Hi friends,

I will be participating in a FIDE rating tournament in a month's time here at my place.

1. I wanted to learn and use the King's Indian Defence and am looking for some nice "attacking" variations that I could employ as Black!

2. Can someone recommend a solid semi-open (non e4-e5) defence to play against e4 other than the Caro-Kann.

I understand the queries are not too specific, but still any inputs/suggestions would be very helpful.

Just for info, I mostly play the Budapest Gambit, Slav defence and dutch in response to d4 and the Caro-Kann to e4.

Thank you very much.

Cheers,

i don't recommend openings other than the Caro-Kann:), but the Scandanavian (e4, d5,) is close to the Caro and Very solid.

The scandinavian gives up multiple tempi, bringing the queen out too early. It gives a big advantage to white. I don't think it is solid.

You play the KID, would you like a couple of games in it with me, one as white and one as black?

Who are you talking to chessy?

1.e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 etc. might seem to be gaining a tempo for white but Qd6 and Qa5 is very much playable main line in my opinion.

Though not a regular player, I have also occasionally used 1.e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6!? capturing the pawn with the knight which does lead to some exciting play.

Cheers,

I saw that white has so many variations to play against Black like the saemisch,andersson variation, averbakh etc. etc. but couldnt find any sources which explains briefly about some lines that Black can employ! Is it that Black doesnt have specific theoritical lines per se but only thematic attack with Ne8-f5-e5-f4 pushes irrespective of how white plays on the Queen side.

Can someone plz throw some light on this?

Cheers,

If you like the King's Indian Defense against d4, then why not play the Sicilian (Dragon) against e4? The positions are very similar. If you like one you should like the other.

Why are people saying you lose a tempo while playing the Scandanavian?

White moves his pawn twice. This double move makes it perfectly acceptable for Black's queen to move twice... No lost tempo.

It is a tried and true, perfectly solid opening.

What about the Pirc, which has the extra advantage of possible transposition into the KID (I think)?

It is a perfectly solid opening, but although technically tempo is equal aside from white having the move, the queen is most likely less useful than having the knight on c3 and pawn being able to claim space with d4. So it's not so much the amount of tempi but rather the quality of the tempi.

If you want kingside attacks, I don't know if the KID is your best choice. There are plenty of lines for white that avoid black kingside attacks. The dutch usually involves a kingside attack, though it's risky.

the king's indian is pretty much a thematic attack for black, there arent any "main lines" per se. basically, usually you want to push e5, and somehow encourage white to play d5. then the attack can start!

I recommend 1. e4 e6 2. d4 c5, transposing into a very solid sicilian line.

if u want to learn the KID get a book called KID (spelled out) mar del plata vaariation. its a really good book and ez to follow. its by some guy named gligoric.

A month before a tournament is pretty short notice to adopt all-new openings for Black!  Better probably to polish up your knowledge on what you already play, perhaps find a new line or two to add to that.

Unless of course White plays 3 d5! with a "Franco-Sicilian" (sometimes called the Larsen Defense), which is difficult for Black.

In fact, black is fine after 3 ... cxd5 followed by natural development with Nf6, Bc5, Nge7, 0-0, d6, b6, and Bb7 or Bd7.

White has a lot of responses to the KID so as Estragon says in a month you can absorb the ideas  but not all the variations.  The Gambit starting out books are good for starting out.  The KID generally is attacking, watch for  how white protects d4 and ideally you play e5 then move the knight f5 and attack on the kingside, hopefully faster than white can wreck your queenside,  But white can play something like the fianchetto variation or even a Richter-Veresov and then you need an alternate plan.  If you play the Budapest maybe add Albin's Counter Gambit to your repertoire, it's similar and I think a little better.  The Dutch might also be easier to absorb against d4 so long as yopu don't go into the Leningrad.

Key word here is "somehow", which is just wishful thinking. In reality there are lines white can pick where he avoids d5 and not with any major consequences. What would you do then?

This calls for my debyt for using the phrase 'lol'