King's Indian Attack

The King's Indian Attack

By Don Maddox

Building an opening repertoire can be a daunting task. So much to learn, so little time. The "King's Indian Attack" (KIA) offers a remarkable three-pronged solution to this problem. It is not an opening that starts with a precise series of moves, but rather a setup that leads to a typical strategy.

White plays a reversed King's Indian, with the moves Nf3, g3, Bg2, d3 generally included. In most games he begins with 1.e4, a move that Black usually plays at a later stage in the King's Indian. The position arising can look like this:

Black can naturally react in different ways, for instance with a fianchetto of the Bf8. The other main system is 1.Nf3 d5 2.g3. Black can develop his c8-bishop to f5 or g4 and White requires some time to play e4.

Normally building up an openings repertoire requires a huge amount of learning, and it usually runs into the problem of too little time. The King's Indian Attack provides a three-fold solution to this dilemma, providing you with

1. a universal hypermodern repertoire based on Nf3/d2-d3/g2-g3/Bg2;

2. a customizable 1.e4 repertoire channeling virtually every black response (except 1.d5) into familiar KIA waters; and

3. a permanent fall-back for those times you need to rest your regular repertoire while you fine-tune, modify or repair holes in it.

The KIA is versatile and varied enough to serve you for the rest of your career in any one of these three capacities.

Don Maddox co-authored the 1993 Bluebook Guide to Winning with the King's Indian Attack, and he has taught and played the KIA extensively. On this CD he discusses the basic principles of the KIA, standard structures, and top players who have contributed to KIA theory - from both the white and black sides. The CD contains more than 20,000 games (740+ annotated), a complete KIA tree, and a KIA Training Database. The text introductions are extensive.