Nimzo-Indian Defence
Also called Nimzo.
Black pins the knight on c3 and is ready to give the bishop for it to damage White's pawns.
After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4, Black controls e4 with pieces rather than pawns. It is flexible and respected at every level.
New to chess? The examples here use it. Play your first moves (five minutes), then learn chess from the beginning, one short lesson at a time.
Want more? Puzzles on this from real games, on Lichess, free and with no account. They are not counted in your progress here.
Learn and practise it
- Lesson: A map of the openings