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King’s Indian Classical 7...Na6 8.Be3 Qe7 9.d5 [E94]

After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Be3 Qe7 The move 9.d5 is going to be welcomed by many King’s Indian players as it allows them to play for their traditional counterplay based on ...f7-f5:

I noticed that Daniel Naroditsky, who recently died under tragic circumstances, has appeared on the Black side of this line in many blitz games. I have included the one against Alexander Grischuk (Grischuk, A - Naroditsky, D) because both sides were likely to have been in some high-class preparation. Black won after a couple of blunders by his opponent.

Black can also play the rare 12...Nh6 instead of the immediate 12...f5, as in Putrenko, K - Suleiman, E. It seems quite playable and might also have some surprise value.

King’s Indian Classical 7...Na6 8.Be3 Qe7 9.Qc2 [E94]

After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Na6 8.Be3 Qe7 9.Qc2:

Black’s most usual move has been 9...exd4, when 10.Nxd4 Nb4 11.Qb1!? is Serra Pages, J - Sidorenko, I and 10.Bxd4?! is Lee, A - Putnam, L.

It does seem that White players are not well prepared for 8...Qe7, at least not yet, and that’s without the problems posed by 9.Qc2 Nb4 (Lee, A - Abrahamyan, T). Black has several options after 10.Qd2, and I suggest paying close attention to Sindarov’s 10...Bg4, as mentioned in the notes.

King’s Indian Classical 7...Na6 8.Be3 Qe7 9.c5, 9.Nd5 and 9.h3 [E94]

Rounding up White’s 9th move options, 9.c5:

is well met by 9...Nxe4!, which seems to equalize rather cleanly (Kiriakov, P - Budhidharma, N ), but perhaps too cleanly for the taste of many King’s Indian specialists.

On the other hand, 9.Nd5 is quite problematic, in Chen Yuan - Federer, C there’s an annoying improvement for White in 13.Qd4+.

Federer also featured in the last game against Guretchii, in which his opponent played 9.h3 (Guretchii, K - Federer, C). Black equalized rather easily in the game but found himself in trouble when he went for the b2 pawn.

All in all, I’d say that 8...Qe7 is holding up well, and not least because it still has surprise value. Some difficulties may appear when some serious prep emerges on the White side.

That’s all for now, see you next month! Nigel

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