King's Indian Defense - what do you like for 5th move?

Sort:
sholom90

(My apologies -- *this* is the thread I wanted to start!)

Standard start of KID after four moves:

What do you like for white's next move, and why?  (I know there are a few standard moves here, I'm curious to hear pros and cons)

king5minblitz119147

5 h3 and play as boringly as possible, dxe5 if allowed. rules out the bg4 stuff they maybe would want to try after the caruana game vs woj.

Wildekaart

In response to above person, you can just play 5. Nf3 since you don't really have to respond to the threat of Bg4. By playing Qb3 for example, taking the knight as Black is now much less tempting since you're just as likely to castle queenside now and gxf3 won't damage your safety. Furthermore you take full control of the d5 square and in fact most of the center. The threat of taking on b7 is also still there. Black is in a lot of trouble if they don't castle soon and play defensively. Bg4 is not a threat.

sholom90

FWIW, FCO suggests 5. Nf3 as well as a few other options.

  • 5. f4 and then Nf3  (Four Pawns Attack)
  • 5. f3 followed by Be3 (Samisch Variation)
  • 5, Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 (Averbach Variation)

But I think he spends most of the time on 5. Nf3 followed by Be2 and then a number of variations off of that.

Anybody else have any thoughts on these four main moves for white?