Hi everyone, Stjepan here!
I'll start a new opening series today, and
it will be on the Pirc Defense, which is a
hyper-modern opening, and a bit different
to the stuff I've been covering so far.
The Pirc, often mispronounced as "perk", or,
in Croatian, "Pirčevka", was named after
Vasja Pirc, a Slovenian Grandmaster, Yugoslavian
Grandmaster.
So it should be called the Pirc Defense, because
he wasn't Vasja "perk".
Anyway, it's a hyper-modern opening in which,
after e4, black plays the move d6.
This is quite a quiet move, and black is basically
giving up the center to white, and black agrees
to play in a hyper-modern fashion, where he
allows white to create a strong center, and
then he crashes through it afterwards if he
plays correctly.
Now, you are going to see that the opening
bears a lot of resemblance with the King's
Indian Defense and with the Benoni in some
cases, so, all three have a similar idea of
fianchettoing the bishop for black and striking
through at white's center with c5 and e5.
What black is basically doing, after the moves
e4, d6 and white's normal continuation d4,
taking the center, black hopes to develop
his minor pieces, castle his king, and then
break open the white center.
Now, what white should do in response to this
is, simply oblige, create a strong center
and try to keep it afterwards.
This will only be an introduction to the Pirc.
I'm going to cover each variation you can
see on the screen in detail in a separate
video, and we are going to go over all the
important lines, and here I'm going to try
to give you the basic ideas behind the opening
and just show you what each side can play.
Now, the good news for white against the Pirc
is that he gets to decide what type of game
they are going to play.
And very often white is the one who can decide
whether it will be tactical, whether it will
be positional, and what types of positions
will arise from the game.
Now, the normal move after d4 is Nf6, and
white play Nc3 here.
The move f3 has been seen, and this is called
the Lion Defense now, this actually transposes,
but it could also transpose into the 150 Attack,
which is the Pirc once again, so f3 is a strange
sideline, so if you play the Pirc with the
black pieces, you need to be prepared for
this as well.
I'm going to go over it in the 150 Attack
video, so on that variation because it bears
a lot of resemblance to it.
But, as I said, after d4, Nf6, the main way
to defend your pawn is with the knight, so
Nc3.
And here black enters the normal Pirc Defense
with the move g6.
I would like to mention one move briefly,
which actually transposes to the Philidor
Defense, and, if you play e4 and you face
the Pirc often, then you must have faced this
move.
That's the move e5.
And this, if white misplays it, leads to an
endgame in which black is perfectly fine,
I would argue even slightly better.
If you get tempted and take the pawn, so dxe5,
dxe5, Qxd8, Kxd8.
This is almost an improved Berlin for black,
because his c pawns aren't doubled, he is
actually challenging the e file with his e5
pawn.
And this is completely equal.
The face that black can't castle doesn't mean
absolutely anything, and black is going to
play c6, Kc7, develop normally and have a
fine game.
So, this sideline with e5 should be met with
Nf3, simply declining, and now you have entered
the Philidor Defense, after Nbd7, Bc4, Be7,
etc.
And I'm going to cover this in detail in the
Philidor series, this is the Lion variation.
But, as I said, don't be surprised if you
enter this position.
So after e4, the Pirc with d6, d4, Nf6, Nc3,
black doesn't have to play the main move g6,
black can go for e5.
And just remember not to take this pawn because
the resulting endgame doesn't give white almost
any advantage.
And, by the way, sorry, I'm just moving into
a new apartment, so the recording setup is
quite strange and I have a lot of stuff around
co I couldn't find a normal table, but, anyway.
Lets get going.
So after Nc3 black plays g6.
And, as I said, black's idea is to allow white
to create a strong center, and then to fianchetto
his bishop, castle his king and open up the
center, most commonly with c5, but with e5
as well.
Hyper-modern openings haven't been popular
really up until the 20th century, the Pirc
has been played in the 19th century, but with
varying success, not really that much success,
and in the 1960s, it became popular and played
commonly.
Now, Bobby Fischer played it once against
Boris Spassky in the 1972 match, game 17 ended
in a draw.
And there are quite a lot of popular, strong
Grandmaster games which you can check out.
So the first thing I would advise you to do
is to look at 10 or 20 games just to get a
feel for the position.
As I sad, white gets to decide what the opening
will be like.
White has six moves here.
