Philidor Defence
Encyclopedia
The Philidor Defence is a chess opening
characterised by the moves:
It is named after the famous 18th-century player François-André Danican Philidor
, who advocated it as an alternative to the common 2...Nc6. His original idea was to challenge White's centre by the pawn thrust ...f7–f5.
Today, the Philidor Defence is known as a solid, though passive choice for Black, and is seldom seen in top-level play except as an alternative to the heavily analysed openings which can ensue after the normal 2...Nc6.
The ECO
code for Philidor Defence is C41.
Paul Morphy
and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard. The game continued 3.d4 Bg4 however, a deviation from modern standard lines.
, there are no top players who employ the Philidor with any regularity, although Étienne Bacrot
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
have occasionally experimented with it. However, its popularity in master play has increased slightly over the last twenty years.
In this line Black can also fianchetto
his bishop to g7, though this is uncommon. Bent Larsen
tried this in a few games, including a draw
against Mikhail Tal
in 1969.
Instead of 4.Nxd4, White can also play 4. Qxd4, as Paul Morphy favoured, intending 4... Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 followed by 0-0-0. This line was played in many 19th-century games.
.
A common line is: 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. 0-0 (6.Ng5 is an interesting alternative: after 6...0-0 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qd8 10.Nxa8, White is material up, but Black can develop a strong initiative after, for example, 10...b5 11.Nxb5 Qa5+) 6... 0-0 7. a4 (to prevent ...b5) 7... c6 (see diagram).
Grandmaster Larry Kaufman
, in his book The Chess Advantage in Black and White, notes that the Hanham Variation aims to maintain Black's pawn on e5, analogously to closed lines of the Ruy Lopez
, and opines that "it would be quite popular and on a par with the major defenses to 1.e4, except for the annoying detail that Black can't actually reach the Hanham position by force."
As an alternative to 4.Nc3 in response to Black's 3...Nf6, according to both Kaufman and Grandmaster Christian Bauer
, White retains some advantage with: 4. dxe5! Nxe4 5. Qd5! Nc5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Nc3.
So...
4... c6 is best for Black, but leaves White with the advantage of the bishop pair after 5. 0-0 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 (6...Nxe5 loses a pawn to 7.Nxe5 dxe5 8.Qh5) 7. Ng5! Bxg5 8. Qh5! Qe7 9. Qxg5 or 9. Bxg5.
One such line is 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 intending 4.Nf3 e5. However, White can deviate with 4. f4!? or even 4. g4!?
Another try is 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 which transposes to the Hanam after 4. Nf3 Nbd7, but White can instead try to gain a small advantage with 4. dxe5 (Kaufman opines that 4.Nge2 is "also promising") 4... dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bc4. After 4.dxe5, Bauer concludes that "White stands a trifle better" but that "provided he plays accurately, Black doesn't have much to fear following 6.Bc4, by choosing any of the three valid replies, 6...Ke8, 6...Bb4, or 6...Be6. Then 7. Bxe6 fxe6 his position remains a hard nut to crack."
In the 19th century, 3...f5 was also played by Paul Morphy
. The move can lead to more open positions than the other lines, but is often considered dubious. Others, however, maintain that 3...f5 is a valid idea. Grandmaster Tony Kosten treats the move with respect in his monograph on the opening. The move was also played by David Bronstein
and by Teimour Radjabov
.
The main alternatives after 3.d4 f5 are:
All of these lead, with correct play, to a small advantage for White.
as White declined to win the pawn but retained a strong initiative after 7...Qe7 8.Nc3.)
3.Bc4 is also White's route to an attempted Légal Trap
.
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
characterised by the moves:
- 1. e4 e5
- 2. Nf3 d6
It is named after the famous 18th-century player François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor , often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the opéra comique...
, who advocated it as an alternative to the common 2...Nc6. His original idea was to challenge White's centre by the pawn thrust ...f7–f5.
Today, the Philidor Defence is known as a solid, though passive choice for Black, and is seldom seen in top-level play except as an alternative to the heavily analysed openings which can ensue after the normal 2...Nc6.
The ECO
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings is a classification system for the opening moves in a game of chess. It is presented as a five volume book collection describing chess openings...
code for Philidor Defence is C41.
Use
The Philidor occurred in one of the most famous games ever played, the "Opera Box game" played in 1858 between the American chess masterChess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard. The game continued 3.d4 Bg4 however, a deviation from modern standard lines.
, there are no top players who employ the Philidor with any regularity, although Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever...
have occasionally experimented with it. However, its popularity in master play has increased slightly over the last twenty years.
Lines starting 3.d4
With 3. d4 White immediately challenges Black in the centre. In this position, Black has several options.3...exd4
The most common Black response is 3... exd4 which relieves the central tension, though it gives up the centre. After 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3, Black normally continues ...Be7 and ...0-0 and achieves a strong defensive position.In this line Black can also fianchetto
Fianchetto
In chess the fianchetto is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward....
his bishop to g7, though this is uncommon. Bent Larsen
Bent Larsen
Jørgen Bent Larsen was a Danish chess Grandmaster and author. Larsen was known for his imaginative and unorthodox style of play and he was the first western player to pose a serious challenge to the Soviet Union's dominance of chess...
tried this in a few games, including a draw
Draw (chess)
In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...
against Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal was a Soviet–Latvian chess player, a Grandmaster, and the eighth World Chess Champion.Widely regarded as a creative genius, and the best attacking player of all time, he played a daring, combinatorial style. His play was known above all for improvisation and unpredictability....
in 1969.
