Book Review – Opening Simulator King’s Indian Defense
When I first saw the book’s name, I thought this book is about full opening theory similar to the Grandmaster Repertoire series, but it is completely different. This book is mainly aimed at positions. It is the first book ever that gives problems for solving only for this particular opening. Andreas’ idea about this book was to solve a vast number of exercises in the King’s Indian Defense and then repeat this exact same exercise over and over again. The title of the book- opening simulator was coined by Andreas and it sums up the concept very well, the training you get from studying this book is close to a practical game as a book can get.
Author Of Book – Esben Lund and Andreas Skytte Hagen.
Publishing Date – 31st July 2019
Published By – Quality Chess
Content of this book
In the first half section of this book, the author explained King’s Indian Defense variations. Then in the last half of the book total of 400 puzzles and their solutions are given. Puzzles are categorized as level 1 to level 5. Level 1 is the easiest and level 5 is difficult.
What to expect from this book?
As I said in the first paragraph this is the first book aiming for particular opening puzzles. If you complete this book by solving all 400 positions, you will improve your understanding, and tactical skills very much. The author has covered almost all variation puzzles. Level 1 and level 2 are comparatively easy. Levels 3 and 4 are moderately difficult but level 5 is insane.
How to use this book during tournaments?
The author has explained this in the book, here I will explain briefly about this. If you expect King’s Indian Defense, spend 15 -20 minutes before the game-solving exercises from this book. Only choose exercises from level 1 and level 2. When you finish these exercises, start again with 1st problem, i.e. you have to solve only the first 2 levels like the Woodpecker Method.
The uniqueness of this book
This book is not focused very much on the opening theory. It’s a new approach to preparing the opening. This book has pretty interesting positions. The first part i.e. opening theory is not too deep and If anyone wants to just understand the basic structure of this opening then it’s the perfect book for him.
Who can read this book?
This book is fully about the King’s Indian Defense. Those who love to play can read this book. Those who want some serious improvement in King’s Indian Defense should defiantly purchase this book. If we took rating into consideration then it is perfect for anyone who wants to learn the basics of this opening to professional-level players also.
What did I like about this book?
Kings Indian Defence is my personal favorite opening. I was playing at the Hoogeveen Chess Festival in Netherland in 2019, I purchased this book. I got decent knowledge from this book. Though I have played King’s Indian Defence for last 8-10 years this book is not very much effective for me. But overall I liked the selection of problems by the authors.
From where you can buy this book?
This book costs $31.95 which you can buy in Hardcover or in Paperback. This book is available on various websites including Amazon, New in Chess, and Quality Chess.
Buy Link – Click Here
PDF expert of this book – click here
About the author
Esben Lund
Esben is a well-known as coach and trainer. He has international experience from many European and World Youth Championships, both as a coach for the Scottish delegation (2004-2007), the best Danish junior players (Antalya 2009), and the Danish Olympic Women team (Turin 2006), among others.
Andreas Hagen
Andreas is an International Master with 1 Grandmaster norm. He got a big breakthrough by jumping from around 2270 to 2454 within less than 1 year when he was 29 years old. This book idea is come up by Andreas Hagen.
About the publisher
Quality chess is a UK-based company. This was founded by GM Jacob Aagaard, GM John Shaw, and IM Ari Ziegler. Quality chess is currently dominating the chess market and is currently one of the top publications in the chess world. Most of the books from quality chess are very famous. The page quality and binding quality are also excellent.
