Hang Gliding and the KID
Submitted by
on Wed, 06/11/2008 at 1:31pm.
Hang glider pilots know that it is better to be sitting on the hill wishing you were flying than to be flying in dangerous conditions, wishing you were sitting on the hill. Sometimes the King's Indian Defence is just like that, and there have been times I wished I had opted for a quieter opening.
The KID is not an opening for players who want a friendly draw. Normally white storms down the queen-side while black attacks the white king and whoever gets their blow in first is likely to win. It is a tactical defence that, by its very nature, invites sacrifices—after all, most of the pieces are going to be deployed on opposite sides of the board and a piece so far out of play is, for practical (if temporary) purposes, no piece at all.
I'm a seat-of-the-pants player with limited opening knowledge but the fianchetto openings suit my style so, when I tried the KID for the first time last year, I thought it would suit my play.
Well, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.
Take a look at the accompanying game against ozzie_c_cobblepot. It's a great example of how not to play the KID. I started to go wrong as early as 8...Ng4 thinking to gain a move by forcing white's bishop back (or to gain some advantage by exchanging it) but I had completely forgotten that it could come forward rather than back and after 9.Bg5 attacking my queen I tamely returned the knight to f6, conceding two tempi and the initiative. That's a luxury you can't afford in the KID and from that moment forward white's attack built inexorably as ozzie_c dominated all the open lines.
It was at this stage I thought I heard evil laughter chuckling out of my speaker for, as movie buffs will know, ozzie-c-cobblepot is none other than The Penguin.
(He suggested during the game that 9...f6 was a better move and was obviously right.)
I resigned when he protected his bishop, leaving me a piece and a passed pawn behind, but he had no need to protect it at all. After 42.h3 Qxf1 43. Kh2 I had no checks left and my queen couldn't get back in time to defend mate.
Here's the game—not posted for its erudition, but as an example of “how not to play the KID”.