After 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 Black hands White the center on purpose, castles, and then attacks it. In the main lines that means a kingside pawn storm while White plays on the other wing, and both sides are usually racing. It rewards preparation and punishes drift, which is why it stays popular at club level and why unprepared White players dislike meeting it.
One clarification first, because we sell both and the names are nearly identical. The King’s Defense is what this guide covers, Black against 1.d4. The King’s Attack is a different opening, White setting up the same structure a move up. If you came looking for the Attack, the books you want are Emms and McDonald, not anything below.
Playing it as Black
Eduard Gufeld and Oleg Stetsko (Russian Chess House, 2014, 352 pages). The one to start with, and the only complete Black treatment currently in stock. It covers the Sämisch, the Classical, the Four Pawns Attack and the sidelines, and teaches through plans and games rather than tables of variations. That is a strength if you want to understand the opening and a limitation if you want a move-by-move repertoire to memorize.
Ilya Smirin (Quality Chess, 2016). Not a repertoire, and it should not be bought as one. It is Smirin annotating his own King’s Indian games, including a four-game run against Kramnik that he won. As a way of learning what these middlegames actually feel like it has few rivals. Pair it with a repertoire book rather than using it instead of one.
There is a 16-page sample on the product page.
The Modernized King’s Indian: Mar del Plata
Milos Pavlovic (Thinkers Publishing, 2021, 243 pages) covers only the Mar del Plata, the sharpest main line and the one where Black’s kingside attack and White’s queenside play collide directly. Narrow by design.
There is a 16-page sample on the product page.
The heavyweight Black repertoires are all out of stock at the time of writing: Gawain Jones’s King’s Indian 2 (Quality Chess, 664 pages), Bologan’s King’s Indian (New in Chess) and Kotronias. If you want a full worked-out repertoire rather than an understanding-first book, those are worth waiting for.
Facing it as White
Squeezing the King’s Indian Defence
Semko Semkov and Yuriy Krykun (Chess Stars). A full repertoire built on the Gligoric System, 6.Be2 followed by Be3. The least theory of the options here and the most likely to give a quiet game, which is the point and also the caveat.
There is a 16-page sample on the product page.
Grandmaster Repertoire 2A: King’s Indian and Grünfeld
Boris Avrukh (Quality Chess, 2018, 336 pages) answers both fianchetto defenses in one volume, which is efficient if you play 1.d4 and face them both. It is written at a level that assumes you will put the hours in.
There is a 15-page sample on the product page.
The Modernized King’s Indian: Averbakh Variation
Jan Boekelman (Thinkers Publishing, 2021, 400 pages). A White repertoire in the Averbakh, a positional system that avoids the sharpest races. Four hundred pages on one variation is a lot to carry for a line you may meet a few times a year.
There is a 16-page sample on the product page.
Semko Semkov (Chess Stars) takes the opposite approach, a White repertoire with the Four Pawns Attack. Aggressive and much sharper than the Gligoric or Averbakh routes, so it suits players who would rather take the argument to Black than manage it.
Controversial Sämisch King’s Indian
Chris Ward (Batsford, 2004) covers the Sämisch, which is still one of the most testing tries. It is also twenty years old, and the Sämisch has moved since, so treat it as background rather than current theory.
Where to start
If you want to play the King’s Indian, buy Gufeld, read Smirin alongside it, and come back for Jones or Bologan when they are in stock. If you play 1.d4 and want the King’s Indian to stop being a problem, take Squeezing the King’s Indian Defence. If you already have a 1.d4 repertoire and face the Grünfeld too, Avrukh covers both and is the better long-term buy.
One book to skip unless you specifically want a survey of the Classical from both sides: The Classical King’s Indian Uncovered (Everyman, 2009) is a study of one variation written for both colors, not a Black repertoire, and it is sixteen years old.