How to beat the King's Indian Attack

White plays Nf3, g3, Bg2, O-O, d3 and e4, then attacks the kingside. It's the same system every game, which makes it easy to prepare for.

Three plans that work

1. Grab queenside space early

...c5, ...Nc6, ...b5 and ...b4 gets your counterplay going before White's kingside attack arrives.

2. Choose a structure that blunts e5

...d5 with ...e5 (a reversed King's Indian) or ...c6 with ...Bg4 leaves White's usual attacking plan without a target.

3. Trade White's g2 bishop

...Bh3 or ...Bg4 followed by trades reduces the attacking force.

A line to play

1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 c5 3.Bg2 Nc6 4.O-O e5 5.d3 Nf6

The pitfall

Castling kingside into a prepared pawn storm without counterplay is how most KIA games are lost.

What the data says

In 306 recent games of the top 100 titled Lichess players featuring the King's Indian Attack, they scored 65% on average. Players who use it most: FM GoFar (54%), FM yankitaspinar (69%), GM indianstar (61%), GM sumsar42 (78%), IM AlexTriapishko (73%), IM Secret_Magnus (85%), GM chess-art-us (71%), GM Aronyak1 (71%).

Prepare against the actual player

Averages only go so far. A King's Indian Attack player has their own pet variations and weak spots. Before your next game, get a free fingerprint of your opponent, or get the full prep report ($5): every variation they play, where they score worst, and a game plan for both colours.