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 According to Bologan's vision, the King's Indian is a dynamic, counter-attacking opening that is yet fundamentally sound. In this, he has been heavily influenced by Zigurds Lanka, his long-time coach; and the book is, appropriately enough, dedicated to Lanka. Bologan concedes that certain lines remain problematical and that his book does not contain all the answers to every question.
Reviewed by P.P.O. Kane
The King's Indian: A Complete Black Repertoire
by Victor Bologan
Chess Stars, June 2009
ISBN: 9789548782715
In his introduction Bologan describes the King's Indian Defence as probably the most romantic response to 1.d4 and when one considers the legacy of great games played with the opening, and the roll call of great players who have championed it (Fischer, Kasparov, Bronstein, Geller, Stein ), this characterisation can hardly be challenged. Bologan looks at the opening from Black s viewpoint and his survey is focused yet thorough.
The main emphasis is on White's principal systems:
Averbakh's Variation: against which Bologan recommends 6 h6 7.Be3 c5 and 6 Na6, Glek s relatively recent invention.
The Samisch Attack: where the pawn sacrifice 5 0-0 6.Be3 c5 gets the nod from Bologan, and naturally the alternatives 6.Bg5 and 6.Nge2 are covered too.
The Fianchetto System: here Bologan plumbs for Panno's 6 Nc6.
The Four Pawns Attack & The Classical Variation: against both of which Bologan pretty much follows the mainlines.
And other more minor lines (e.g. Smyslov's system with an early Bg5, 5.Bd3 and Makagonov s 5.h3) are adequately covered too.
According to Bologan's vision, the King's Indian is a dynamic, counter-attacking opening that is yet fundamentally sound. In this, he has been heavily influenced by Zigurds Lanka, his long-time coach; and the book is, appropriately enough, dedicated to Lanka. Bologan concedes that certain lines remain problematical and that his book does not contain all the answers to every question. Even so, he trusts in the resources at Black's disposal.
Bologan's discussions of the various lines give valuable insights into the nature of the King's Indian and his assessments are authoritative. This fine book gives comprehensive coverage of an opening that approaches the status of a creation myth.
A supplement to the book, covering the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0 0 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.exd5, can be downloaded from this webpage:
www.chess-stars.com.
About the reviewer: P.P.O. Kane lives and works in Manchester, England. He welcomes responses to his reviews and you can reach him at ludic@europe.com
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