Perhaps even more, but almost all other moves
apart from these six are quite dubious, and
from these six moves, two are the most popular,
two are the main lines.
The move f4 is the Austrian Attack, and the
move Nf3 is the Classical Variation.
Those two are the best for white.
And those two are objectively the strongest
way for white to play.
Now, they are completely different.
The move f4 is tactical, leads to very sharp
positions in which white is going to attack
as soon as possible, and the move Nf3, the
Classical Variation, with this move white
is going for a slow, steady advantage which...
In these positions black can hardly equalize,
if white plays correctly, so I think that
people who play the Pirc Defense hope for
f4, and something aggressive because that
gives them more chances, because the Pirc
is a fighting opening, and if you dampen their
counter play with Nf3, which Nf3 does perfectly,
then players with black, especially lower
rated ones often get confused and find their
pieces cramped on the back row.
Imagine the bishop being here, the king castled,
the bishop either goes here or here, the knight
goes to d7, so all of black's pieces are stuck
on the first three rows, and white can expand
normally and almost create a perfect chess
setup.
Be3, Bd3, 0-0, Qd2, Rd1, Re1, and you have
a position as if it came from a textbook,
while, on the other hand, black is cramped
on the back row and still has to find some
counter play.
the other lines which I'm going to go over
are Be3, which is a very, very aggressive
setup, and c6 is the main move for black.
Here white goes Qd2.
This is the so called 150 Attack.
I have no idea why is it called that, and
it's quite an unimaginative name, but, still.
And this setup basically is something like
the Yugoslav Attack, and white is going to
play f3, 0-0-0, play g4, h4, sack, sack mate,
the Bobby Fischer method, and I have to say
this is one of my favorite ways to fight the
Pirc Defense.
Another line which is quite popular is Bg5,
this is the Byrne variation, named after Byrne,
an American Grandmaster.
And this, I wouldn't recommend because I think
this is...
Well, your bishop is going to end up on g3,
and I can't really see a big advantage for
white after Bg7, Qd2, h6, Bh4, g5, Bg3.
I mean, black has sort of overextended his
pawns on the kingside and it's going to be
much harder to castle, but still, I think
that you need your bishop on e3, and I would
prefer to play other lines.
One very interesting way for white to play
is the move g3, the Sveshnikov System, and
this doesn't really copy black' plan, because,
even though both sides are going to fianchetto
their bishops, white still has a broad center
and white can sometimes even continue with
the move f4 and cramp black's position down.
So after Bg7, Bg2, 0-0, Nge2, e5, h3, this
position is quite playable for white and I
like it.
It's unusual and most people who play the
Pirc Defense aren't going to be used to this.
And the last variation which we are going
to go over is Bc4, and this is the Kholmov
System, and even though it's been played a
long time ago, it's sort of a new idea to
develop the bishop to c4, because normally
the bishop goes to e2, and then to c4 in some
lines.
This is a very aggressive setup with which
white could have quick wins and the bishop
is, of course, much better on c4 than on e2.
So lets say Bg7, Qe2, Nc6, e5, opening up
the center, Nd7, Nf3.
You can see that black is sort of forced to
go back and white has a free hand in the center,
and, as in every chess opening white isn't
much better or anything, but, if black is
not careful he could get in trouble much faster
than white because white has more space, white
has more activity, and white's king is, at
the end, safer because there are no black
pieces around it.
So these, all of these six we are going to
go over in separate videos.
So the series is going to be six video.
Let me just go back to this position.
So, the Pirc Defense is, well, myself as an
e4 player, I like to face it because I think
that black can go wrong much sooner than white
can.
Of course, if white isn't careful then he
could blunder, and, several strong grandmasters
have played it.
I would want to name Yasser Seirawan in particular,
who's played it for a long time, and you can
check out a lot of his games.
He brought numerous ideas to the theory of
the Pirc, and his games are very instructive,
and you should check out his games to see
how to play this with the black pieces.
Nevertheless, I prefer the position for white.
Let's just go over some of the main lines.
So f4, the Austrian Attack with the idea of
basically bringing another defender to the
center, so the move e5 can be played, but
it doesn't work.
And in the Austrian Attack, one thing you
have to remember is that once black plays
the move e5, your general plan is to take
with one pawn and then advance the other.
You should never take twice.
So after e5, lets say e5 here even though
it's not the best move, you either take here,
or, after e5 you take here, so lets say this
happens.
