The latest book on the King's Indian Defense, UNDERSTANDING THE KING'S INDIAN by Ukrainian Grandmaster Golubev, is quite an ambitious project. In the space of not much more than 200 pages, this life long KID practitioner seeks to share his experiences with this uncompromising defense. Clearly, these space limitations means that the author has had to be selective in what he's included. Using 56 of his own games, Golubev has covered all of White's major tries in a book that is definitely designed for the second player.
Golubev offers the following repertoire:

Classical - primarily...e5 and ...Nc6 with some examination of alternatives including the ...Na6 lines.

Saemisch - ...Nc6 and ...a6

Four Pawns Attack - 6...Na6

Averbakh - 6...Na6

Fianchetto Variation - systems with ...Nbd7 and ...e5

Readers who have PLAY THE KING'S INDIAN (Everyman, 2004) by Joe Gallagher will note that there's some overlap in the two authors' repertoires, but also some significant differences, particularly against the Saemisch and the Four Pawns Attack.

UNDERSTANDING THE KING'S INDIAN is quite thorough in what it examines. For example, several years ago Golubev, who is on the staff of Chess Today, annotated a game he lost against fellow Ukrainian GM Borovikov for that publication. The game, in which White had prepared the first 26 moves, looked to be the deathblow for the old Gallagher Variation against White's Fianchetto's system. Now, Golubev has shown that things are not so simple. He looks at the position after White's 23rd move and suggests a different continuation for Black that leaves matters unresolved. To support his conclusion he gives a half a page of analysis, which might not seem like that much until you realize that these are typical, oversized Gambit pages (9 1/2 by 6 1/4).

This is a book aimed at a high audience, primarily Masters and above. Despite this being a theoretical work, UNDERSTANDING THE KING'S INDIAN in no way resembles a datadump. The author directly interjects himself into each page and his desire to impart hard earned wisdom is evident throughout. Golubev is quite objective. The last game in the book versus the Latvian veteran Petkevich sees the author getting slaughtered in a line that is supposedly innocuous for White. Looking up the game afterwards, Black is perplexed to discover that his memory during the game was right. He had been following a famous example by Botvinnik (Black against Doda at Wijk aan Zee, 1969), only Petkevich had not been so accommodating and played the natural and strong 13.a3! instead of Doda's 13.Nf1. Golubev then writes: "This brings us to the final observation in this book: chess is so complicated that nobody (not even, say, Botvinnik or Kasparov) can be trusted entirely. 'How can I trust Golubev then?' the reader may ask. Well, you cannot and should not. However, please trust that I've tried to do my best." He has.

Anyone who already plays the King's Indian or is thinking of taking it up cannot help but benefit from this book.

Highly recommended.

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