
Joe Gallagher has recommended the flexible 7.Na6 which has similar ideas to 7.a5. Bd7, making White's c4–c5 break more difficult, only then playing for kingside activity. g5, though players subsequently switched to ideas involving. In the early days of the system, Black would drive the bishop back with. After 7.a5 White plays 8.Bg5 to pin the knight, making it harder for Black to achieve the. The plans for both sides are roughly the same as in the main variation. 7.d5 is the Petrosian Variation, so named for the 1963–69 world champion Tigran Petrosian, who often essayed the line in the 1960s, with Vladimir Kramnik playing this variation extensively in the 1990s.8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Qe8 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.c5!, which is not totally reliable for Black.8.d5 Nc5 9.Qc2 a5 may transpose into the Petrosian Variation (see below).8.dxe5 dxe5 9.Qxd8 Rxd8 with even chances.Play commonly continues 8.Be3 Ng4 9.Bg5 Qe8 ! but White has also tried:
The purpose of this awkward-looking move is to transfer the knight to c5 after White's eventual d5, while guarding c7 if Black should play. 7.0-0 Na6 has seen some popularity recently.White still has an advantage in most lines. Made popular in the mid-1990s by the Russian Grandmaster Igor Glek, new ideas were found for White yet some of the best lines for White were later refuted. 7.0-0 exd4 8.Nxd4 is also possible, although White's extra space usually is of greater value than Black's counterplay against White's centre.7.0-0 Nbd7 is the Old Main Line, and is playable, though less common nowadays than 7.Nc6.9.b4, the Bayonet Attack, introduced by Korchnoi in the 1970s, used to put top players off playing this line, but it has recently been revived by Radjabov. Typically, White will try to attack on the queenside by preparing the pawn break c4–c5, while Black will attack on the kingside by transferring their knight from f6 to d7 (usually better placed than at e8, as it helps slow White's queenside play with c4–c5), and starting a kingside pawn storm with f7–f5–f4 and g6–g5. Now White has a wide variety of moves, including 9.b4, 9.Ne1, and 9.Nd2, among others.
The Main Line or Mar del Plata Variation continues 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7. The Classical Variation is 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5. The main variations of the King's Indian are:ģ.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 Classical Variation: 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 However, Kramnik himself won a fine game on the black side of the KID in 2012, and current top players Hikaru Nakamura, Teimour Radjabov, and Ding Liren all play the opening. In the early 2000s the opening's popularity suffered after Vladimir Kramnik scored excellent results against it, so much so that even Kasparov gave up the opening after relentless losses to Kramnik. It is a dynamic opening, exceptionally complex, and a favourite of former world champions Garry Kasparov, Bobby Fischer, and Mikhail Tal, with prominent grandmasters Viktor Korchnoi, Miguel Najdorf, Efim Geller, John Nunn, Svetozar Gligorić, Wolfgang Uhlmann, and Ilya Smirin having also contributed much to the theory and practice of this opening. Until the mid-1930s, the King's Indian Defence was generally regarded as highly suspect, but the analysis and play of three strong Soviet players in particular- Alexander Konstantinopolsky, Isaac Boleslavsky, and David Bronstein-helped to make the defence much more respected and popular. arose in the mid-twentieth century and are attributed to Hans Kmoch. The modern names "King's Indian Defence", " King's Indian Attack", etc. The earliest known use of the term " Indian Defence" was in 1884. The resulting unbalanced positions offer scope for both sides to play for a win. Meanwhile, White attempts to expand on the opposite wing. If White resolves the central pawn tension with d5, then Black follows with either. Black stakes out its own claim to the centre with the Benoni-style. In the most critical lines of the King's Indian, White erects an imposing pawn centre with Nc3 followed by e4. The King's Indian is a hypermodern opening, where Black deliberately allows White control of the centre with its pawns, with the view to subsequently challenge it. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings classifies the King's Indian Defence under the codes E60 through E99. White's major third move options are 3.Nc3, 3.Nf3 or 3.g3, with both the King's Indian and Grünfeld playable against these moves. It arises after the moves:īlack intends to follow up with 3.Bg7 and 4.d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3.d5 instead, and is considered a separate opening). The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening.