I'm just learning it and have a question or two. At my level, it seems it seldom gets to the ideal position. If they make a mistake, do I just abandon the ideal setup and try to punish their mistake? Or do I keep shooting for the ideal setup?
Lost the game, but just played one, where I could take a free pawn on c4 with my white B, before I got it fianchettoed. I took it and then the game went elsewhere.
I've ordered two books on the KIA, waiting for them to get here. Seems they always pin my N on f3 and I always wonder should I push the h3 pawn to get rid of it, taking back with my Q.
I used to try to play it before but I just thought it was not a good opening for a player of our level. It is full of positional finesses that someone of our rating level is easy to miss. Since then I've been focused on keeping it simple and just play the best by test, 1e4 and try not getting completely blow apart from the opening :)
I used it against ...e6 (French and Kan). That’s the way the mighty Bobby does it as well. I preferred the Qe2 lines to Nbd2 in order to have a c4 besides Nc3 in stock.
I currently play the KIA against almost every non e5 defense, although if I don't open the game tactically, I get a passive position.
You should always be ready to punish a mistake, else it wouldn't be a mistake. The minor inconvenience is often worth a pawn. The ideal position (different positions from different openings) is a goal, but it's just a common position used to describe plans. Of course, no one would forsake a mate-in-one just to complete development first. The fun of chess is the mass quantity of positions to explore.
There is a plan to exchange black's light square bishop, place the center pawns on light squares, and try to exploit white's hemmed piece. If the game isn't decided quickly, white has a better chance in the endgame. I, personally, avoid the h3 push as it "forces" black to carry out his plan. Now if the position demands the exchange of light square bishops, then the h3 push is advised. (Yeah, that was helpful. Do it sometimes, don't the others).
I'm sure that the books will help an answering these questions, but if you are still confused, feel free to ask for help.
Thanks for the replies. Have not tried the Qe2 version yet; I'll have to look at it, Sargon. Yes, I plan to have it as a weapon against French, Caro as well as the Sicilian. But lately I've been trying to employ it anyway, with 1.g3 or 1.e4 then 2.g3 (these are what you were referring to as opening the game tactically, Mr. Jones? )
Mr. Jones, I"ve indeed been trying to avoid pushing h3, but just played a game where he was pushing his h pawn, so I push h3 to get rid of his pinning light B and he took the N, I retook with my Nd2 Knight.
I ended up about 1.8 pawns up according to SF10. (even though I should have pushed d4 but played d3 a couple of times) He abandoned the game.
This is really full of numerous and different lines. Such a treat to play one of the Great One's openings.
"My opponents make good moves too. Sometimes I don't take these things into consideration." BF
A good book for learning the KIA was from J.EMMS. As
@Sarg0n I used it against the French and e6-Sicilians, not knowing when R.J.Fischer did use it. It was simply a way of reducing the amount of theory learning at those days.
There aren't many players sticking to it over decades. This has a reason. If the black player does know it, this leads to slightly worse results for black compared with mainlines. So if you have managed to have a good repertoire against 1.e4 e5, Caro-Kann, Modern and Pirc, Aljechin and the non e6-Sicilians, which will need some time, you will probably see it as an old companion who served you well.
Maybe you try 1.e4 e6 2.Qe2 against the French Opening from time to time. This doesn't give an advantage in the books. But in some games you will have an attacking tempo more, if you manage to play directly d2-d4 instead of the KIA-way d2-d3-d4. So you learn about different center strategies in the opening.
Black doesn't have to fear all this. But if playing these lines white gets a game of chess. That's all you need at your level as there is the opportunity to get better.
Usually in KIA white attacks on kingside(with an eye on queenside of course) while black attacks on queenside. Black can get a space advantage and can exploit it attacking with a pawn storm on queenside,meanwhile white must limit opponent's counterplay(easier to tell than do it)and search for a mate on kingside. Robert James Fischer played several times KIA with white. KIA can lead to a KID with a time plus. If you are black and play sicilian you could try: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5! opening suddenly the center.Passive moves like ...d6 are of course playable but black gets only a playable position with them. Or you can simply copy your opponent.Example: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.00 00 5.d3 d6 6.e4 e5 7.Nbd2 Nbd7 8.Ne1 Ne8 etc. Here SF suggests 9.a4 c6,fritz 9.f4 exf4 10.Rxf4(i personally prefer 10.gxf4)and game goes on.KIA is playable for both sides and rarely you get crushed in the opening so you can reach a middlegame rich of possibilities for both players. Engines prefer black a little but never trust about engine evaluations xD.
There are many defenses possible yet there are numerous ways to play it as White. It's is not only this kingside-only-attack, using the Bg2 in the center might be possible to.
For example, this is an instant desaster if Black doesn't accept the IQP position with 11. ... cd4 (which would be ok though).
I beat computer (playing on Kingside)
with ( two ) knight sac
