Hans Niemann’s Brilliant Opening Choice!

The King’s Indian Attack (or KIA), also known as the Barcza System (after Gedeon Barcza) is a chess opening system for White, characterized by several moves. The center pawns are developed to e4 and d3, the knights are developed to d2 and f3, the king’s bishop fianchettoes at g2 following the g-pawn’s movement to g3, and White castles kingside. The resulting arrangement has multiple positional themes: the pawn at d3 and the knight at d2 both defend the pawn at e4, the knight at f3 attacks the center, the fianchettoed bishop may influence the center following subsequent moves, and castling removes the king to safety while bringing a rook into the game.

Unlike other chess openings, The King’s Indian Attack is not a specific sequence of moves, but rather a system for White where the moves may be permuted at the player’s discretion, in response to the moves of the black pieces. When a game opens with most or all of the above moves, to the exclusion of moves which typify other openings, the game may be described as a King’s Indian Attack.

PGN OF THE GAME:

[Event “Sunway Sitges Chess Festival 2022”]
[Date “2022.12.14”]
[Round “03”]
[White “Firat, Burak”]
[Black “Niemann, Hans Moke”]
[Result “*”]
[WhiteElo “2460”]
[BlackElo “2698”]
[Variant “Standard”]
[TimeControl “5400+30”]
[ECO “A05”]
[Opening “King’s Indian Attack: Spassky Variation”]
[Annotator “lichess.org”]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 { A05 King’s Indian Attack: Spassky Variation } 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. O-O e6 5. d3 d5?! { (0.12 → 0.68) Inaccuracy. Be7 was best. } (5… Be7 6. e4 d6 7. Na3 c6 8. e5 dxe5 9. Nxe5 Qc8 10. d4) 6. Nbd2?! { (0.68 → -0.09) Inaccuracy. c4 was best. } (6. c4 bxc4 7. dxc4 c6 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9. Bf4 dxc4 10. b3 Bb4) 6… Be7 7. e4 c5 8. Re1 Nc6 9. c3 O-O 10. e5 Nd7 11. Nf1 Nb6?! { (-0.45 → 0.25) Inaccuracy. a5 was best. } (11… a5) 12. d4 b4 13. h4?! { (0.32 → -0.26) Inaccuracy. cxb4 was best. } (13. cxb4 Nxb4 14. dxc5 Bxc5 15. a3 Nc6 16. b4 Be7 17. Ne3 Rc8 18. h4 a5 19. b5 Nb8) 13… a5 14. Bg5 a4 15. dxc5 Nd7 16. cxb4 Nxb4 17. Rc1 Bxg5 18. hxg5 Qa5 19. Qd4?! { (-0.21 → -0.85) Inaccuracy. a3 was best. } (19. a3 Nc6 20. Re3 Ba6 21. N1d2 Rfc8 22. b3 axb3 23. Nxb3 Qxa3 24. Nfd4 Ndxe5 25. Nxc6 Nxc6) 19… Nxa2 20. g6 Nxc1 21. Rxc1 hxg6 22. c6?! { (-1.10 → -2.25) Inaccuracy. Ng5 was best. } (22. Ng5) 22… Rac8 23. Ng5 Rxc6 24. Rxc6?! { (-2.32 → -3.04) Inaccuracy. Qh4 was best. } (24. Qh4) 24… Bxc6 25. Qh4 Re8 26. Qh7+ Kf8 27. Qh8+ Ke7 28. Qxg7 Rf8 29. Bh3? { (-3.30 → -5.28) Mistake. Nh7 was best. } (29. Nh7 Qb6 30. Nxf8 Nxf8 31. Nh2 Qxb2 32. Qf6+ Ke8 33. Ng4 Qb1+ 34. Bf1 Qf5 35. Qh4 g5) 29… Qc7 30. Nxe6 Qxe5 31. Qxe5 Nxe5 32. Nxf8 Kxf8 33. Ne3 d4 *