, so once again any feedback is welcome

PS Nimzo Indian Gambits pt. II coming soon

have a good day!