King's Indian Defence: free opening course

Key ideas

• Fianchetto the bishop on g7 and castle early: the bishop pressures d4 and the long diagonal, the king is safe before the fight starts.
• Challenge the centre with ...e5 (or ...c5) only after development; if White closes it with d5, the pawn chain tells you where to attack.
• After d5 and ...Ne7, play ...Nd7 or ...Ne8, then ...f5-f4 and ...g5-g4: a pawn storm against the white king on g1.
• If White keeps the tension, watch the d4 pawn: ...exd4 with ...Re8 and ...Nc6 often wins the e4 or d4 pawn by tactics on the long diagonal.
• Against the Fianchetto and Four Pawns lines, open the queenside with ...c5, ...b5 or ...exd5 and use the half-open files.
• Keep the g7 bishop: it is the soul of the defence. Avoid trades of it unless they win material.

The 6 variations in the course

• Classical: Mar del Plata 9.Ne1: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 … — White closes the centre with 8.d5 and plays on the queenside with c5; Black reroutes the knight via d7 to f6, pushes ...f5-f4 and ...g5-g4, and attacks the king. This is the most famous race in the King's Indian.
• Classical: Bayonet Attack 9.b4: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 … — White pushes b4 straight away to speed up c5. Black uses the moment to jump ...Nh5, so that ...f5 comes fast and the knight can land on f4.
• Sämisch: 5.f3 with the ...c5 gambit: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 c5 … — White plays f3 and Be3 to support e4 and maybe launch g4-h4. Black hits back at once with ...c5 and ...Nc6; after d5 the knight jumps to e5 and Black opens the e-file with ...e6.
• Four Pawns Attack: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f4 O-O 6. Nf3 c5 … — White builds the biggest centre possible with f4. Black must hit it at once with ...c5 and ...e6, open the e-file and use the long diagonal before White's pawns roll forward.
• Fianchetto Variation: Panno: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nc6 … — White fianchettoes too and plays positionally. Black uses the Panno set-up with ...Nc6, ...a6 and ...Rb8, then opens the b-file with ...b5 and uses the g7 bishop's power on the long diagonal.
• Averbakh Variation: 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 … — White plays Be2 and Bg5 to stop ...e5 and pin the f6 knight. Black hits the centre with ...c5 and ...e6, opens the e-file and develops with ...Re8 and ...Bg4.

Traps you will learn (3)

• Be3 Ng4: the ...exd4 fork — After 8.Be3 Black jumps ...Ng4 to hit the bishop. White must play Bg5; a quiet queen move like 9.Qc2? lets ...exd4 hit c3 and e3 at once and Black wins a piece.
• ...exd4 Re8 Nh5: the g1-a7 diagonal trick — After ...exd4 and ...Nc6 Black piles up on the d4 knight. Once White has played f3, the g1-a7 diagonal is open, so if the queen leaves the d-file ...Nxd4 and ...Bxd4+ wins a piece with check.
• Averbakh: the false pin on d6 — In the Averbakh after ...c5 and ...e6, White may grab the c5 pawn thinking the d6 pawn is pinned to the queen. It isn't: Black takes, trades queens and is a piece up.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.