Good books for GPA and KID?

Hello, are there any good books on the Grand Prix Attack and King Indian Defence? And also are there any master games you would recommend me to take a look at? Thanks :)

Christmas Wishlist :

Gawain Jones : Starting Out the Sicilian Grand Prix Attack

Victor Bologan :  The King’s Indian.  A complete Black Reportoire

Secrets of Opening Surprises (Volume 6,9)

Mastering the King's Indian Defense (A Batsford Chess Book) 

Joe Gallagher : Starting Out The King’s Indian Defence 

This book got a lot of praise lately:

Take a look at Geller and Fischer games, they played the KID extensively.

GPA is for twerps, but if you really must, take a look at Gawain Jones' Starting Out: Sicilian Grand Prix Attack.

Yes, i've heard some people recommending Victor Bologan so im sure that book will be really helpful, thanks :)

As for what you said on the GPA, I dont think so. It saves me from having go through and memorise odles of lines since 1)e4 c5 2)Nf3 gives Black odles of choices to continue such as the Najdorf, Scheveningan, Dragon and more. And memorising lines isnt my cup of tea ;) But thanks anyway! :)

The Gawain Jones book is good.

Alburt and Dzindi are hacks.

Roman Dzindzichashvili does have a couple of videos on the GPA and he plays it extensively too - you could try looking at some of his games and of course the videos. I looked into it as an alternative to learning all the theory to the main lines of the Sicilian and found that I much preferred playing the mainlines to the GPA. Personally I found them much richer and more fluid than the GPA.

Thanks :) And yes, that's why I want the books, so I can understand the moves.

Hacks? As in?

So im assuming you watched his videos? Or did he write a book on openings? Thanks for your views on him by the way :)

Oh, that book recommended on post #4? It's already in my Christmas wish list, thanks :) On seeing his videos on the KID now, they're not bad either :)

Hmm, thanks. And which line would that be? And did you upload the game anywhere, I would like to see it.

Dzindzi has a very weak reputation among chess authors.  This comes from cranking out too much material, all of it with a ridiculous snake oil salesman quality, wherein he always conveniently ignores the critical lines against his chosen repertoires and then praises what's left to the heavens as though it refutes the lines being played against.

Check out the discussions on him over at chesspub.com.  The average player there outranks the average player here by 500-1000 rating points, and Dzindzi is considered laugable there.

He writes very readably.  So that's something.  And he's good at making you think he's offering you something worthwhile.  It's just that it never holds up to analytical scrutiny.  He's like Eric Schiller, if Schiller were more excitable.

Anyway, I definitely and strongly recommend the Gawain Jones book if you're interested in the GPA.  It's honest and approachable.

Rather than worry about anybody's biases here, maybe best is to simply submit this.

http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/jwatsonbkrev77.html

That links to John Watson's original review for Chess Openings for White.  Well worth the read, if you like chess hilarity.

Watson's conclusion is that the book is "disastrous" and "embarrassing."  He cites a number of games where the authors themselves went disastrously wrong and lost in the recommended lines, or else avoided them like the plague in favor of lines that C.O.f.W. sidesteps, pretending they don't exist.  

This is, once again, typical of Dzindzi's work.  Which is well referenced throughout the article.

Decide for yourself, OP.

I read it, thank you so much and I am now having second thoughts on it. I guess im taking that off my Christmas wishlist :/ Guess im gonna have to stik to Gawain Jones' book on the GPA then! 

http://www.kenilworthchessclub.org/games/java/2006/gpa-explained.htm

Review and critism of the GPA lines offered in Chess Openigns for White by Lev Alburt, Roman Dzindzichashvili, and Eugene Perelshtyn .

Thanks for the recommendation on the books! Do you have any idea if the book Starting Out the King's Indian by Joe Gallagher is good too? And, no offence to his fans, but I do not like Dzin's work :/ I heard a lot of critics lately and I hate to say I agree with them.

Rosequeen, it's an unhealthy attitude to play for a draw and it hurts your thinking too, critical line is not just about memorization but you learn some new idea when you look at the line by yourself, it also reminds you not to make weak moves, positional play can be sharp too, it is a misconception to thought it as purely pawn siege. What Dizinivilli does is he tried to make chess player understand what they are doing but he is not necessary teaching some good chess, he explain well(after watching some "Roman's Lab" ) but promote non critical line that is only suitable for surprise weapon. For me, I would take chess as an art so chess theory is what that makes chess beautiful, outwardly awkward move, i.e. not natural on visual , is supported by reasons and tricks found after hours of labour by many great minds who accumulated in the past, while ironically, people in these days do not realize how lucky they are to obtain these treasure of chess literature, and in turn play some lines that they thought was new and unexplored, which alas! is long been played  before if one keen to search back many games in the past and make a regression to chess theory, this approach is for lazy and unimaginative people, they play it is their choice but now they are selling product that harms the quality of chess play who affect me and other artists who wish chess to progress! See how selfish these people are. A good chess player always would eager for better advantages out of openings and research his own theory in combination with current knowledge of theory, to further the work of perfection of theory instead of succumbing into this approach of playing chess. Wandering and waiting is not at all active and it is totally falliable to losing initaitive and thus is much more dangerous than Dzinzi thought.

For the KID I got this recommendation to read these books in this order

Starting Out the KID by Joe Gallagher to learn the set ups.

Understanding the Kings Indian by Mikhail Golubev to learn the ideas behind it.

Then either Vigorito's or Bollogan's book for a complete repertoire. Apparently they have some different approaches against the Saemich so based on what you like from SO the KID by Gallagher will determine which repertoire book you get.

Thanks!