I'm drawing a comparison between something like 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bd2 0-0 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Bxc3 b6 7. Nf3 Bb7 8. e3 Ne4 9. Qc2

and something like this:

1. f4 d5 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 c5 4. b3 e6
5. Bb2 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 etc.

So, the Bird's opening is like the
Dutch when you adopt the 'stonewall'
formation, of course. But then neither the Bird's nor the Dutch become relavent to the Nimzo Indian comparison, because in the Dutch, you
usually don't see black play ...Bb4
and trade off that bishop. Normally
in the stonewall, you want to hold onto
that one.

But when you play over any one of the
numerous Bird's games with the
queenside fianchetto, you get ample
ideas to use if you want to play
the Nimzo with ....b6 as Black, like
this game:

J Jongedijk vs Alekhine, 1936

The first defence of:

4... 0-0 5. a3 Bxc3 6. Bxc3 Ne4 does seem best I will agree but still good for white after 7. Qc2 ... and now the best response I can come up with is d6. Maybe 7... b6 will help control the diagonal? Any ideas?

The second defence of:

4... c5 5. Nb5 Ne4!? 6. Bxb4 cxb4 seems to have missed 7. Qa4 ... Is there a good response for black to this? 7...a6? doesn't work as 8... axb5?? 9. Qxa8 loses the rook and 7... Nc6 8. e3 gives a good position for white and a scattered, cramped position for black.

I like the idea of playing on the poorly positioned bishop and cutting and running. But I can't see a way out of the following:

4. Bd2 0-0
5. a3 Be7

(after 5... a5 then 6. b4 Bb6 7. c4 and the bishop is trapped and after 5... Bd6 6. e4 and I cannot find a defence to the advance 7. e5 which scatters black's pieces everywhere or else black loses a piece)

6. e4!

Now white has an overwhelming pawn majority in the centre. Black has not really got a good continuation here. The best I can think of follows. I'm hoping someone can show me something better.

6. ... d5
7. e5 Ne4
8. Nxe4 dxe4

With a serious weakness for black. especially after the queen's pawn is protected after 9. Bb3 or 9. Ne2.

1. Counter attack with d5 to attack whites centre. Strategically fine but tactically complicated. 2.Counter attack with d6 and e5. Playing Nc6 (and not d7) seems neccessary to avoid a cramped game. 3.Counter attack with c5 to break up whites centre. Not the best if black ends up with a weak backward queens pawn. 4.Counterplay with Bxc3 and an attack against the c4 pawn. Usually delayed until white plays a3 but can in some situations be played without white playing a3. 5.Kingside attack - especially if white has weakened the kingside in any way.

Here is the main problem - which plan to play and when to play it? It must be determined by analysing the pawn structure. For example the kingside attack would be effective if the pawn structure was

click for larger view

Well, I guess white can still play g3 earlier. Then I guess you'd recommend a Queen's Indian, which you can still turn into the Dutch pawn structure if you want. Turn that solid, drawing QI into a risky, exciting Dutch -- seems like a good plan to me.