If White is going to lock the center with d5, he needs needs to discourage Black from playing Bh5, followed by either f5 of Nf4. I prefer 8 Bg5 instead of castling, followed by Nd2 to protect the e-pawn and c-pawn so that the Queen and Bishop can wait to see where their best squares will be. After these, then castling is probably good, depending on what Black does.
In the position after 8 O-O, Na6, it's now or never for 9 Bg5, and this move has had the best success in master level games.
9 Ne1 (to support an eventual f4) is marginal, because it forces the Queen to defend the e-pawn after 9 ... Nc5 (since 10 f3 would defeat the purpose of an eventual f4), 10 Qc2. Then after 10 ... Nfd7, White's best is generally 11 Nd3, which works well against 11 ... f5. However, Black can simply take the Knight, then play the Knight back to c5.
9 Qc2 doesn't work well because it assigns the Queen the task of defending the e-pawn. After 9... Nh5!, Black threatens to park the Knight on f4 and either trade it for White's "good" Bishop (while opening the long diagonal) or possibly exchange it for the other Bishop. f5 is also threatened.
9 Be3 has done poorly. Black has had some success with the direct 9 ... Ng4 and does better with 9 ... Nh4.
Your opponent's move of 9 h3 has been played a move earlier (before castling) and followed with Bg5, but it hasn't done well against this line: 8 h3 Na6, 9 Bg5 Qe8!, 10 Nd2 ( 10 g4 has also been played and leads to unclear positions) Nd7! preparing for f5. Playing 9 h3 is mostly a waste of a move, because White doesn't intend to play the Bishop to e3 anyway, but it probably leads to an equal position. Black can proceed with whatever plans he wishes.
Hello everyone,
I've been trying to learn the King's Indian Defense recently, and this has been my best game with it so far. I would appreciate it if you could point out any weaknesses on Black's part that you can spot. In particular, is there a better response for White to 8 ... Na6 ?