27 Jan '17 14:14>1 edit
I have a terrible record against the Kings Indian defence. After many years of loses i thought it was about time to try and develop a system. My style is somewhat quiet for the KID. I can calculate tactics reasonably well, but it has always struck me that the main line of the KID just allows black to have all the fun. Generally speaking white advances pawns on the queenside, black advances pawns on the king side, but ultimately it is whites king that comes under attack.
I don't like playing games like this. I much prefer to play something solid which involves some manoeuvring, rather than going for your opponents throat right out of the opening.
Anyway, after having tried various systems, like the Colle/London type systems (with pawns on c3/d4/e3), to the Smyslov variations of the KID, i stumbled upon the idea of playing the English opening. The important feature of this idea is that white places a pawn on d3 (rather than d4) which allows some interesting ideas. The main idea behind this is obviously a strategic focus on d5 as a potential square, which is th main idea behind the english. But also it allows the Ra1 to move to b1, without coming under attack from blacks white bishop on the b1-h2 diagonal. White basically gets to combine a lot of the original strategy of the KID (white advances pawns on the queenside and tries to open up the h1-a8 diagonal for the bishop) but can also combine with the strategy of the English, which is actually quite similar in a lot of ways...
Here is a game. The standard isn't perfect by any means but i thought i would share the idea as it is a nice way to get black out of book completely. The one downside is it invites Grunfeld but that is another discussion..
Anyway, it would be great to get some comments. Does anyone have a system they like to play against the KID that they would like to share? π
I don't like playing games like this. I much prefer to play something solid which involves some manoeuvring, rather than going for your opponents throat right out of the opening.
Anyway, after having tried various systems, like the Colle/London type systems (with pawns on c3/d4/e3), to the Smyslov variations of the KID, i stumbled upon the idea of playing the English opening. The important feature of this idea is that white places a pawn on d3 (rather than d4) which allows some interesting ideas. The main idea behind this is obviously a strategic focus on d5 as a potential square, which is th main idea behind the english. But also it allows the Ra1 to move to b1, without coming under attack from blacks white bishop on the b1-h2 diagonal. White basically gets to combine a lot of the original strategy of the KID (white advances pawns on the queenside and tries to open up the h1-a8 diagonal for the bishop) but can also combine with the strategy of the English, which is actually quite similar in a lot of ways...
Here is a game. The standard isn't perfect by any means but i thought i would share the idea as it is a nice way to get black out of book completely. The one downside is it invites Grunfeld but that is another discussion..
Anyway, it would be great to get some comments. Does anyone have a system they like to play against the KID that they would like to share? π