This hefty volume provides truly extensive coverage of a variation that is the staple of many strong positional players with the white pieces. Without a doubt, this is a significant work and must read for strong players that either play or face these variations. It is an open question whether it will have the same appeal to players further down the rating list.

The author is a strong grandmaster from the country of Georgia, and he has written two other openings books for Gambit Publications. In each case, the books provide exhaustive coverage of the variations that form its subject matter (the previous two covered the Petroff and a black repertoire featuring coverage of the Queen’s Gambit Declined and Catalan). The theory is catalogued, and the author provides authoritative readings on the state of each variation.

While the author’s willingness to gather and provide judgment on current theory is clear, this (and his other opening books) are not as user friendly as many players would like. While the chapter introductions are helpful and there are reasonable discussions where there are major branches within variations, there is no summary of material at the end of chapters, and there is little guidance other than final evaluations at points where theory diverges into sub-subvariations. The introduction is also brief, and there are many pages crammed full of game fragments with just the barest of explanations of ideas or summary of why one player or another is better.

In the past, I’ve commented on the fact that there is more than one acceptable way to write an opening book. While I generally prefer books with lots of explanation and discussion of key points, this may detract from the theoretical coverage. While I would generally prefer the author provide some original analysis and be prepared to critically discuss the evaluations of others, sometimes you have to settle for simply the latter. This book would definitely fall into that category. The author provides plenty of assessment, and the theory is organized to provide an up-to-date view, but there are not a lot of examples of new ideas or alternatives that have not already been mentioned by others.

Some reviewers (and authors) are not quite as willing to settle for “half a loaf.” John Watson, for example, is an author and reviewer who I greatly respect and admire, and his books are true labors of love that contain an incredible amount of original analysis and insight. He believes that this is a requisite part of a truly good book, and I’m finding it increasingly hard not to agree – with the ease of use of chess databases and availability of current games, book authors need to “add value” to make their products stand out, and new ideas and analysis are one way to do so.

This book is probably best suited to the white player who plays the g3 systems against either the King’s Indian or Grunfeld. It’s worth noting that some strong players (such as John Nunn) believe that the g3 systems take so much of the dynamism out of the King’s Indian that black’s best is to transpose into the Grunfeld with …d5. The book’s coverage makes this ideal for the white practitioner – in the past that player had to purchase books on both the King’s Indian and Grunfeld to deal with black’s options after, say 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3. As an added bonus, the book covers another early divergence, 3…Bg7 4.Bg2 c5.

Of course, there are black players who will find the book useful as well. The author appears neutral in his evaluations, and the book is written with the “variation tree” approach (rather than via illustrative games). As a result, the coverage is deep, and it is also quite current. There are several lines in this complex that have seen significant change in evaluations in the past few years, so a serious King’s Indian player may find it worth the purchase price.

At the same time, this is not a white variation that is routinely essayed by players below about 2200 ELO. While strong white players can often “soak up” black’s counterplay and eventually gain a sizable advantage because of white’s space advantage, this is not a simple task against active players. As a consequence, the set-up is probably not the average black King’s Indian player’s foremost concern, and they may be able to get by without this book.

In conclusion, this hefty look at a sophisticated variation packs a ton of theory (and game fragments) into its 320 pages. While it is definitely the latest word on the variations in question, it is not an easy variation to essay (for either side!) and the author doesn’t exactly improve its accessibility for the average player. While strong players and serious students of the variation will need this book, others may be able to muddle through without it.

To see John Donaldson’s review of this book, click HERE.

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