Larsen's Opening (1.b3): The Complete Guide to the B3 Chess Opening

Gulshan Kumar
Gulshan Kumar
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4 min read

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Last updated: Apr 07, 2026

Chess teacher explaining Larsen’s Opening (1.b3) on a classroom board with highlighted pawn move

The Larsen's Opening in chess is one of the most interesting because it starts with 1.b3, while other famous chess openings start with 1.e4 and 1.d4.

It is named after the distinguished Danish Grandmaster Bent Larsen and is the perfect surprise opening to employ. It is the system of control, whether you call it the B3 Opening or the Nimzo-Larsen Attack.

You give your opponent the middle of the board, only to be able to attack the middle of the board on the sides, a strategy that most professionals employ when playing chess online in order to surprise the opponent.

FAQs

  • It is an opening for White that begins with the move 1.b3. It focuses on developing the Queen's Bishop to b2 to control the center from the flank.
  • Yes. It is a system that is theme-based and pattern-based, rather than theory-based, and this is what makes it best suited to beginners who need a simple system, which does not demand a complicated theory.
  • Absolutely. It is not as frequently used in professional chess as 1.e4 and 1.d4, but has been found sufficiently useful to be employed by numerous world champions, such as Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and Magnus Carlsen.
  • Although Aron Nimzowitsch used to employ it on occasion back in the early days of the 20th century, Bent Larsen was the one to perfect the system and demonstrate that this opening can be employed as a major tool in Grandmasters' games.
  • There is no difference between them at all, as they are just different names of the same opening.

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