Dangerous Weapons — The King’s Indian

Dangerous Weapons: The King’s Indian by IMs Richard Palliser and Yelena Dembo and GM Glenn Flear is written primarily for those who wish to play this dynamic opening with nine of the fourteen chapters written from Black’s perspective.

They cover:

Fianchetto Variation – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 c5
Four Pawns Attack – 1.d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 e5
Saemisch – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.f3 Nc6
5.Bd3– 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.Nge2 Nd7
5.Nge2 – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nge2 Nbd7 6.Ng3 e5 7.d5 h5
Karklins-Ilincic 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nh5
Classical 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Be3 Re8
Classical 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.Qc2 Nh5
Classical 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 Nbd7

Two lines are advocated to meet the KID. The aggressive Four Pawns Attack and the more restrained Averbakh:

Four Pawns Attack – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.dxc5
Four Pawns Attack – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.dxe6
Four Pawns Attack – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 Na6 7.e5
Averbakh – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5
Averbakh – 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Be2 0-0 6.Bg5 Na6

I found the current volume up to the usual Dangerous Weapons standards with well-considered lines that possess plenty of punch but are slightly off the main theoretical highway. This absence of large amounts of established theory allows these lesser-known lines to combine the advantage of being easier to learn with definite surprise value.

The only chapter I found to be somewhat unsatisfactory was on the anti-Saemisch system where the ingenious system 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 0-0 5.f3 Nc6 is proposed. Black’s idea in leaving the d-pawn back is to meet 6.Nge2 with 6……e5 7.d5 Nd4 8.Be3 c5 9.dxc6 dxc6! This is clever and I like Dembo’s supporting analysis elsewhere, but am left unclear just what Black should do if White plays 5.Be3, only playing f3 when Black plays …d6. It’s true that by this move-order Black would sidestep Bg5 and early Nge2 Saemisch setups but I am sure that was not the author’s only intention, that she would likely advocate 4……0-0 5.Be3 Nc6. This is definitely more experimental and I am not sure it can be trusted; in any case analysis of it would have been appreciated.

This caveat aside I can strongly recommend Dangerous Weapons: The King’s Indian, particularly Dembo’s three chapters on …Nbd7 systems versus the Classical Variation.