The g7-bishop is the soul
The fianchettoed bishop rakes the long diagonal at White's centre and guards the dark squares around your own king. Keeping it is often a matter of king safety, so avoid trading it off cheaply.
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An opening course for Black (ECO E60-E99)
King's Indian Defense
The King's Indian is Black's hypermodern answer to 1.d4: 1...Nf6, 2...g6 and 3...Bg7, letting White build a big pawn centre with c4, d4, and e4, then striking back with ...d6 and ...e5 and a kingside pawn storm. When White locks the centre with d5, the game becomes a race of opposite-wing attacks: your ...f5-f4-g5-g4 against White's queenside c5 break. Engines give White a small edge on space, and they consistently underrate Black's attack, which only pays off many moves later. This is a fighting defence for players who want to play for a win with Black. The repertoire follows open theory (Wikipedia, the Wikibooks opening pages, and open study/article sources), with every line re-checked by Stockfish.
This course is part of your daily work.
Before the moves: the big ideas
Locked centre, opposite wings
Once White plays d5 and you answer with the ...f5 break, the centre is closed and the plans split. You attack on the kingside with ...f4, ...g5, ...g4; White breaks with c5 on the queenside. It is a race, and your target is the king.
Reroute, then storm
Your pieces need preparation before the pawns run: the f6-knight goes to d7 or e8 to clear the f-pawn, the e7-knight heads for g6 or f5, rooks lift along the seventh, the queen swings to the h-file. Do not rush ...f5 before the pieces are ready.
Two master skills
Almost every White system reduces to one of two Black plans: the ...f5 kingside storm (Classical, Fianchetto, Petrosian) or the ...c5 Benoni counterstrike (Samisch, Four Pawns, Averbakh). Learn both and the whole defence hangs together.
The lines, chapter by chapter
Learning order, one scoresheet per chapter. The coach serves review one line a day; enter any line directly when you want it now.
Start Here: The KID Idea
One line to set the whole defence up, and why you are happy to give White the centre. Learn the plan before any theory.
The Classical Main Line
5.Nf3 and 6.Be2, the most important system and the one your opponents will know best. The centre locks with d5, and the Mar del Plata race begins.
Classical Sidelines
When White declines the Mar del Plata race: the Exchange trades queens, the Gligoric keeps the tension, and the Petrosian locks the centre a move early. Each has a clean answer.
The Sämisch
5.f3 props up the centre and prepares a kingside pawn storm with Be3, Qd2, and g4-h4. Meet it with the flexible Panno and race White on the queenside.
The Fianchetto
White's most solid try: g3 and Bg2 instead of the big e4 centre. It defuses the kingside storm, so you switch to piece pressure and queenside play.
The Four Pawns Attack
5.f4 builds the maximum centre for huge space, but it overextends. Strike the base of the chain with ...c5 and turn White's space into a target.
Puzzles from this opening
Club games that started in the King's Indian Defense produced these tactics, and you solve every one from Black's side, the seat you actually sit in. Difficulty follows your solving, the same as the puzzle room.