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King's Indian Attack (A07)
1 Nf3 d5 2 g3

Number of games in database: 42997
Years covered: 1850 to 2025
Overall record:
   White wins 35.2%
   Black wins 33.4%
   Draws 31.4%

Popularity graph, by decade

Explore this opening  |  Search for sacrifices in this opening.
PRACTITIONERS
With the White Pieces With the Black Pieces
Bassem Amin  215 games
Miroljub Lazic  128 games
Tomasz Markowski  122 games
Ivan Farago  71 games
Bojan Kurajica  60 games
Pia Cramling  59 games
NOTABLE GAMES [what is this?]
White Wins Black Wins
Petrosian vs Pachman, 1961
Fischer vs Myagmarsuren, 1967
Fischer vs Panno, 1970
Geller vs Averbakh, 1954
Ljubojevic vs Kasparov, 1983
Chigorin vs Lasker, 1899
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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 6 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Oct-06-04  refutor: <dudley> i'm not a master, but i play 1.Nf3 to avoid certain queen pawn openings, such as any ...e5 by black as you said, also it's a lot harder to play a benoni or a benko for black...i know it's not impossible but out of about 500 games with 1.Nf3 i've only gotten one benoni and no benkos :)
Oct-06-04  Dudley: So are you transposing into QGD positions or something else? Sounds like a practical system with better chances of reaching your main line.
Oct-07-04  refutor: always QGD systems if i can. if black goes for a king's indian, i play 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 g6 3.g3 and avoid c4 unless he plays ...d5 (going for a neo-grünfeld). if he plays ...d6 going for a KID i play c3, then go for e4. maybe it's not theoretically best, but it gives me a decent position. 1.Nf3 turns a lot of indian players into queen's gambit players after they flash out 1. ... d5. the only thing i don't like about playing 1.Nf3 is that it's very hard for me to get a Nimzo
Oct-08-04  nkvd: <Dudley, AgentRgent> thanks for the notes. I purchased Dunnington's "The Ultimate King's Indian Attack" and will make a point of playing through those games and getting a feel for how it works. It looks flexible and solid and should provide some welcome variety from the Ruy Lopez & Four Knights. I can worry about the Réti at some later point.

It doesn't seem like the KIA gets much ink in books, etc. Are there any other sources that one should look at?

Oct-09-04  wkargel: I have found the King's Indian Attack to be a great "turnkey solution" for me to have a flexible opening as White against just about every Black response except (1...d5), especially since I am working on developing an opening reprtoire and this allowed me to use something right away with a minimum of theory required.

Since that time, I have developed some other opening lines that would be considered more conventional, but in my correspondence games, I am still untilizing the KIA from time to time, and have had some good success with it, especially against the French Defense.

I think the key is what move order to use. Playing 1. Nf3 first will possibly invite the Réti, etc.

I usually will play 1. e4 and then see what Black will do to defend...if Black plays (1...c6, the Caro-Kann Defense) or (1...e6, the French Defense), I will then play 2. d3 and immediately take Black into fairly uncharted territory. The KIA can even work against (most) variations of the Sicilian Defense (1...c5)...all you need to do is play 1.e4 c5, 2. Nf3 and wait and see how Black will commit, such as playing 2..d6 or 2...e6 before playing the next move.

The KIA is not just for amateurs...Bobby Fischer had been once quoted as saying that the KIA was his favourite opening to play as White, and in fact there are numerous recorded games with him using this system as White.

I hope that this helps!

Regards,

Bill

Oct-09-04  AgentRgent: <nkvd: I purchased Dunnington's "The Ultimate King's Indian Attack"> I have that as well. An truely excellent book for anyone interested in the KIA. If you enjoy his style, you can also get his Easy Guide to the Reti Opening http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos... . Between the two, you have a complete system for white.
Oct-09-04  wkargel: I have an earlier Dunnington book on the KIA, titled "How to Play the King's Indian Attack", published by Batsford in 1993. I found it to be very helpful when I was trying to learn.

Perhaps I should pick up the more current version?

Regards,

Bill

Oct-12-04  nkvd: <wkargel> The new book weighs in at 176pp and Dunnington bills it at, 'an expanded, revised edition of the original.' There are several games that date from after the first edition... you can look at my KIA game collection to see some of the games in the new book.
Nov-12-04  revoltingpeasant: I like using KIA partly as a back up system if my opponent plays openings I haven't learnt yet after 1.e4

My question is, is there an equivalent system for Black?

Nov-12-04  maoam: <revoltingpeasant>

There's the King's Indian Defense (E60) and the Old Indian (A53) (where the kingside fianchetto isn't played straightaway). Naturally they use the same ideas but with a tempo less. For example, here are two famous Old Indian games with the equivalent of the usual KIA queenside expansion with Nc4, c2-c3, a2-a4 etc.

