| Apr-08-07 | | KingG: On his DVD on the King's Indian, Kasimjanov seems proud of his 17...b5 move, due to the fact that it quite an unusual move in this variation. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | acirce: <KingG> What do you think about Kasimdzhanov's (Kasimjanov's? Qosimjonov's?) King's Indian DVD? Is it worth buying? Do you have Shirov's and if so how do they compare? Also, do you happen to have an opinion on some other recent material on the opening, such as Golubev's "Understanding the King's Indian"? |
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| Apr-09-07 | | KingG: <acirce> <acirce> First of all, i should say that i have only recently started playing the King's Indian, so naturally i may find these DVDs more informative than someone with several years of KID experience, for example. So far i haven't bought any books on the KID as i haven't been able to decide which one is best. I've skimmed over Golubev's book, which certainly looks very interesting, but IMO would have been better if he hadn't restricted the material to his own games. Of course, some alternatives that may not have come up in his practice are covered in the notes, but i'm not sure if that's enough. However, i may well end up buying it, so i'll let you know what i think of it then. As for DVDs, i have Kasimjanov's, Shirov's, and Andrew Martin's. Martin's DVD is the one that covers the most material, and he gives you ideas to play against almost all of White's setups. However, despite the fact that the DVD is over 4 hours long, he obviously can't really give anything of real theoretical value. But he does give some interesting slightly off-beat lines that i haven't seen elsewhere, and a reasonable overview of the KID as a whole. This is the DVD that i would recommend to someone who has hasn't really played the KID before(or has little experience in it), and also for anyone who has a bit of cash to spare and wants to see some interesting ideas and some great games. From memory, here are some of the games covered on this DVD: J H Donner vs Gligoric, 1968
Korchnoi vs Fischer, 1970
V Burmakin vs Morozevich, 1998
S Williams vs J Gallagher, 2001
Karpov vs Kasparov, 1993
There are many more, mostly by lesser know players. The only notable omission from this DVD is the Bayonet system in the classical. The Petrosian and Gligoric systems don't get much coverage either, but i guess the game Donner-Gligoric is meant to cover them both at once. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | KingG: Kasimjanov's DVD is on a slightly higher level than Martin's. He doesn't cover all the main lines against the KID, but he does hint that he should be making at least one other King's Indian DVD. These are, with possibly on or two omissions, the games that feature on this DVD: V Neverov vs Kasimdzhanov, 1999
A Abolianin vs Kasimdzhanov, 1999
S Atalik vs Kasimdzhanov, 1999
Bacrot vs Kasimdzhanov, 2002
Sasikiran vs Kasimdzhanov, 2002
Letelier vs Fischer, 1960
He also gives a couple of lectures on more general strategy and pawn structure.
All in all, i can highly recommend this DVD. It is informative, and Kasimjanov is very enjoyable to listen to. As for Shirov's DVD, i kind of have mixed feelings. It is always interesting to hear such a great player talk about chess, and there are certainly a fair amount of theoretically relevant things in this DVD. The one slight criticism i have, and this applies also to his DVD on the Najdorf, is he is just too modest. He will frequently abstain from discussing certain lines, because he claims he is not expert enough to say anything. But these are frequently the most interesting lines!
So here for example, he doesn't say anything about the Ne1/Be3 line in the KID, and instead refers you to Korchnoi's games for the White side, and Radjabov's for the Black side. But Shirov has played this line with both colours, so i think he could have at least said something. Even worse, in his DVD on the Najdorf, Shirov only discusses the lines 6.Be3 e6 and 6...Ng4, because according to him 6...e5 is just to complicated, and he doesn't feel that he understands it sufficiently to say anything. While these kinds of comments are interesting, it's not exactly what you expect when you buy a DVD on an opening. Among the games covered are:
Kramnik vs Shirov, 1992
Kramnik vs Shirov, 1998
Shirov vs Nunn, 1991
Shirov vs Yurtaev, 1991
Shirov vs Z Lanka, 1991
Z Gyimesi vs Shirov, 2001
Shirov vs Radjabov, 2004
Shirov concentrates heavily on the classical system in this DVD, particulalry the 9.Nd2 and 9.b4 lines. So i would recommend this DVD for people who are interested in these lines, especially if it's from the White side, where i thought Shirov's comments where more useful. It is of course also very interesting purely from the point of view of hearing a strong player talk about his games, and chess in general. So all, in all, i think Kasimjanov's DVD is the best out there at the moment, and there are perhaps still one or two yet to come from him on this opening. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | acirce: Thanks a lot! It sounds like Kasim's DVD is a good bet, and that Shirov's isn't bad either. I'll check what other people are saying too, of course. I am planning to order some chess material soon and thought I'd give the DVD format a try; I'm actually not sure how I'd like that medium in contrast to books. Will be interesting. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | willychess: I´m going to recomend (not for experts in the opening) the galagher`s book "Starting out the King´s Indian" is excellent. I have to say that the book is mostly about concepts no variations. But i think every KID player must have it. |
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| Apr-09-07 | | KingG: <willychess> Thanks for the recommendation. I might just get it then. I think i remember <acirce> also mentioning that it was quite good. |
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| Apr-10-07 | | acirce: I did but I think the more advanced sequel "Play the King's Indian" is clearly better actually. I remember some discussion where I said both were great, but I think I conflated them in my mind. However, "Starting Out..." is certainly good and very useful as well for the unexperienced KID player. |
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| Apr-10-07 | | KingG: <acirce> Ok, thanks. I'll keep that in mind. Does anyone have Andrew Martin's King's Indian Battle Plans, and can they say anything about it? |
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Jul-25-23
 | | kingscrusher: This is a very interesting example game showing you don't need to use the h7 pawn. Also it seems with Stockfish 16 that the move a6 wasn't actually needed - a bit of an inaccuracy. |
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Jul-25-23
 | | beatgiant: <kingscrusher> You mean don't need to use the h7 pawn for kingside play in the King's Indian? But is that so rare? Botvinnik vs Tal, 1960 and Korchnoi vs Fischer, 1970 come to mind right away. |
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Jul-26-23
| | kingscrusher: <beatgiant>Yes I meant really in this particular variation (Ne1 orthodox variation) - compare to say: Shirov vs Nunn, 1995 |
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Jul-26-23
| | kingscrusher: But yes, it really depends on the position. My personal preference was often for h5 and g4 in this variation - so it is good to see the h pawn is not needed. Lots of different ideas in the KID can work. |
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Kibitzing
