Article: 4122 of rec.games.chess.analysis Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.analysis Path: info!dregis From: dregis@exeter.ac.uk (D.Regis) Subject: Re: A couple of questions for KID enthusiasts.... Message-ID: Organization: University of Exeter, UK. References: <54af4g$c3k$1@zeus.crosslink.net> Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 11:24:32 GMT In article <54af4g$c3k$1@zeus.crosslink.net> treehaus@crosslink.net (MLK and RJP) writes: >Hi netters, > >I have two simple ;) questions for you KID enthusiasts: > >1. Many books, including Bronstein's coverage of the Zurich candidate's >tournament, state that the backward pawn on the (half-open) d-file is "far >from weak". How is this so? It is not intuitively obvious to me. Can anyone >shed some light on this topic? It's not intuitively obvious to many people! Bronstein said: "I think now is the time to acquaint the reader with the mysteries of the Black d-pawn in the King's Indian. Even though it is situated on an open file and therefore always exposed to attack, it is not a very easy nut to crack. The simplest method for White is apparently to retreat the Knight from d4, but d4 is precisely where the Knight needs to be: its jobs are to supervise b5, c6, e6, and f5 and to buffer the influence of the Bg7. Only after White has taken steps against possible Black attacks (...a3, ...Be6, ...f5) can his Knight leave the centre, but during that time Black can regroup to cause worries elsewhere. "So the weakness of the d-pawn proves to be imaginary. Contemporary methods of play in the opening recognise the illusory weakness of such pawns. But it was exactly this 'eternal' weakness of the Pd6 that led to the King's Indian being regarded as dubious." Did that help at all? If not, where did you fall off? To be honest, you don't get these positions much any more - both White and Black prefer different treatments of the variations which used to lead to the backward d-pawn. I play a line similar to the KID and almost never get a backward d-pawn, and if I do, it's at my choice. There are several modern lines which are counter-intuitive in this way, most obviously in the Sicilian where Black doesn't even have a Pawn to cover d5. >2. What is the best book currently in print on the KID? I've been looking for >the Ponzetto book, but it's out of print. I'd like something that concentrates >more on ideas, and less on variations. The trouble is that the KID has got too big for single-volume books. The Bellin/Ponzetto title (Batsford) is the best for ideas. You might try picking it or another one-volume book up second-hand. There's a Keene/Jacobs title (Batsford) which may the closest thing in print to what you want (I haven't read it), but it may be everything you need is in non-specific books like Fine's "The ideas behind the chess openings" (Bell/Hyman), updated with material from Evans' "The Chess Opening for You" (R.H.M.) and Marovic's "An active opening repertoire for Black" (Batsford), both of which recommmend the KID for Black. Do you belong to a club? Find a player two classes above you who plays the KID and ask them to clue you in. -- 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 15:40:12 GMT 1996