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Ever since my discovery that Gawain Jones had rehabilitated the 7...Nbd7 Classical King’s Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nbd7), I’ve been wondering if the Old Indian move order (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5) can be brought back into play as a way of reaching selected King’s Indian lines. Just recently I found a potential solution in a little known line that Gawain Jones has been playing, after 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 Black can play 8...b6!?.
The idea is to capture on d4 and get intensified pressure against White’s e4 pawn, whilst if White plays d4-d5 the b6 pawn can help restrain White’s c4-c5 plan. Even after the exchange of pawns on e5 the b6 pawn is useful, helping to control the key c5 square. If this line holds together, it makes the Old Indian move order a very interesting prospect for Black, and for the first time since the 1970s. The point is that Black can avoid the bulk of King’s Indian theory and maintain many of its fighting qualities.

Download PGN of January ’26 KID games

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Classical Fianchetto King’s Indian with 8...b6!? [E67/68]

The King’s Indian move order for this line is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 Nbd7 7.Nc3 e5 8.e4 b6:

via an Old Indian move order it would be 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.e4 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 b6. As I mentioned above, there are essential three ways White can treat this position, by allowing ...exd4, closing the position with d4-d5 and exchanging on e5. We should look at these in turn.

Keeping the tension, and allowing ...exd4, is the traditional way of playing against ...Nbd7 and ...e7-e5 King’s Indians, but here it seems that Black’s prospects are not at all bad. One of the points is that the position of the bishop on b7 strongly encourages White to play f2-f3. Black may then proceed to prepare ...d6-d5 (probably with ...c7-c6) or even look at ...a7-a6 and ...b6-b5 ideas.

White can use various piece configurations, for example in Mamedyarov, S - Kadric, D, White chose 9.h3 and 10.Re1:

and was clearly worse before winning out in the chaos.

In Panjwani, R - Markus, R he varied with 9.h3 and 10.Be3 and in Pajeken, J - Galperin, P he played 9.Qc2 and 10.Rd1 (by transposition), missing out h2-h3. None of these set-ups looked particularly threatening for Black.

In some ways the d4-d5 advance seems like a critical test, especially if Black has put his rook on e8 and/or his bishop on b7. Yet the waiting moves White employs before playing d4-d5, are often not very effective in the resulting closed structure. Meanwhile Black can simply meet d4-d5 with ...Bb7-c8 or ...Rf8-e8 and get his pieces back where they should be. His ...b7-b6 will help neutralize White’s plan of c4-c5 and Black can pursue the typical ...f7-f5 plan.

There are various flavours of this closed structure, depending on where both sides put their pieces before d4-d5 occurs. In Volokitin, A - Shevchenko, K, White played 9.h3 and 10.d5 against Black’s 8...Re8 and 9...b6, meeting 10...Nc5 with 11.Qc2:

In Tesic, D - Popovic, D, White tried 11.Ne1 instead. Haydon, D - Jones, G, White featured 9.Re1 Bb7 10.d5 and Claridge Hansen, W - Jones, G went 9.Rb1 Bb7 10.d5.

The resulting positions are all quite similar and Black seems to have good counterplay. As a good general guide he should have his bishop back on c8, his rook back on f8 and then play ...Nf6-e8 and ...f7-f5.

Finally, we come to the exchange on e5, with Mamedov, E - Puranik, A having this happen after 8...Re8 9.h3 b6 and now 10.dxe5:

This structure tends to produce more placid games than either ...e5xd4 or d4-d5, so it may be less pleasant for a King’s Indian player. Certainly you need patience to play these positions, staying alert and waiting for your chance.


That’s all for now, 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.