I think the problem is that after 7.d5 if Black will be a tempo down on any main line position because of all the knight moves. So Black will have to do without ...c5 or ...e5 which is a bit sketchy.
Another problem I think is that since Black will want to play ...e5-e4 at some point, a move like d5 would force the knight back to b8 since ...Ne7 could hang the e-pawn. With the knight on d7 that's not a problem.
Why should one prefer his pawn being on e4 instead of e3 when Black plays ...e5? Does not make sense to me. Also, why playing e2-e3 and later e3-e4 is a tempo loss while playing ...Nb8-c6 and later ...Nc6-b8 is not?
Black will be a tempo down not White. The knight will have to move 3 times to get somewhere useful. 7.d5 is comming with tempo so it's not a loss.
Moves like ...c6 or ...e6 are possible sure but even so White just puts his knight on d4 and asks Black what he's gained from not playing something else.
Yeah, after putting some thought on this I have to admit that both of you have a point. I will stick 7.d5 next time I face someone playing this variation (might be really rare though). Thanks pfren and penandpaper.
Doesn't 4...d5 gives Black an improved Grunfeld
Black can enter a Grunfeld (e3 variation) under that particular move order, but White may delay the move Nb1-c3 for a while, and now the Grunfeld option is not very appetizing, since the knight can be kicked with e3-e4 soon, and there will be nothing at c3 to swap the d5 knight,
Hello, I wanted to know the community thoughts on the move 6... Nc6 being played against white's e3 setup on the King's Indian Defense. The position is the following:
Clearly the most common move for black to prepare for playing e5 in that case is Nbd7 or Re1, but is Nc6 that bad? I ask this because I don't think that white playing 7. d5 or d5 at any point will sound like a good idea for white compared to a KID position where white has the e-pawn on e4 rather than e3, isn't it? And also, I guess black could really prevent white from pushing his pawn to b4 if black's c6 knight stayed there along with an a5 pawn move. Though I guess it will also be harder for black to attack white's kingside in this case, right? So, what are your thoughts?