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Despite the dearth of King’s Indian aficionados in the 2700 club, senior events have quite a few of them. In the last World Senior Team Championships both John Nunn and Mark Hebden were wheeling it out for England, and with excellent results. One game that caught peoples’ eye was Anatoly Vaisser playing White against John Nunn in which the Four Pawns Attack was used. Investigating this and some other recent games made me think that the Four Pawns was a suitable topic for an update.

Download PGN of March ’25 KID games

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Four Pawns Attack 6.Nf3 c5 7.dxc5 [E76]

Vaisser is a long time Four Pawns Attack specialist, and sure enough the game went 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.f4 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 7.dxc5 and now 7...Na6!?:

was thought to be a theoretical novelty (Vaisser, A - Nunn, J). It turned out that it had been played before, but then Vaisser’s 8.cxd6 Nc5 9.e5!? was the real new move. Actually the game would have been equal had White played 18.Ke1.

How had previous games in this line gone? A specialist in this line, Helgi Gretarsson, played the simple 9.Bd3 instead of Vaisser’s 9.e5, in Gretarsson, H - Bazakutsa, S, but Black was more than fine after 9...Qb6. It looks as if 7...Na6 is rather a good move.


Four Pawns Attack 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.dxe6 [E76]

This is another interesting line for White, and indeed Viktor Moskalenko recommended it in his book An Attacking Repertoire for White with 1.d4. Black’s best is 8...fxe6 after which 9.Bd3 Nh5 10.g3 Nc6 11.0-0 b6:

featured in a previous Chesspublishing.com update by Mihaela Sandu (see Turov, M - Hillarp-Persson, T in the archives). In that game White continued with 12.f5 but Venkatesan, K - Gokerkan, C featured 12.Be3 instead, and then a novelty with 12...Nf6. This seems fine for Black, and in the game White’s position imploded.


Four Pawns Attack 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.exd5 [E77]

This isn’t played these days very much, but Emmenecker, P - Lagarde, M caught my eye. Black’s 9...Bf5:

has a good reputation but White had the possibility of interesting play with his thematic 15.f5 instead of 15.a4. I think that Black should take this line seriously as there are many pitfalls for the unprepared.


Four Pawns Attack 6.Nf3 c5 7.d5 e6 8.Be2 exd5 9.cxd5 [A68/A69]

I find it strange that this is coded as a Benoni when it will almost certainly arise via a King’s Indian move order. It has long been regarded as the main way to play the Four Pawns Attack and has been subject to detailed theoretical examination over the years. One thing to note is that 9...Bg4, which was formerly Black’s main line, has now been largely sidelined. The main move is now 9...Re8:

as in Rosol, P - Shearsby, J, with similar chaos and forced lines following 9...b5

as in Cogan, N - Ibadov. D. I found this game rather interesting because of Ibadov’s 14...Bb7, which he has played several times.

If Black wants a quieter option, then 9...Nbd7 make sense:

White being unable to play 10.e5 so a Benoni type position arises after 10.0-0 Re8. Maisuradze, N - Velpula, S followed precedent for some time and then Black improved with 19...Qe7. Black is certainly no worse here, but there may not be a lot of winning chances.

This gives rise to an interesting question as to how Black can get a chess game rather than a theoretical battle? One answer seems to be Frederik Svane’s 9...Qe7:

from Fedorovsky, M - Svane, F, which seems to give Black a playable and interesting position but without a lot of forced lines. As such it’s an eminently practical move, and may be a decent replacement for those of us who used to like 9...Bg4.


See you next month! Nigel

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Don't hesitate to share your thoughts and suggestions. Any queries or comments to the KID Forum, or to me directly at support@chesspublishing.com (subscribers only) would be welcome.