hello Ametanoitos, you echo my sentiments! The 10. h3 line is indeed promising and surprisingly under-explored, think this is a Shulman specialty, i don't see a sure way to equalise for Black there.

I wasn't aware 8. Bc1 is a fashionable move (if you mean 9. Bc1 then yes, its looking good as Black's theoretical best 9... cxd4 10. Nxd4 f5 always looked dicey to me).

hello woofwoof: not for the first time i've mentioned Kasparov-M.Carlsen!! 7. Be3 exd4 8. Nxd4 c6 9. f3 Re8 10. Bf2! (avoiding exchange sacrifice) d5 11. exd5 cxd5 12. c5 is +=, end of debate imho, even Gallagher says so. the bottom line is, white needn't allow the exchange sac (which may or may not be good) when there are other safer ways to gain an edge. 

Black could try the move order trick with 7. Be3 c6 (think this is played by Kotronias), hoping for 8. 0-0 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 thus cleverly avoiding 10. Bf2, but White can play 9. Bxd4 instead, with perhaps a small plus. Anyway in said game, Gelfand played the slightly inaccurate 8. Qd2, allowing a transposition later on to the original old line where Kasparov could play the exchange sacrifice. So, 8. 0-0 (intending 8...exd4 9. Bxd4) or 8. d5! (my choice) are more critical.

Just wanted to endorse Stormcrow's message about the number of times you'll get 7...Nc6 played against you, at least in casual games (yum yum).   7 Be3 has to be less preparation than mainlining with 7 0-0 Nc6.  Plus there's less chance of being shredded by Black's kingside attack.

7...h6 had a vogue back in the distant past, I think Nunn played it for a while.

I'm not a KID expert, but don't you get an improved version of the exd4 variation against Be3 instead of 0-0? Black has time to play c6, d5 against Be3. I think that's what NCO says. That book is fairly old now. Maybe white has found improvements.

(I'm talking about woofwoof's line 2.)

I like the Gligoric. I've used the king's flexibility in a couple club games.  I think I got the idea after reading something in Palliser's Petrosian KID chapter in Play 1D4 and also a game in the Brit magazine CHESS by Pert maybe(?) about keeping the king in the middle or sending him q-side. Anyway, it worked like a charm twice for me as I ended up grabbing the initiative on the k-side and attacking the exposed king. 

I also like opening variations that are good solid moves but also contain cheap positional traps, like if black plays Nc6 in the Gligoric white can get and accelerated Nd2 system.  That's why I also like Nf3 in the exchange grunfeld.  You'd be surprised how many times my opponents played 0-0 before c5 (see Yermo's rant in RtCI). Granted, its not the end of the world and it doesn't win automatically, but it gives a nice game.

woofwoof: whoops... meant 7... Qe7 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Nd5, when the line you give with 9... Nxd5 10. cxd5 c6 11. d6 looks a little awkward for Black, while 11. 0-0 looks good too. 
anyway both 7. Be3 Na6 and 7... exd4 are imo a small concession to White..although they are considered fully playable systems they are just not the principled moves to "punish" 7. Be3. Both Gallaghers and Golubev's suggestions seem well dealt with in Khalifman's new work. 
I also disagree with Smyslov_fan: 7. Be3 is far more flexible than 7. 0-0 as commiting the bishop is much less commital than committing the king!

lnn2 wrote on 01/07/07 at 04:00:45:


Gallgher recommends the 7...Na6 line mentioned above with Ng4+f6

Golubev opts for 7...exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 Nc6 10. 0-0 Nh5

Personally I prefers Golubevs line here allthough I have not yet got to play against qualified opposition, maybe that might make re-evaluate it later on. White has played to careless in my 2 games in this line and I've won with ease.

For example after 11. f4 Nf6, black has wasted time, but white has seriously loosend his grip on the important e4-pawn. Ruban-Glek 1995 continued 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bf3 Nxe4 14. Bxe4 d5 =, or 12. Bf3 Bg4 13. Nxc6 Bxf3 14 Qxf3 bxc5 and according to Golubev white have great difficulty proving an advantge in this position.

11. Qd2 f5 12. Nxc6 bxc6 and now white has a wide variety of choices.

Recently I read some NIC yearbook surveys on this opening, which made me very curious, and i don't see how Black fully equalises after 7. Be3.  Mikhalevski has a couple of surveys in yb80 and 81 entitled "the Gligoric is fine for Black" based on the line 7. Be3 Ng4 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Nh6 11. d5 (as in Aronian-Radjabov and Roiz-Radjabov). i'm no expert here, but just on the evidence that Black isn't anywhere near starting a kingside attack to compensate for the lack of space, i would have thought these positions are "+=" by default. In another recent yb79, Grivas also states Black faces a lot of problems against 7. Be3, and recommends a system similar to a Samisch Byrne: 7. Be3 exd4 followed by a6/c6/b5, which frankly just looks suspicious. Much bigger is the question what to do against 7. Be3 Ng4 8. Bg5 f6 9. Bc1, where again I don't think Black fully equalises after 9... exd4 10. Nxd4 f5 ("too many structural problems"-Van der Weide) or 9... Nc6.

@Woofwoof: 7... Qe8 8. dxe5 dxe5 9. Nd5 looks annoying. 7... exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 c6 looks reasonable, but Gallagher says "White seems to be coping well with this line" in the Chesspub ebook,  the recent trend 10. Bf2 (as played by Kasparov himself!- see Kasparov-M. Carlsen) takes the sting out of any exchange sac ideas, then White seems just abit better with the extra space.

Any ideas from KID exponents here? What do Gallagher and Golubev recommend against 7. Be3?