Article: 3995 of rec.games.chess.analysis Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.analysis Path: info!dregis From: dregis@exeter.ac.uk (D.Regis) Subject: Re: Any thoughts on King's Indian Attack? Message-ID: Organization: University of Exeter, UK. References: <540irc$lr5@News.Dal.Ca> <5416of$34@freenet-news.carleton.ca> <546pag$vg@news-e2b.gnn.com> Date: Mon, 21 Oct 1996 11:27:45 GMT >In article <5416of$34@freenet-news.carleton.ca> Rene Poulin wrote: >>> Hi, >>> I'm thinking about expanding my opening repetoire and was considering >> the >>> King's Indian Attack. I was wondering if anyone's got comments pro/con >> on this system? >>> - Jeff Hamm >>> > >************************************************************ "Club players and home enthusiasts often ask me to recommend an openings system for White which is safe, yet aggressive and does not require a superb memory and months of intense learning. In such cases I invariably recommend the King's Indian Attack" -- KEENE ...quoted in http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/Openings/sic10.html Are you opening 1. Nf3, 1.g3 or 1.e4? As a recent convert to 1.e4 I use it to avoid a ton of theory on the half-open defences. It's a nice one to have up your sleeve; you don't have to use it against every half-open defence, or against every opponent. It's no good against Alekhine's or Nimzo's defences (2...e5) and impossible against 1...d5. In article <546pag$vg@news-e2b.gnn.com> KenNaugle@gnn.com (KenNaugle) writes: >My thoughts: > >1. Good opening, sound to play, good change of pace. >2. It is rather inflexible. Black has lots of options against it. ^^^^^^^^^^ I also said "The joy of the KIA is flexibility" (!) You can play it a little differently against each defence, and play in the centre or on either wing. The amount of available material is good and bad: I think John Watson concludes that in the French version "Black has easy equality in each of the main defensive systems" (I may have paraphrased). This may be true, but at club level most players don't know or understand the theory the way John does (and I'm damned if I know a way to get an advantage with the White pieces with any other line, against the French or any other defence!). Some of the books available (Schiller, Smith & Hall, Dunnington, Henley) have flaws and I couldn't recommend any of them completely whole-heartedly. If you can borrow one or find one second-hand that might be a best introduction. It seems that the French is the most common setting for the KIA (following Fischer) and the Sicilian is the least common - although they can transpose: Karlsson - George [B40] Torbay , 1994 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d3 d5 4.Nbd2 Nc6 5.g3 b6 6.Bg2 Bb7 7.0-0 Bd6 8.Re1 Nge7 9.Ng5 0-0 10.Qh5 h6 11.Ndf3 Nd4 12.e5 Bc7 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Nf3 Nf5 15.g4 Ne7 16.Bxh6 Ng6 [16...gxh6 17.Qxh6 f6 18.exf6 Nf5 19.Qg6+ Kh8 20.Rxe6 Bc8 21.gxf5 Bxe6 22.Qg7#] 17.Bd2 Qb8 18.Ng5 Rd8 19.Bb4 Nf8 20.Qxf7+ Kh8 21.Bxf8 1-0 That may simply be an example of a 2300-player beating a 2100-player, but it's also an illustration of how far it is from "easy equality" to "easy draw". The most difficult lines for White IMHO are the ones where Black plays away from standard formations, e.g. 1. e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. g3 b6! (Uhlmann) 1. e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. g3 dxe4 idea ...e5 This may be an argument for 4. Ngf3, which allows a switch to 5. c3 with 6. d4 or 6. Be2. -- May your pieces harmonise with your Pawn structure and your sacrifices be sound in all variations D _ / "()/~ Dave Regis &8^D* WWW: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/chess.html || \_/| = DrDave on BICS ~\ / "...what else exists in the world but chess?" _|||__SHEU: ~/sheu.html -- NABOKOV From info!dregis Mon Oct 28 11:04:18 GMT 1996