The King's Indian Corps is a study group dedicated to learning and playing the King's Indian Defense and setup as described in this article for players rated above 1700. Through team Vote Chess games we are able to help each other improve. (Click article "Learning The King's Indian Defense"). Click the Corps knight to apply.
Openings vs. Opening Systems
By Dan Heisman for ChessCafe.com
(Edited for the King’s Indian)
Quote of the Month:
"Just play these moves at the start of a game no matter what your opponent plays."
Let's tackle a relevant question: what characteristic separates the following two groups of openings?
A: King's Indian, King's Indian Attack, London, Modern Defense, Colle
B: Grünfeld Defense, Sicilian Dragon, Closed Ruy Lopez, Winawer French, Alekhine's Defense
The answer is that group A can be played as a "system" – that they are not dependent on the opponent's sequence of moves. The second group requires a particular position to be reached for both sides, even if transpositions may allow these positions to occur from other move orders. Take the King's Indian as an example. There is a difference between a King's Indian Defense (proper) and a King's Indian setup against a variety of openings. The King's Indian Defense requires White to play d4 and c4; i.e., 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 and now, for example, 3.Nc3 Bg7. White does not have to play 3.Nc3 –he could play 3.Nf3 or 3.g3 - but Black has to play (or transpose into) 3…Bg7 for it to be a King's Indian Defense.
However, the King's Indian can, and is, used as a setup against any variety of move-orders. This is usually called – surprise - the King's Indian setup, and characteristically includes the moves …Nf6, …g6, …Bg7, ….O-O, …d6.
The King's Indian Setup
For example, if you buy a book on the English Opening and it covers the moves 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.d3 O-O 5.g3 d6 the book may call this chapter "The King's Indian against the English". Or in the Polish/Sokolsky for example 1.b4 Nf6 2.Bb2 g6 3.b5 Bg7 4.c4 O-O 5.Nc3 d6 this sequence may be referred to as "The King's Indian against the Polish." Usually authors don't call these variations the King's Indian Defense, but just the King's Indian; however, there is no official chess dictionary, so that observation is not hard and fast.
Why is this distinction between openings and systems/setups so important? Because if you are an inexperienced player and you study an opening that requires a specific sequence for both players and your opponent does not cooperate (sound familiar?), then you may get confused and think you are playing one opening when in fact your opponent's non-cooperation may invalidate your sequence. This can lead to inaccuracies – and possibly to serious mistakes.
Some instructors have all their beginning students play the same system against everything, just to make the opening phase more "routine" and thus less prone to disaster. There are pros and cons to this systematic approach of playing the opening. The pros include the above issues, as well as ease of learning the opening, and the confidence the student may build that the first few moves are "in the book" and "in the bank." However, some of those pros are also cons, as these students do not learn as quickly to think independently, and thus when things go wrong – as they inevitably sometimes do – the student is not as resilient under pressure because they are more dependent on rote ideas. Another con with using (opening systems) is that it goes against the generally correct traditional advice that beginners should start by playing open, tactical games with sequences such as 1.e4 e5, because these are the backbone of learning safety issues. Playing a more sophisticated closed opening not only requires a more experienced hand, but also delays the inevitable need to learn to survive tactical fights as soon as possible. Delaying this need may result in fewer ten moves disasters, but does not necessarily make for a better learning curve. On the other hand, playing systematic openings often requires less study. Opening setups can be very handy, but you have to be careful.