King's Indian Defense, Averbakh Variation

In the King's Indian, Black allows White to build a broad center with pawns on d4 and e4, then tries to attack it by advancing the e-pawn or c-pawn. These are pawn breaks because they contact the opposing structure and try to open lines. In the Averbakh, one white bishop goes to e2 and the bishop that begins on c1 develops to g5. The coordinates name squares by file and rank.

The g5-bishop attacks Black's knight on f6. While Black's pawn remains on e7, that knight is not pinned because the pawn still blocks the diagonal toward the queen on d8. If Black advances the e-pawn, the diagonal opens and the knight can become relatively pinned: moving it would expose the queen to attack. The central advance therefore requires care. Black can also attack the bishop with the h-pawn, develop another knight, or challenge the center with the c-pawn.

White keeps flexible castling choices. Castling is the special move that relocates the king and a rook together to improve king safety. The setup has a cost: White has spent moves developing both bishops while the g1-knight remains on its starting square, so Black may try to attack the center before White completes development. The Makogonov Variation first uses the h-pawn to prevent a black knight jump to g4.