KID replacement

I've been playing KID ever since I laerned about openings, but now I'm wondering how much I actually learn playing it. I rarely get into the proper KID, most people try to get me into a Pirc or just don't play c4 making me play something different. That doesn't bother me, I know you have to be ready for the unexpected in all openings but I just don't really like the positions I get into a lot becuase by the time I realize my opponent is going for something else I've already done my fianchetto. When I actually do get into the KID (EXTREMELY rare) it seems like there is an opening, climax, and endgame. I won't bother adding middlegame, because by the time I reach the end of my theoretical knowledge the position is pretty much all rigged to blow within a small amount of moves. What results is usually a messy win for either side which I love but then I don't get much endgame practice either.

Basically I'm looking for an opening that's harder to avoid than the KID but still.... Who am I kidding, I don't even know what I want. I suppose I'd favor something with less theory and an active but fairly balanced position with a loose plan to follow. Maybe that's too specific? I don't know, but since the KID is the only responce to d4 I've looked at I'm sort of at a loss here.

Thanks, I'll look into that! I know a local FM here who is an expert in that opening, maybe I can learn some things.

KID is a fairly advanced opening and if you are below 1600 level, I guess you should think about alternative lines. Today I played KID saemish and blundered my queen and you know what my rating is -- 2183. So my answer is don't blame the opening but your play and strength.

Hey, can someone explain to me what KID is?  ... and what all these technical terms are...

Hi Gol, I see you've dug up my posts :3 From now on, you can use google to find most of the terminology. Just type in whatever you're confused about with chess and you should get results. I'll help you though:

KID: King's Indian Defense, an opening for Black.

Pirc: Another Black opening.

Fianchetto: Playing your b or g pawn 1 or two squares up and putting your bishop behind the pawn.

FM: Federal Master, a title in competitive chess.

Any more question you have you can pm me or whatevs

Don't we all. No one can realy tell you what openings you should play, there is no magic one that makes all the problems go away, try a few and pick a solid one.

FM is FIDE master, FIDE being federation internationale d'echces (that's probably not spelled right), french for international chess federation.

I used to play the KID as my only opening. My problem with it is that not only is there a TON of theory (samisch, fianchetto, classical, so so many variations), most of these lines for white I feel black is struggling for equality, even if he ultimately gets it sometimes. I think the dutch and KID are similar in that both of them can have messy ideas and often hard to grasp dynamic and strategic concepts, with black often hanging on a cliff. Sure, on the surface the dutch is simple, just attack on the kingside right? But there's like a million subtleties to that. You can try to play the stonewall which can often result in a crude attack but the truth is against strong play you're just not going to have a ready made attack, but maybe you're not at that point yet? Anyways black often has to pick JUST the right moment to try to seize the initiative if possible with some abstract move, otherwise he just gets a somewhat passive position with lots of weaknesses.

Now with all that said (ok I really didn't mean to say don't play the dutch, I'm just warning you), you should still consider looking at the dutch and see how you do with it. I'm just stating my opinions. I think it fits your requests the best, but it definitley has its drawbacks. d4 can be a tough nut to crack, that's why I like it.

I love the Dutch. You'll only hear about the Stonewall and the Leningrad, but the Classical is a good, lesser played, system.

The Dutch also works against the English, and if you really feel like going ballsy, can be used as white (The Bird's).

LOL if i was a Federal Master I would feel like a god.  Like graduating from Karate school... (XD) (not like I did that... but I imagine it feels pretty good)

 Getting a black belt feels good, but you never really graduate.