The Smyslov system is okay but doesn't offer White very much; it usually ends up giving up a tempo with e2-e3-e4 when Black doesn't advance in the center.  I think that Black is pretty much okay if he just plays ...d6, ...c5, answers d4-d5 with Benko ideas and trades anything he can except the Bg7.

If you play ...c5 fast enough you might even spook somebody into dxc5.

I was under the impression Black's best defence was to kick the Bishop then play ...c5, as in Akobian--Perelshteyn, which went: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. Nc3 d6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 g5 7. Bg3 Nh5 8. e3 c5 9. d5. Is this (still) so, and are there good ideas for either side in this position, based perhaps on delaying castling? Perelsteyn actually played 9 ...Qa5!? and won, but is there anything wrong with the normal 9 ...0-0?

Thenazgul wrote on 10/07/13 at 15:48:24:


I'm guessing you meant 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5, when White should play 6.d5 instead of 6.e3.

Thanks Pantu, that was very informative.

Chessbase Magazine 126 has a survey by Breutigam, recommending a repertoire for white and covering all variations. I have used this to prepare the variation and have played it a few times: I would recommend this if you can get it.

He also did a survey in CBM 125 of the related benoni line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nf3 g6 7.Bg5 which has some move order subtleties, mainly due to the delayed castling.  This is not necessary if you play the KID move order, as black gets an inferior version if he plays that way.

Regards some lines: Gallagher recommended the following as played by Smyslov: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bg5 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.Be2 h6 8.Bh4 Bf5! when Qb6 comes and various threats means white has to be careful.  I managed to lose here as black after catching white in the trap, but I couldn't remember the details.

However Yusupov started played 7.d5! at some point in the 90s and this turns out to be quite good for white.  I had a game with 7...Bf5 8.Bd3! Bxd3 9.Qxd3 then castled, Nf3-d2, f2-f4 etc and eventually won with a nice attack although black helped a bit.

I'm slightly put off by the a6+c6+b5 lines and also ones where he delays ...d7-d6 in favour of castling and playing Benko style e.g. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Nf3 0-0 5.Bg5 c5 6.d5 h6 7.Bh4 b5!? IIRC Radjabov has played this way and Breutigam also suggests this way.

Chesslecture.com also had a series of videos by Bill Paschall I think but the CBM 126 survey is enough.

kylemeister wrote on 08/29/13 at 20:15:57:


Thanks! Searched, and it is NIC Yearbook 64. 
'Not so innocuous' by Kirk Langeweg, notes by Ivan Sokolov,  pp. 203-208.

Covers just ...c5 lines.

Phil Adams wrote on 08/29/13 at 19:02:13:


I think ...c5, often combined with ...Qb6, is Black's best try to take advantage of White's Bishop going to g5 so early and then being cut off from the queenside by the pawn on e3.  I'm pretty sure that Smyslov himself played this way as Black.

ErictheRed wrote on 08/29/13 at 04:17:54:


Thanks for posting this, very interesting games. I've always liked the Smyslov variation against the King's Indian, all the more so since I play 5.Bg5 against the Grunfeld, so its an all-in-one solution to both.

Its odd that this variation isn't covered well from White's side, in fact the only literature I know is the 'Fight the anti-King's Indian' type repertoires from Black's side. The only thing I spotted the other day is in one the the CBM downloads. GM Kuzmin has done an article on it, and fortunately it looks like its a multi-part series, so I'll be keeping an eye out for it.

http://chessbase-shop.com/en/products/cbm150_e61_kings_indian