So, in the Austrian Attack, you basically
want to be able to move one of your pawns
forward, and that's why you use the third
pawn, and it's the most aggressive setup against
the Pirc.
Black's most common move is Bg7, the move
e5 here for white isn't really as dangerous,
white continues with Nf3, black castles, Bd3,
and white develops his pieces before going
to an attack.
Na6 is played instead of Nc6, because this
could be an annoying tempo, the move d5, 0-0,
c5, and here you cans see what black is trying
to do in the Pirc.
Black has developed, black has castled, and
now he is trying to undermine the center.
And the only way for white to keep his center
is to play the move d5.
If white captures on c5, Nxc5 is actually
fine for black, and white doesn't have a huge
advantage at all.
So white has to play for an attack.
d5, trying to keep those pieces at bay, and
now lets say Bg4, which is the main move,
and white's idea is, ideally, to exchange
this main defender in black's position and
to advance the pawns when the position is
favorable and when you manage to get an attack
out of your advancing pawns.
In the Classical System, the story is quite
different, and this is probably my second
favorite system against the Pirc.
I usually play the 150 Attack with Be3, Qd2.
But Nf3 is the most solid way to play.
I'm not sure what is the main line now, f4
and Nf3 have both been played thousands of
times in grandmaster games.
I think about equally.
But Nf3 is the most solid way.
Bg7, Be2, as I said you don't go to c4, sometimes
you do it later, but you need your bishop
here because Bg4 is an annoying move, 0-0,
and here, already, you need to be prepared
for sidelines, and there's a variation which
I really don't like facing.
I have played this against a Fide Master about
a year ago or two years ago.
He played c5 here immediately, opening up
the center before I got time to castle.
I took and he played Qa5 and he is going to
recapture here with the queen.
You really have to be careful.
If I try to be greedy or something, then after
this move my position is just losing.
You can see that black has a lot of tricks
in the Pirc, and you need to be careful from
the start of the game.
So lets say Nf3, Bg7, Be2, c5 is already possible
here and you need to be prepared for that,
so the Pirc is an opening in which black tries
to lure you into his trap.
He tries to put his king to safety and then
break through your center immediately.
But the main move isn't c5, it can happen
but 0-0, 0-0, c6 here, and black is trying
to develop, create a small center and then
open it up later.
C5 is possible here as well, d5 is the main
move, so in most cases when c5 is played you
need to close the position down, now, ideally,
you would like to do that in a way that blocks
down this bishop, which is really hard to
do.
So black has significant counter play.
You need to be prepared to have nerves of
steel with both sides here, especially with
the black pieces, because, if you get scared
while playing the Pirc, if you panic, if you
move your pieces backwards before it's necessary,
then you are going to have a losing position.
For example, in the Austrian Attack after
f4, Bg7, Nf3, 0-0, here I would play Bd3 and
one of my opponents moved his knight backwards
fearing e5.
I've actually had, in blitz games, after Nf3
my opponents moving their knight backwards.
You need to know when you have to move backwards
and when you don't have to retreat, when the
position is fine.
In that respect, the Pirc is a very complicated
opening and i hope I'm going to be able to
explain all the variations thoroughly and
in a way in which you can understand them.
I'm looking forward to that.
Once again, a very complex hyper-modern opening,
very popular nowadays, and, even though you
won't see it in every 2800 game, or in world
championships, it's still a very viable defense
for black and if white doesn't know hat he's
doing, and if white is expecting something
normal, such as e5 or c5, then the move d6
can be a very strong surprise weapon.
Now, one thing I would like to mention is
that after e4, there is a defense very similar
to the Pirc, and that's the move g6 which
is the Modern Defense.
And now after d4, Bg7, Nf3, d6, you might
think that this is the same as the Pirc, even
though some people classify it as the Pirc-Modern
defense, the Modern is also known as Robatsch.
The Modern Defense is basically when black
delays the development of the knight to be
able to counter the move e5 better and to
have more options available for him.
So we are going to cover the Robatsch or the
Modern Defense in a separate series, because
they are different openings.
Ok everybody, I hope you got something from
this introductory video on the Pirc Defense.
It's going to be six more videos with six
main variations.
Please do let me know what you think.
Let me know if you want some other variations
to be covered, some sidelines which you think
are important.
I might include them.
And thanks very much!
Thanks very much for watching and stay tuned
for more chess!
See you later.
Bye, bye!
