King's Indian Defense According to Jobava (7)

This course completes a seven-part King's Indian repertoire for Black by addressing the English and Réti move orders, including systems where White delays d4 or avoids it entirely. Black's approach centers on seizing the center with moves such as ...e5, ...d6, and ...c5, with tailored responses to the Botvinnik System, the Classical Réti, the Keymer System, and the Old Indian Attack. The course draws on elite games from 2025 and 2026 and presents more than twenty novelties.

Few sidelines have reshaped everyday 1.d4 play over the past decade like the Jobava London — 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 followed by 3.Bf4. Baadur Jobava did more than anyone to bring it into serious practice, which makes him an unusually credible guide to taking it apart. Here he does exactly that, showing Black how to defuse a system he understands from the inside.
That gesture sets the tone for the whole course. King's Indian Defense: A Complete Repertoire – Part 6 is the volume where GM Andrea Stella and GM Baadur Jobava turn to everything White plays instead of a real King's Indian — the sidelines designed to sidestep the fight rather than enter it.

Every King's Indian player knows the feeling. Against White's classical setups there is always a plan to reach for — the ...f5 break, the pawn storm, the race on opposite wings. Against the Fianchetto, none of it applies.
White tucks the bishop on g2, keeps the centre closed and elastic, and settles in for a slow positional squeeze. There is no attack to launch and little forcing theory to lean on, so Black is often worn down without ever being clearly worse. King's Indian Defense for Black — Fight the Fianchetto Variation, by GM Baadur Jobava and GM Andrea Stella, is built to close that gap.

"A knight on the rim is dim." Few maxims are drilled into beginners more often — and few are refuted more elegantly than by 7...Na6 in the Classical King's Indian. The knight steps to the edge not to linger there, but to spring into c5, where it pressures e4 while Black's central counterplay gathers force.
That paradox runs through the whole of Part 4. Instead of the dense, move-for-move theory demanded by 7...Nc6 or 7...Nbd7, Black gets a repertoire organized around recurring ideas: the ...Na6–c5 route, the flexible ...Qe7, reinforcing e5 while keeping all options open, and the thematic ...Ng4 and ...f5 breaks. The same plans reappear against almost everything White tries, so understanding carries the load rather than memorization.

GM Baadur Jobava and GM Andrea Stella continue their King's Indian Defense series for Black with a complete repertoire against the Makogonov 5.h3 — the flexible system Carlsen, Caruana, and Giri reach for when they want to squeeze without overextending. Across 11 chapters, the course offers clear structural plans for every White setup, with several rare lines that take Black off the database by move eight.

When Garry Kasparov dominated the chess world with the King's Indian Defense, the Saemisch Variation wasn't just another sideline—it was the system that repeatedly tested his intuition under concrete pressure. White's central clamp with f3 and e4 creates a position where Black cannot simply rely on standard patterns.
With over 100,000 games in the database, 5.f3 stands as the second most popular response to the King's Indian—and one of the most challenging to face. Unlike other King's Indian lines, Black rarely gets the typical kingside attack. The game takes a completely different strategic direction.
This is precisely why GM Baadur Jobava and GM Andrea Stella built their second course around a clear principle: in the Saemisch, Black needs a structured system that transforms White's space advantage from a strength into a static weakness.

The King's Indian has always been a fighting choice — Black accepts a space deficit and bets on the counterattack. Most repertoires in this opening follow that logic from move one. This one reorders the priorities.
The main weapon of this course is 5...Bg4!? after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 — the tenth most popular reply at this point, guaranteeing practical surprise value even at the highest levels.
The idea is precise: Black pins the knight, delays castling, and after 6.Be2 Bxf3 7.Bxf3 e5 8.d5 plays 8...h5!? — keeping the rook on h8 to support ...Bh6. The target is the dark-squared bishop exchange, leaving White with a passive piece on f3 and Black with a structural concept that is easy to understand and difficult to neutralize.