If you want to play the King's Indian as Black and are comfortable with an advanced-level video course, the best-documented option we found is Felix Blohberger's two-part repertoire on ChessBase, because its page lists every system it covers. If you are under about 1400, you probably do not need a King's Indian course yet, and if you are White you should look at the anti-King's Indian courses further down.
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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken any of these courses. This page is based on published seller pages read on 8 November 2026, which are described as such throughout.
How we picked and ranked these
We kept courses where a seller page states the author, the price, and something about what lines are covered. We then ranked by how much chapter detail the page gives, because for a plan-heavy opening like the King's Indian the useful question is "does this course cover what my opponents will actually play?". Price, date and length came second. We did not rank by author fame or by seller claims about results.
The ChessBase and Modern Chess pages we read are primary seller pages. We counted 22 distinct paid King's Indian courses across Chessable, ChessBase, Modern Chess, TheChessWorld and Udemy, of which 11 were page-read and 3 were ChessBase "60 Minutes" micro-courses (short, EUR 9.90). Counts for Chessable, Modern Chess and TheChessWorld are lower bounds because those catalogues could not be fully read.
Do you need a King's Indian course at your level?
Under about 1400, free study is usually enough; from the 1500s upward a course may start to earn its price if the King's Indian is your main defence to 1.d4. That is received coaching wisdom, not a measured result. The King's Indian is a plan-based opening, and coaches commonly say an improver needs the typical pawn breaks and kingside plans most, which free master games and Lichess studies can show (received wisdom, not a measured result). A course helps most when you want a full answer to every White system, since White has several ways to avoid the main line.
Free route: Lichess studies and practice and the free Chessable courses cover similar ground at no cost. In search listings on 8 November 2026 we saw a Chessable "Hikaru's King's Indian: Sample Lesson", which looks like a sample lesson for a Chessable course. We did not open that page, so we do not know its access terms.
Theory load at club level
The King's Indian carries a high theory load in the Classical main lines and a moderate one elsewhere. In the Classical lines Black needs to know the typical race (kingside attack against White's queenside play) and some concrete sequences. White can also choose the Sämisch, the fianchetto, the Four Pawns Attack or a quieter system, so a full repertoire has to cover those too. We have no data on which systems club opponents actually pick; coaches commonly advise preparing every system, which is received wisdom rather than a measured result.
Coverage matrix: main systems against the best-documented courses
"Listed" means the seller page names the line. "Not stated" means the page lists no chapter detail for it, so we do not infer coverage from the title. For courses we did not open, we saw only the shop listing page, which shows title, author and price.
| White system | Blohberger (ChessBase) | Kasimdzhanov (ChessBase) | Bologan (ChessBase) | Modern Chess series |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classical 5.Nf3 main lines | Listed (Part 2: "main lines including 8.Re1, 8.Be3, and 9.d5 / 9.dxe5") | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Sämisch 5.f3 | Listed (Part 2) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Four Pawns Attack | Listed (Part 2) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Averbakh (5.Be2 with Bg5) | Listed (Part 2, "5.Be2 including early h4, 6.Be3, and Averbakh") | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Fianchetto (g3) | Listed (Part 1, Botvinnik Triangle and g3 chapters) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| London, Trompowsky, other 1.d4 Nf6 sidelines | Listed (Part 1) | Not stated | Not stated | Not stated |
| Facing 1.c4 / English | Partly listed (Part 1: 1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3, Botvinnik Triangle; no wider English coverage named) | Not stated | Not stated | Part 7 is titled "Facing the English" |
Blohberger's page is the only one of these that gives line-level detail. The Kasimdzhanov page gives no chapter list. It says the course is based principally on games by the author and Teimour Radjabov as Black from "the last three years". The page shows a publication date of Nov 2010 beside a description of an "extended 2nd edition" based on games from "the last three years"; it does not say whether the date belongs to the first edition, so we cannot tell how recent the games are. It lists the level as Tournament player and Professional.
