1e4e52Nf3d6: The opening position of the Philidor Defense.
The Philidor Defense is a very solid, yet passive, opening. It is respectable at all levels, but is rarely seen at high level in favor of other stronger, more complex openings. It's simplicity is often favored by new players.3d4...White's best response is to pressure the e4 pawn and threaten a queen trade, losing black's castling rights. This gives black several options, the most common including: the Exchange Variation, the Nimzowitsch Variation, the Hanham Variation, and the Philidor Countergambit. This study will cover the Exchange Variation.
:3...exd4: The opening position of the Exchange Variation of the Philidor Defense.
In the exchange variation, black chooses to reduce tension in the center by immediately trading its pawn, leaving a very passive, defensive position with white more developed but without immediate targets. White can deal with the d4 pawn in several ways:44.Nxd4!!White's strongest, most common response. This principled response simply recaptures the d4 pawn with Nxd4, centralizing the knight.4.Qxd4!?White's 2nd most common response. This is a slight mistake, but practically sees good results even up through high-level due to rarity and difficulty for black, as there are many tactical lines for white. This develops the queen aggressively, pressuring g7 and enabling the queen to easily move around the board. However, black can counterattack the queen with Nc6, forcing it to move and lose white some tempo/developmental advantage.4.Bc4?!Morphy Gambit. White's 3rd most common response. Mistake, but can see decent results at low-level due to difficult tactics for black. This develops the light-squared bishop, putting pressure on the f7 pawn while also enabling white to castle king's side. There are many tactics involving Bxf7 sacrifices that black must avoid, but if it can, white's pieces are actually not very well organized, and this gives up much of white's advantage. This variation will be covered in a future study by Coldfield1994.4.c3?!Bird Gambit. Uncommon response. Mistake, but can see decent results at low-level due to difficult tactics for black. This gambits white's pawn by offering up an additional pawn in trade, gaining quick development of the knight if accepted. This gambit is unsound, as black can stabilize even if it takes the pawn with precise play. Additionally, black doesn't need to take the pawn, and can instead simply develop. By not capturing the white pawn, black has caused white to obstruct its knight's development. This variation will be covered in a future study by Coldfield1994.