Pirc Defense | Ideas, Principles and Common Variations

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The Pirc Defense is a very versatile hyper-modern opening and it provides great fighting chances for black.

The opening was named after the Slovenian Grandmaster Vasja Pirc, who popularized it in the second half of the 20th century. It has been played before, but it was never really taken seriously. As all modern openings, it neglects the classical chess principles. In fact, it goes directly against them.

Th idea behind the Pirc Defense is for black to fianchetto his kingside bishop and castle quickly and to strike at white’s center later on with the moves c5 or e5. Meanwhile, white is given a free hand and is able to form a strong center with pawns on e4 and d4 (often on f4 as well).

It’s similar to other modern openings, such as the King’s Indian or the Benoni, and it has similar ideas, so those types of openings may complement the Pirc well in your repertoire. Playing the Pirc against e4 and the KID against d4 would be most logical.

There are sic common variations of the Pirc, and every one results in a different type of middlegame. Every variation will be covered in detail in a separate video.

After the opening moves:

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6, white gets too choose a system. The Pirc can be a slow, maneuvering opening, but it can also be tactical and sharp. On move 4, white shows his cards and steers the game.

4. f4 Austrian Attack is the most aggressive setup white can choose. Bringing the third pawn to the center, white prepares a strong central and kingside attack. This variation almost always leads to attacking games with no time to waste for either side. The Austrian Attack is also the most popular way for white to play with thousands of grandmaster games.

4. Nf3 Classical Variation is the most solid approach for white. White doesn’t allow black to have any initiative and hopes to hold a minute opening advantage straight into the endgame. If white plays properly this is true in practice as well. Black, on the other hand, has to be quick to develop and to open up the center and he can’t waste any time. If he does, his pieces will be cramped, he will lack space and be worse.

4. Be3 150 Attack is a very aggressive attacking setup for white, similar to the Yugoslav attack in the Sicilian. White goes for castling queenside, f3, Qd2, g4, g5, h4 and storms the black king in his sleep on g8.

4. Bg5 Byrne Variation is a seldom used system which can be venomous if black isn’t prepared for it.

4. g3 Sveshnikov System is an interesting idea in which white fianchettoes on the kingside too. Games tend to be positional and often easier to play for white due to his space advantage.

4. Bc4 Kholmov System develops the bishop to the most natural square from where it eyes the f7 weakness. It’s a rather new idea and it can be very sharp. White isn’t as solid as in the classical where the bishop goes to e2.

#chess #pircdefense #chessopenings