The Sämisch King's Indian continues to be one of the fiercely contested openings in chess. White's play is based around an extremely solid centre, and there's the very real possibility of launching a direct attack against the black king; a welcome change because often it is Black who goes gunning for checkmate in the King's Indian. But the Sämisch is flexible too; if White wishes he can instead try to strangle Black with his obvious space advantage. It's these features that have made the Sämisch such a popular weapon for White both at club level and with the world's elite. World Champions Botvinnik, Tal, Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik have all utilized the Sämisch at one time or another, a testimony to the strong reputation of this opening.

In this book, opening expert John-Paul Wallace presents an up-to-date study of the Sämisch and its many offshoots. Using illustrative games, he looks at the traditional main lines, the trendy alternatives and the tricky sidelines, while outlining the typical tactical and positional ideas for both White and Black. A study of this book will allow the reader to begin playing either side of the Sämisch with confidence in his or her own games.

• Essential coverage of an aggressive opening
• Written by a Sämisch expert
• Ideal for club and tournament players

Alexander Cherniaev is a Russian Grandmaster, journalist and author who has been based in London for many years. He's a very experienced player and has enjoyed numerous tournament successes, including winning the silver medal at the Moscow Championship and competing in the prestigious Hastings Premier Tournament. He has written two chess biographies: David Janowski: Artist of the Chess Board and Harry Nelson Pillsbury: A Genius ahead of his Time.

Eduard Prokuronov is a FIDE Master and a many-time Champion of the Arkhangelsk region of Russia.

004 Bibliography

005 Introduction

007 1 The Classical Sämisch: 6 Be3 e5 7 d5

024 2 Keeping the Tension: 6 Be3 e5 7 Nge2

038 3 The Panno Variation: 6 Be3 Nc6

073 4 6 Be3 c6 and 6...Nbd7

107 5 The Sämisch Gambit: 6 Be3 c5

123 6 The Sämisch-Benoni: 6 B3 c5 7 d5

136 7 The Sämisch-Benoni after 6 Bg5 and 6 Nge2

160 8 The flexible 6 Nge2 and 6 Bg5

174 Index of Complete Games