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Following on from last month’s update, Black can also play a Panno without committing himself to either ...a6 or ...Rb8. This happens after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5, and now on 9.Nd2 Black has 9...e6. I was surprised to discover that this line has not previously been covered here (there are games with 9...a6 and 9...e5), yet it is the line given by Gawain Jones in his popular Chessable King’s Indian course. Accordingly, I’m devoting this month’s update to this line.

Download PGN of June ’25 KID games

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Fianchetto Variation, Yugoslav/Panno with 6.0-0 c5 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.d5 Na5 9.Nd2 e6 [E66]

The popularity of Gawain Jones’s course has drawn many fans to this line. Mark Hebden, in particular, has been using Jones’s material and played some great games with it.

White has three major tries in 10.e4, 10.Qc2 and 10.Rb1. I don’t think that 10.e4 is much of a problem for Black:

a good illustration being Barat Kumar, B - Hebden, M.

10.Qc2 seems like a pretty decent move:

so it’s a bit surprising that it’s been overshadowed by 10.Rb1. The game Harikrishnan, A - Iniyan, P provides some interesting food for thought, especially when looking at the endgame that arises from Jones’s 12...Bf5.

Moving on to the main line with 10.Rb1:

after 10...exd5 White can play 11.Nxd5 as in Jarmula, L - Sutormin, D. Black should then play Jones’s recommendation of 11...Bf5, so that after 12.e4 he gets potential access to the d4 square. In the game his 11...Re8 should have been met by 12.b4 or 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.b4.

The idea of b2-b4 is one worth noting, and White used a version of this with 11.cxd5 Bd7 (Jones’s recommendation) and now 12.b4 in Zlatkov, A - Burovic, R:

White should have played 15.h3 in the game, and after the superior 14...Qe7 he also has his chances. This makes it one of the more interesting tries for White, in my view.

On the other hand, the more popular 12.Nde4 (Kalaiyalahan, A - Hebden, M and Sharipov, D - Sengupta, D) does not seem to create lasting pressure, and after 12...Ne8 13.Bg5 f6 14.Bf4 Qe7:

Black successfully defends the d6 pawn and will soon be ready to push White back. I don’t consider this to be at all promising for White.

The last two games show Black varying from the Jones script, and not very effectively in my view. In Aczel, G - Banh, G, Black played 11...Bf5 instead of Jones’s 11...Bd7, and the 12.e4 he gifted to White was very useful until he misplayed it.

Meanwhile I’m not sure whether Hebden’s 10...Re8 (Crocker, P - Hebden, M) was to get White out of his preparation or he mixed it up with the 10.Qc2 Re8 line. Crocker had a pretty good position out of the opening (for example with 16.Bxe4), and things only went awry in the late game madness.

As this line looks pretty good for Black, you might wonder why anybody plays 6...Nc6 7.Nc3 and now 7...Rb8 or 7...a6. The reason is that 8.d5 is not at all forced, and White has a quiet line that I covered some months back, namely 8.dxc5.


That's all for now! 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.