gramsci wrote on 09/12/11 at 18:21:40:


I don't understand why 7...Nc6 is Black's best move, since it seems illogical to me to spend two tempi to place Black's knight on a bad square (e7) and further White's queenside play just to get kingside play in 10 moves time. So I play everything but 7...Nc6, but then again nearly everyone disagrees with me.

Everytime I play the Mar Plata or Bayonete I think to give up the KID. Then I realise that no other defence (I've tried Semi-Slav, Benko, Benoni, Leningrad, Noteboom, Nimzo) gives black the chance to play for the initiative as the KID. So I've ended up palying Ka6 KID along with the Grunfeld.

I played the King's Indian a lot before going 'cold turkey' and giving it up completely. Recently I've started playing it a lot again, with pretty good results. The two differences between then and now are that I am a much stronger player now, and I play a lot of different variations against White's tries rather than one line against everything.

One thing that's unique about the King's Indian compared to many other openings is that the 'normal' moves sometimes don't cut it, and you have to play very creatively and sharply to justify your previous play. However, many other defences to 1.d4 don't give you the same opportunities to fight for the initiative. 

I think the King's Indian should objectively be slightly better for White, but if there was an opening that gave full equality and great winning chances against 1.d4, everyone would be playing it.