I'm a hobbyist chess player, mostly playing online correspondence. I often play the King's Indian defense as Black, but there seems to be a key idea in the opening that I'm missing. Specifically, I don't understand why 6...e5 is so commonly played in so many variations, for example:
[fen ""]
[StartFlipped "1"]
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 g6
3. Nc3 Bg7
4. e4 d6
5. Nf3 O-O
6. Be2 e5
It seems to me that in this position by playing 6...e5 Black blocks his own fianchettoed bishop, and given that White frequently pushes d5 later on, the diagonal is unlikely to reopen up any time soon. It seems to me that something like 6...c5 would be a much more natural move, logically setting up a queenside attack with the central pawn chain supporting the dark-squared bishop on the long diagonal.
Clearly I'm missing something here, given 6...e5's popularity relative to 6...c5. So my questions are
- Why is 6....e5 so much more popular than 6...c5, and
- What is Black supposed to do with his dark-squared bishop after 6...e5?