KIA Questions.

Sort:
R0m304

Hello all, first time poster here. Reading some of the forums here, I've noticed that many think the KIA is not such a great opening, siting that not many GMs use it, and someone said its a lazy players opening. I took a liking to the opening because of it's ease of use against anything that black plays, which has allowed me to study endgames and tactics instead of wading thru opening theory. However I have had a lot of trouble trying to find theory and plans for white against blacks various defences and such. So with that in mind, is there a better system that has the versatility of the KIA and which doesn't have a ton of memorization required? Also, I do play the KID against 1.d4, and avoid the more theoretical lines. Any suggestions for a similar response against 1.e4?

 


KillaBeez
The Pirc is really the only thing that comes to mind at the moment.
chesschamp1020
maybe the lion or the hippo
Feldmm1
I do not use the KIA much, but I do it when someone plays the sicilian against me. Anyway, regardless of what opening you choose, you are most likely going to have to memorize a lot of theory and variations. I think the lack of theory that either player knows encourages creativity. If I were you, I would expand my opening repitoire to include at least one more white opening, but I would also continue playing the KIA, and if I found something I was having a bit of trouble against, and if I could not find theory on it, I would experiement with it in my games and see if I could overcome. If you cannot find much theory on playing against these defenses, then perhaps your opponent will not have much theory playing with them, so the likelihood of finding a way to get past their defenses is increased. If you like using black openings as white, maybe you should try the Hedgehog or the Hippo out and see how much success you have with them. Also, if you want to avoid theory, maybe you would be interested in the Kan variation of the sicilian. You still have to learn some theory and variations, but the Kan has the least amount of theory compared to the other sicilians. "The Kan is more of a 'system' in that Black tends to react similarly regardless of how White plays it." - John Emms, Sicilian Kan.
GotGoose

Unfortunately, you're not going to find a line that doesn't have lots of theory attached to it.  Even the King's Indian Defense is theory-heavy, but really most good openings are.  But about people saying that GMs don't play the KIA, don't worry about that.  I was at the recent Chicago Open and I saw a GM play it.

 Here's a Wikipedia page on the KIA.  On that page you can find a list of further reading.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King's_Indian_Attack

Here's another page that looks interesting:  http://www.exeterchessclub.org.uk/Openings/sic10.html

 Good luck.

 EDIT: haha, I posted at the same time as you feldmm1


Feldmm1
Actually, according to the time on the top of each post, I posted 6 minutes before you.
R0m304
Thanks for the quick responses  guys, it's nice to see active forums a lot of other sites are dead. Anyway i will check out the suggestions you guys made. Thanks for the help.