King's Indian Defence - by Sam Collins (Paperback)

About the Book

The King's Indian is a hugely popular opening at all levels of chess. Rather than attempting to secure early equality, Black is fighting for the initiative from the very first moves.

Book Synopsis

The King's Indian is a hugely popular opening at all levels of chess. Rather than attempting to secure early equality, Black is fighting for the initiative from the very first moves. White is allowed to build up an early central advantage but Black relies on the middlegame, hoping that the central installations that White has constructed will become unwieldy and vulnerable to a devastating counterattack. In many variations, White pursues material or strategic gains but in return Black has tactical and attacking opportunities. The King's Indian Defence appeals to players who arrive at the board prepared for a fight. The Move by Move series provides an ideal format for the keen chessplayer to improve their game. While reading you are continually challenged to answer probing questions - a method that greatly encourages the learning and practising of vital skills just as much as the traditional assimilation of chess knowledge. Carefully selected questions and answers are designed to keep you actively involved and allow you to monitor your progress as you learn. This is an excellent way to study chess while providing the best possible chance to retain what has been learnt.

Review Quotes

I found this book essential in order to give me the systematic knowledge to understand more difficult works on the KID. It is true we have hundreds of books on the KID, but the real problem is how to tackle the learning of the material. There should be a kind of staircase to success, and on each step there is a book. On the first step this is the book one needs to read to grasp the general ideas.--David Nastasio "Georgia Chess"

Overall, though, Collins has produced a highly-accessible introductory guide to one of the most popular openings. I feel players looking to take up the opening or aiming to fill in the gaps in their KID repertoire will find this book a suitable successor to Gallagher's 2002 work.--Paul Hopwood "CHESS Magazine"

The best resource available to class players on the KID at the moment is The Kings Indian Move by Move by IM Sam Collins. In less than two hundred and forty page the author helps the reader to understand the KID, play the best moves in different variations according to current theory and inject new life in Black's play against the super solid Fianchetto Variation. As usual the annotations by Collins are great and the twenty nine games are enough for an amateur to start on the right foot his chess career as a KID devotee.--Miguel Ararat "FloridaChess, Spring 2019"