The best-documented King's Indian courses
Prices are the listed prices as of 8 November 2026 and carry the currency shown. Confirm on the seller's page before paying.
| Course | Author | Seller | Price | Date | Evidence | Honest limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King's Indian: A Complete Repertoire for Black, Parts 1 and 2 | GM Felix Blohberger | ChessBase | EUR 49.90 per part, EUR 89.90 for both | Dec 2025 | Page-read | Page gives only a "4-8 hours" range for running time. Level on the page: Advanced, tournament player, professional. |
| A World Champion's Guide to the King's Indian, 2nd edition | Rustam Kasimdzhanov | ChessBase | EUR 32.90 | Nov 2010 (as shown on page) | Page-read | 7 hours of video. No chapter list. The page's Nov 2010 date sits beside a description of an extended 2nd edition, so how recent the games are is unclear. |
| King's Indian: A Modern Approach | Victor Bologan | ChessBase | EUR 29.90 | Not shown | Listing page only (ChessBase KID listing) | Delivered as a DVD per listing. No level or chapter detail seen. |
| King's Indian Defense: Repertoire for Black (multi-part series) | GM Andrea Stella, GM Baadur Jobava | Modern Chess | Not shown | Part 7 dated 8 Nov 2026 | Page-read for Part 7 (Modern Chess listing) | Part 7 (Facing the English) runs 4h 14m. We read no other part's page, so total length and price are unknown. |
| Lifetime Repertoires: King's Indian Defense, Parts 1 and 2 | GM Gawain Jones (per search snippet) | Chessable | Not seen | Part 2: 13 Dec 2021 (snippet) | Search listing, 8 Nov 2026; we could not open the product page directly | Price, hours and variation count not captured. |
| Too Hot To Handle: The King's Indian Defense | FM Kamil Plichta (per search snippet) | Chessable | USD 29.99 list, 19.99 sale (snippet) | 2021 update (snippet) | Search listing, 8 Nov 2026; we could not open the product page directly | Snippet price may be stale. |
We also saw King's Indian courses from TheChessWorld (FM Adrian Secheres, FM Aleksa Alimpic) and Udemy in search listings, with no price, hours or content detail, so we do not rank them. ChessMood's course catalogue, read on 8 November 2026, has no course with King's Indian in its title. ChessBase's King's Indian listing also shows several EUR 9.90 courses whose product links contain "60min" (so presumably about an hour; the page does not say). They cover narrow ideas, such as Bauer's 4...Bf5 line for Black or 5.Nge2 for White, not a repertoire.
Playing against the King's Indian as White
The most-documented anti-King's Indian products are ChessBase courses at EUR 29.90 each on the listing page: Jan Werle on the Sämisch (which also covers the Benoni), Sipke Ernst's 3.h4 against the King's Indian and Grünfeld, Mihail Marin's course on the main line, and Nicholas Pert's fianchetto course (titled as against the Indian openings generally). We read listing pages only, so line coverage is not stated. Because the Grünfeld shares the same first moves, see our Grünfeld page if you want a repertoire that handles both.
Who should skip a course for the King's Indian
Skip it if you are under about 1400, if you play a different defence to 1.d4 already, or if you want a quick fix. A short Lichess study plus your own games will teach the main plans. If you are choosing a defence to 1.d4, compare the Queen's Gambit options first, since coaches commonly regard them as a lighter theory load against 1.d4 (received wisdom, not a measured result). For a full Black set-up across both first moves, see complete Black repertoire courses.
What the seller's pages do not tell you
- Only one of the six King's Indian products above gives line-level chapter detail on its page, so for most you cannot check coverage of the Sämisch or Four Pawns before paying.
- The Kasimdzhanov course is labelled "2nd Edition" but the page shows a November 2010 date, and the Blohberger course (Dec 2025) is the only ChessBase page we read with a recent date, and Modern Chess dates Part 7 to 8 Nov 2026.
- Blohberger's Part 1 is about sidelines (London, Trompowsky, fianchetto systems) rather than King's Indian theory, so the main-line theory is in Part 2 alone. If you only want main lines, you would pay EUR 49.90 for Part 2, subject to the seller's page.
- The Modern Chess series is split into numbered parts, and the only part we read is the English one. Total length and price for the whole series are not published on the listing page.
To map one course to your whole repertoire, try our repertoire course mapper; the general method is in how to choose a chess course. The ChessBase FritzTrainer review and Modern Chess review cover those sellers, and free vs paid training covers the general question. Back to all opening pages.
Original test pending
We have not run an original test of any course on this page. A real test would open each course's sample lessons and record how many of the listed systems are taught with full lines, how much of the listed running time is available, and whether the stated level matches the material.