How to beat the Trompowsky

I guess the King's Indian moves are still playable: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bg5 g6 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. e3 Bg7 5. c4 0-0, then play f5 and d6 to control the center. Then c6 or c5 according to what White does.

The Trompowsky is the Ultimate Counter to the Indian Complexes.

The Best way to deal with it according to Theory is by playing Ne4 like in the above diagram.

BUT the game will not seem like a KID.

I don’t recommend the line Nerwal mentioned.

I think the above position is terrible for Black.

It is basically what White wants and I think it really makes the KID lose a lot of steam.

I have seen some high level players trying to play the line. They argue Black has Bishop Pair, but I still think the position is insufferable.

If you really want to play a KID, Than you could try playing the Nd7 line.

Basically, you delay playing g6 till you get your Knight on f6 reinforced with your other Knight on d7.

The only downside is if your opponent takes early you will have to play the line with out g6.

For example if your opponent does the above moves. You would have to play the line with out g6.

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I am a Kings Indian Player, but I am also a Gruenfeld Player so usually when my opponent plays Trompowsky I play a Gruenfeld.

You often play d5 in Gruenfeld and d6 in KID.

This is sort of how I came up with the Idea.

I think it’s the closest thing you can do to try and get into Kings Indian with out them ruining you.

The important thing to remember is that g6 isn’t great if your opponent takes Knight on f6 and forces you to recapture with E pawn.

Also, I want to show you a very strange maneuver you can do with Dark Bishop.

It’s very tempting to play g6 and put Bishop on g7, but remember that’s what White wants you to do. It’s part of their Strategic winning plan.

So you don’t want to do it.

Instead, you leave G pawn allow.

Than try to use your double F pawn to break up white center pawns.

A move like F4 with Dark Bishop helping from h6 can be pretty good and annoying for White.

Also, White might try to play e4 in response to you playing f4 so make sure you control that square.

You can jump your Knight to d7 to f6 to help fight for e4 square + Rook on E file.

Obviously, the line isn’t the same as King Indian, but it does sort of help you get revenge for what they have done to you.

If you like books, there's a good one called Dealing with d4 deviations by John Cox. It deals with the Trompowsky, Torre, London, Colle...

Whatever line against the Tromp you go with (I recommend c5) I would not recommend changing your entire repertoire in order to match your response to the Tromp. Especially not to the Grunfeld, which ... is a positional line which leaves very little room for deviation from theory, since the advanced center pawn has to be handled with great care.

I would not recommend this book to the OP.

The book by Cox is written for players that normally play 1...d5 lines and the Nimzo-Indian, which he even mentions in the intro because there are books out on the anti-kings Indian specifically for kings Indian and grunfeld players.

The Cox book is good for Nimzo and 1...d5 players.

The OP should read Yelena Dembo's book on the Anti-Kings Indians. Joe Gallagher also wrote a book on it in the 90s, which may be a little dated, but I specifically prefer his recommendation for Black against the London System over Dembo's book. I would suggest Dembo's book for the rest.

Gallagher recommends the following against the london:

The idea is to play ...e5 and ...Qe7.

Now if White does not play Nbd2 by move 7, like if he plays O-O and c3 in some order moves 6 and 7, then 7...Ne4!! With a trade if Nbd2, and here you get in e5 (Bishop guards instead of queen) and then Qe7 in one move instead of 2.

Take a look at this idea against the London, and Dembo's book, not Cox's, against other non-2.c4 stuff.

One thing Gallagher book covers that Dembo's doesn't is the more rare kings Indian lines themselves, like the 4 pawns, 5.Nge2, 5.Bd3, etc, but other books cover that too.