The King’s Indian has always been one of the sharpest, most complex and popular openings that Black can play; it still provides the setting for many encounters at the elite level of grandmaster chess. Straight from the start, Black fights for the initiative and in many variations, while White pursues material gains, it is Black who has the psychological advantage of trying checkmate the opponent’s king.
Despite its many advantages, some prospective King’s Indian players are put off by the seemingly endless amount of theory one is supposed to learn. In Play the King’s Indian, however, grandmaster and life-long King’s Indian devotee Joe Gallagher has produced a comprehensive and yet workable black repertoire against all of White’s most dangerous possibilities.
Written by a renowned King's Indian expert
Includes up-to-date theory on a fascinating opening
Review On Nov 8, 2004by Geof Strayer of Altadena, CA
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GM Joe Gallagher has written 3 previous books on the King's Indian ("The Samisch King's Indian," "Beating the Anti-King's Indian" and "Starting Out: The King's Indian"), all of which have been minor classics and have received critical acclaim from reviewers like John Watson, Jeremy Silman and Randy Bauer. As a life-long King's Indian player, Gallagher has a deep understanding of this opening and is far better than most professional players at communicating his understanding in writing.
Gallagher's new book, "Play the King's Indian," is his first aimed at presenting a comprehensive King's Indian repertoire in a single volume. As a repertoire book, this book only covers certain lines, but Gallagher has chosen the lines that he feels are most promising for Black (no "second-best" choices to reduce the amount of theory) and has supplied a lot of options for the Black player. For example, in the critical Classical Variation (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0), Gallagher covers both the sharp Modern Main Line after 7...Nc6, and the more positional 7...Na6. Nor does he stint on mainline theory where appropriate (there is a whole separate chapter on how to play against the Bayonet Attack!).
As Gallagher forthrightly points out in his introduction, some of the analysis in this book is a rehash (updated through mid-2004) of certain lines/analysis presented in his previous books, something which was necessary in order for this book to be complete by itself. I have his 3 previous books on the King's Indian and estimate that only about 10-15% of the material in his new book has appeared in his prior works, so most of the book is entirely new.
In my opinion this is clearly Gallagher's best book so far on the King's Indian, notwithstanding the fact that his previous books were excellent. The book consists of 73 deeply annotated complete games, and the annotations are probably the best I've ever seen in an opening book. Gallagher provides a wonderful mix of analytical lines and richly insightful textual explanations that reveal the reasons behind the theory. As a former player of the King's Indian at the master level, I can honestly say that there is not a single game annotated in this book that did not contain some revelations for me in terms of understanding rather than just theory.
Given the modest financial rewards for chess authorship, I think this book must be viewed primarily as a labor of love by a talented chess author on an opening that he has been devoted to for almost 30 years. In my opinion, it will remain THE book on the King's Indian (and, in particular, the lines chosen by Gallagher) for years to come, and the one by which all future books must be judged. If you play the King's Indian or would like to, or you play against it, you almost have no choice but to buy this book. Gallagher has delineated ground zero for the theoretical debate in this opening over the next 5 to 10 years.
Review On Dec 28, 2005by Michael G of Chicago, IL
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One of the best Openings bookss I've ever seen. Not just a jungle of variations but lots of explanations of the ideas and even psychology of the opening.
Only a few chess players work at chess to the best of their abilities.
Boris Gelfand
Puzzle Answer
1.Rd7! Bxd7 2.Qxd7 Qb6+ 3.Kh1 Re8 4.Rxe7! Rxe7 5.Bd6 Qxd6 6.Qxd6+- Gelfand-Salov, Madrid 1996 (Source: Anthology of Chess Combinations)
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