Pachman vs Bronstein, 1946
F Zita vs Bronstein, 1946

and another with an equivalent of the KIA kingside attack

S Belavenets vs Bronstein, 1941

Nov-12-04  Bogdanel: Can the KIA be played as white against everything black answer if white starts with e4?(except for 1..e5 and 1..d5 of course) Can it be emplyed against the Robatsch?
Jan-27-05  Backward Development: An old favorite of Fischer, the KIA can be a good surprise weapon v. a theoretically prepared opponent.
Feb-17-05  JoshuaJ8588: The KIA is probably the most underrated opening in chess. White starts off slow but an unprepared black player is surely to lose.
Feb-17-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gypsy: <Bogdanel> KIA can be played practically against enything, including as 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3..., the Konstantinopolsky Opening. Understandeably so, it is a polymorphic opening, with only a few strongly defined lines.

To learn KIA (= get a good feel for it) and/or KID, I recommend <Bronstein on KID>. Although the book explains the philosophy of the openings predominantly from the "D" point of view it does not realy distinguish much between the two. Bronstein uses a kind of of Lego approach to teaching KID/KIA and that suits the topic well.

Jul-07-05  notyetagm: There is a new book from the New In Chess publishers, another edition of their Secrets of Opening Surprises (SOS). One of the surprises is in the King's Indian Attack (KIA), which I play. Could someone please tell me what this novelty is? Thanks.
Jul-07-05  Kangaroo: There used to be a simple reason to explain why KIA became popular: what is good for Black must be even better for White, being one tempo ahead.

Still unsure whether 1.e4 or 1.d4 is worse than 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 or 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3 - Black may also choose 1... Nf6 and position becomes quite symmetric ... .

Historically, the success of opening that started with 1. Nf3 (Reti, Nimzowitsch, KIA) was based on two reasons. First, if Black clearly wanted to "refute" it by playing 1... d5 - then we know what it will look like. Second, the flexibility contained in the moves such as 1.Nf3 c5 2. e4! or transposition to the QGD with numerous unplesant continuations for either side.

Perhaps, the most serious reason for being skeptical about KIA is in the moves like those: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 g6 - who is playing the King's Indian - you or me?

Jul-07-05  OneArmedScissor: In my earlier chess years, before i knew anything about openings or theory, etc., I used to play this opening and won quite alot of games with it.

But now, it doesn't suite my style of play.

Jul-08-05  Kangaroo: < <OneArmedScissor>: But now, it doesn't suite my style of play.>

It doesn't attract me either. Yet for the sake of convenient transformation into <QGD> or <QID>, it is very nice to start with <1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 d5. 3. c4>

Regrettably, some of the KID variations are missing.

For instance, in the traditional KID White would play <1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2> and <6. Bg5> or <5. f3> and <6. Bg5> (my favorite choices) while after the premature <1. Nf3> such a pleasure is lost!

Jul-08-05  JoshuaJ8588: KIA is such an excellent opening. The common and considered the best hybrid of it is, Nf3,g3,Bg2,0-0,d3,Nbd2 and there are a number of ways you can deviate.
Jul-16-05  bhu1357: I like the KIA because it fits the rest of my opening repetoire-with black I play the KID and the Pirc, and both use a kingside fianchetto. The KIA also offers great kingside attacking chances and is very versatile when utilized against all black responses!
Nov-12-05  Dim Weasel: This page has been too quiet for awhile so maybe it is time for a patzer game ;)

Here is a loss by me with KIA. Game followed a master game (it's correspondence, BTW) in the beginning and I think I had at least draw at some point in middle game, but finally it turned out bad. Pls comment where did I go wrong. Hesitation?

[Event "corr"]
[White "Dim"]
[Black "Bright2"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[PlyCount "60"]

1.Nf3 b5 2.g3 Bb7 3.Bg2 c5 4.d3 d5 5.O-O e6 6. Nbd2 Nf6 7.e4 Be7 8.Re1 O-O 9.e5 Nfd7 10.h4 Nc6 11.Nf1 Qc7 12.Bf4 Rad8 13.c3 d4 14.h5 dxc3 15.bxc3 h6 16.Qd2 Nb6 17.Rad1 b4 18.Ne3 c4 19.Qc1 cxd3 20.cxb4 Bxb4 21.Ng4 Bxe1 22.Rxe1 Qe7 23.Bxh6 Nd4 24.Nxd4 Rxd4 25.Nf6+ gxf6 26.Qe3 Rfd8 27.exf6 Qc5 28.Bxb7 Qxh5 29.Bf3 Qg6 30.Bg7 Nc4 0-1

Nov-12-05  Cecil Brown: I think you lose the initiative and create weaknesses in your centre and queenside with 13.c3 and although you never make any huge mistakes it sort of slips away from you after that.

Maybe 13.Ne3 was better looking for a standard KIA trick 14.Nxd5 exd5 15.e6. Although black can sidestep that with Nb6 or d4 this doesn't create any new threats and you can play 14.Ng4 gearing up for a thematic kingside attack. Fritz 4 calls it level after that.

An alternative treatment of black's very early ..b5 is to play c3 and a4 with ideas similar to those after 1.b4 c6 2.Bb2 Qb6 3.a3 a5.

Nov-12-05  Dim Weasel: Thanks for the comments <Cecil Brown>, I have to learn more about that standard trick.
Nov-27-05  aw1988: This man has a very nice collection of KIA games: Artashes Minasian
Dec-24-05  Dim Weasel: Couple of KIAs were played in Torre Memorial: on win M Leon Hoyos vs Akobian, 2005 and one loss M Leon Hoyos vs Akobian, 2005
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