From time to time I browse through the King's Indian forum. All in all it seems that the King's Indian is very ill. There is no live in the forum. The threads peter out very quickly. A few answers or suggestions trickle in and then it is over. It took part in one thread with the same result. Okay, I have a somehow specific view on the KID (with Nbd7 and e7-e5, oftenly reached via the Old Indian Defence). So I can't add much to other lines. But there are not many who contribute either.
So my question: Are all questions concerning the KID answered? Is the King's Indian dead? Does anybody continue to play it?

I've wrestled with this question of the King's Indian, which purports to be a self-sufficient defense against all the closed systems; 1.d4, 1.c4 and 1.Nf3, even 1.g3.  Of course it's not dead; it has many strong adherents, including our own, inimitable Top Notch.  But there's so much to it, and it's so radical, that can only be approached as a way of life, or perhaps as a religion.  If you go that way, I think you'll do well enough, but don't plan to come back soon, if indeed at all.  In this way, I think it compares to the French.

It's not only a weapon.  It is the Torah.

motörhead wrote on 07/27/10 at 22:28:39:


The KID is fine, however novelties for black are quite valuable in this opening and rewarding (White usually gets mated in humiliating style). These novelties are rarely revealed here until they get a chance to be uncorked in practical play first.

The KID is particularly dangerous because even strong Computer engines, have a hard time evaluating many of the resulting tabiyas, The Classical variation being a typical case.

The KID is not really a way of life or that radical by todays standards. Its a hyper modern opening that requires Black to be fearless, it's not about equality, and that's what many players fail to realise. Bottom line, what black strives for in the KID is active counter play.

It is useful to understand the underlining strategy of the big four variations against the KID. If you do not understand your enemy it is hard to conquer him.

The Classical

White has a space advantage on the queenside, and seeks to expand further there in the hopes of winning a couple of pawns and then queening one of them. The bad news for black is that he can hardly defend his queenside successfully for any length of time, the good news for black is that he doesn't have to, he needs to focus his attentions on opening lines on the Kingside and mating the White king. Learn the attacking patterns and learn them well.

Four Pawns Attack:

White aims to sweep Black off the board with his big mobile pawn center. True his center is imposing, but at the same time white has taken a lot of time to create it, and until he has consolidated his space gains it is not clear whether it is a strength or a weakness. Black's first task is to try and immobilise white's centre, and he goes about this by attacking it with either c5 or e5 or both. If Black goes for the plan with c5, this sually leads to a position where he has a queenside pawn majority that he seeks to advance create a passed pawn and queen it, unfortunately White has a kingside pawn majority which he often uses to spearhead an attack on Black's king. Neeedless to say play becomes quite double edged in the c5 lines, however it is useful to note that the Four Pawns Attack often leaves white's King's position over extended and if black can get in behind those pawns that usually spell curtains for White. The plans with e5 for Black are more solid, as they deny White the mobile Kingside pawn majority that made his attack so dangerous in the c5 lines discussed above. However the e5 lines leave White with a space advantage in the centre and on the queenside, so in this case Black creates his counterplay by aiming for a timely f5, which further attacks white's centre and creates kingside attacking chances.         

The Samisch:

Another big centre system, where white tries to develop behind his centre, catch up in development, and then decide whether to launch an all attack on Black's King or use his space advantage to suffocate black. Once again black must seek to immobolise white's centre quickly with c5 or e5 with play similiar to that seen in the four pawns attack.

The Fianchetto Variation

This is a very reliable way for White to play as Black rarely gets the kinds of swashbuckling counterplay in which a KID player relishes. As usual White has more space and builds up his game slowly, his first aim is all prophylactic, trying simply to snuff out all avenues of Black counterplay, and then to slowly creep forward on the kingside which eventually forces Black into passivity and eventually death by asphixiation. The fianchetto line is insidiously dangerous, it may appear harmless on the surface but nothing could be farther from the truth. Black needs to prepare carefully against the fianchetto or he will be squeezed to death, I think Blacks best approach is to aim for early queenside play with plans involving a6 followed by b5 and or c5. Sometimes black's prefaces his queenside play with e5 followed by exd4, but such a treatment involves considerable positional risk especially against a well prepared White player. Having said that, players who use the fianchetto variation tend to be the type who like to control things and are averse to tactical chaos, so mixing things up could be a good idea. Black must now allow white to settle and create a vice like grip on the game, familiarise yourself with all typical tactical motifs at your disposal, this can be achieved by carefully selecting model games of leading KID exponents past and present, start with the seminal game for the KID fianchetto: Zita - Bronstein 1946.   

Good luck in your KID adventures.

Toppy  

TopNotch wrote on 07/28/10 at 05:13:12:


As I had it in short before: What do you think about the Old Indian door to enter the King's Indian? That is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 (3...Nbd7) 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5.Be2 g6 ...
This prevents Four Pawns, Averbakh, Sämisch. And in the Classical White setup 6.e4 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3 there is Bologan's (?) idea 8...Re8 which results in a complex game in the style of the main variation  - you yourself had played it with nice play but that thread, one of the more exiting ones, too trickled out.

In the BDG we have an enthusiastic debatte on every minor move but here in the KID they all shy away. Remarkable. I understand that it is better to keep new ideas secret. But here we don't even deal with old ones. That is different from other threads.

Btw. Of course I don't think the KID is dead - but that forum isn't alive...

Markovich wrote on 07/28/10 at 17:07:03:


I am familiar with Moskalenko's interesting NIC Yearbook articles on it, it's a rare and underrated approach but still I don't consider it that dangerous so long as black has a good idea how to react effectively.

I prefer 8...fxe6 over 8...Bxe6 and offer 11...e5 as a major improvement over 11...Nd4 as played in Moskalenko - Lacasa Diaz 2000, my notes also indicate that 13...h6 instead of 13...gxf5 would have given Lacasa an advantage.

Moskalenko does not seem to have many published games in this line against opponents of similiar rating, so its difficult to categorise his excellent results with this system. I think Glenn Flear also recommends this 8.dxe6 approach in Dangerous Weapons:The King's Indian, but there too I didn't find the analysis particularly compelling.

Toppy

Against both 7...Nbd7 and 7...Na6 8. Be3 is critical. It's been recommended for white fairly recently (Khalifman). In the case of 7...Nbd7 it just so happens that 8. Re1 is critical too.

Against 7...Nc6 it isn't critical.

7. Be3 (Gligoric) seems to be in vogue lately in elite GM play though.

I was referring just to the branching point of a specific position, not some theoretical improvement that occurs way later.

Theory moves quickly enough that of course Khalifman's recommendations (and everybody else's) end up getting overturned eventually. His mainline Bayonet KID was outdated by the time the book hit the shelves, which highlights the point.

Any student that keeps track of theory doesn't just rely on one source, anyway. They develop their own, and go from there.

TopNotch:  Thanks for that info.

'Nother question.  How much trouble and/or frustration do you encounter from the Exchange Variation?