Game of the Week #419
The King's Indian is a fighting and double-edged opening, and in the main lines Black often trades positional disadvantages for hopes and chances to mate White's king.
Some players, e.g. Vladimir Kramnik and Viktor Kortschnoi, firmly believed in White's positional advantages, others, e.g. Bobby Fischer or Garry Kasparov, had faith in Black's attacking chances on the kingside.
At any rate, the sharp position has led to many interesting and spectacular games, and one of the most spectacular wins with the King's Indian was played by Hikaru Nakamura in 2009 when he defeated Alexander Beliavsky with a series of incredible sacrifices.
| 1.e4 | 1,166,623 | 54% | 2421 | --- |
| 1.d4 | 947,298 | 55% | 2434 | --- |
| 1.Nf3 | 281,602 | 56% | 2441 | --- |
| 1.c4 | 182,102 | 56% | 2442 | --- |
| 1.g3 | 19,702 | 56% | 2427 | --- |
| 1.b3 | 14,265 | 54% | 2427 | --- |
| 1.f4 | 5,897 | 48% | 2377 | --- |
| 1.Nc3 | 3,801 | 51% | 2384 | --- |
| 1.b4 | 1,756 | 48% | 2380 | --- |
| 1.a3 | 1,206 | 54% | 2404 | --- |
| 1.e3 | 1,068 | 48% | 2408 | --- |
| 1.d3 | 954 | 50% | 2378 | --- |
| 1.g4 | 664 | 46% | 2360 | --- |
| 1.h4 | 446 | 53% | 2374 | --- |
| 1.c3 | 433 | 51% | 2426 | --- |
| 1.h3 | 280 | 56% | 2418 | --- |
| 1.a4 | 110 | 60% | 2466 | --- |
| 1.f3 | 92 | 46% | 2436 | --- |
| 1.Nh3 | 89 | 66% | 2508 | --- |
| 1.Na3 | 42 | 62% | 2482 | --- |
Please, wait...
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.Nd2 Ne8 10.b4 f5 11.c5 Nf6 12.f3 f4 13.Nc4 g5 14.a4 Ng6 15.Ba3 Rf7 16.a5 h5 17.b5 dxc5 18.b6 g4 19.bxc7 Rxc7 20.Nb5 g3 21.Nxc7 Nxe4 22.Ne6 Bxe6 23.dxe6 gxh2+ 24.Kxh2 Qh4+ 25.Kg1 Ng3 26.Bxc5 e4 27.Ra4 Rc8 28.Bxa7 b5 29.Rb4 bxc4 30.Bxc4 Qh1+ 31.Kf2 e3+ 32.Bxe3 fxe3+ 33.Kxe3 Nxf1+ 34.Bxf1 Qg1+ 0–1
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| Beliavsky,A | 2662 | Nakamura,H | 2710 | 0–1 | 2009 | E97 | Amsterdam NH Hotels 4th | 3 |
Please, wait...
But in his quarterfinal match against Ding Liren at the Chessable Masters Nakamura had problems to make the King's Indian work and could not stop Ding Liren from demonstrating the advantages of White's position in the main lines of the King's Indian.
In his show Merijn van Delft takes a close look at a fascinating King's Indian encounter from the Chessable Quarterfinal match between Ding Liren and Hikaru Nakamura.
But first a warming-up question: What would you play here with White?
Ding Liren - Hikaru Nakamura, Chessable Masters, Quarterfinals
Merijn will explain in the show!
The live show is free to watch, and available on-demand for ChessBase Premium accounts.
This week's show
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In the classical system of the King's Indian White develops naturally and refrains from chasing ghosts looking for a refutation of Black's set-up. White instead relies on the fact that natural play should yield him a small but lasting advantage.
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