Instead of 4.Nxd4, White can also play 4. Qxd4, as Paul Morphy favoured, intending 4... Nc6 5. Bb5 Bd7 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. Bg5 followed by 0-0-0. This line was played in many 19th-century games.
Hanham Variation
The other main option for Black is to maintain the central tension and adopt a setup with ...Nbd7, ...Be7, and ...c6. This plan is named the Hanham Variation (after the American chess master James Moore Hanham) and was favoured by Aron NimzowitschAron Nimzowitsch
Aron Nimzowitsch was a Russian-born Danish unofficial chess grandmaster and a very influential chess writer...
.
A common line is: 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. 0-0 (6.Ng5 is an interesting alternative: after 6...0-0 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qd8 10.Nxa8, White is material up, but Black can develop a strong initiative after, for example, 10...b5 11.Nxb5 Qa5+) 6... 0-0 7. a4 (to prevent ...b5) 7... c6 (see diagram).
Grandmaster Larry Kaufman
Larry Kaufman
Lawrence C. "Larry" Kaufman is a Grandmaster of chess. He is also a mathematics professor and currently lives in Potomac, Maryland. In 2008, as an International Master, Kaufman won the World Senior Championship which automatically earned him the Grandmaster title.A long time researcher in...
, in his book The Chess Advantage in Black and White, notes that the Hanham Variation aims to maintain Black's pawn on e5, analogously to closed lines of the Ruy Lopez
Ruy Lopez
The Ruy Lopez, also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves:-History:The opening is named after the 16th century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, who made a systematic study of this and other openings in the 150-page book on chess Libro del...
, and opines that "it would be quite popular and on a par with the major defenses to 1.e4, except for the annoying detail that Black can't actually reach the Hanham position by force."
As an alternative to 4.Nc3 in response to Black's 3...Nf6, according to both Kaufman and Grandmaster Christian Bauer
Christian Bauer
Christian Bauer is a French chess player and author. In 1996 he won the French Chess Championship. In 2009 he came first at Vicente Bonil ahead of 21 GMs and 33 titled players.-External links:...
, White retains some advantage with: 4. dxe5! Nxe4 5. Qd5! Nc5 6. Bg5 Be7 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Nc3.
Alternative move order
Black sometimes tries 3... Nd7 intending 4.Nc3 Ngf6, reaching the Hanham Variation. But then 4. Bc4! is awkward for Black to meet, since 4...Ngf6 loses to 5.Ng5, and 4...Be7 loses a pawn to 5.dxe5 Nxe5 (5...dxe5?? 6.Qd5! wins) 6.Nxe5 dxe5 7.Qh5!So...
4... c6 is best for Black, but leaves White with the advantage of the bishop pair after 5. 0-0 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 (6...Nxe5 loses a pawn to 7.Nxe5 dxe5 8.Qh5) 7. Ng5! Bxg5 8. Qh5! Qe7 9. Qxg5 or 9. Bxg5.
Black experiments to reach the Hanham Variation
In recent years, Black has experimented with other move orders in an attempt to reach the Hanham Variation while avoiding 3...Nf6 4.dxe5! and 3...Nd7 4.Bc4!One such line is 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 intending 4.Nf3 e5. However, White can deviate with 4. f4!? or even 4. g4!?
Another try is 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 which transposes to the Hanam after 4. Nf3 Nbd7, but White can instead try to gain a small advantage with 4. dxe5 (Kaufman opines that 4.Nge2 is "also promising") 4... dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8 6. Bc4. After 4.dxe5, Bauer concludes that "White stands a trifle better" but that "provided he plays accurately, Black doesn't have much to fear following 6.Bc4, by choosing any of the three valid replies, 6...Ke8, 6...Bb4, or 6...Be6. Then 7. Bxe6 fxe6 his position remains a hard nut to crack."
Philidor's original intention: 3...f5
A more aggressive approach for Black after 3.d4 is 3... f5!?, now called the Philidor Counter Gambit, a move which Philidor himself recommended. According to Philidor, the move 3...f5 can also be played after 3.Bc4, which can lead to unique positions such as 3.Bc4 f5 4.d3 c6, possibly followed by f5–f4, b7–b5, a7–a5, and even g7–g5 and h7–h5, when all Black pawns have moved before any piece.In the 19th century, 3...f5 was also played by Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
. The move can lead to more open positions than the other lines, but is often considered dubious. Others, however, maintain that 3...f5 is a valid idea. Grandmaster Tony Kosten treats the move with respect in his monograph on the opening. The move was also played by David Bronstein
David Bronstein
David Ionovich Bronstein was a Soviet chess grandmaster, who narrowly missed becoming World Chess Champion in 1951. Bronstein was described by his peers as a creative genius and master of tactics...
and by Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
Radjabov's knight sacrifice, 21. ... Ngxe5, was praised by several strong players for its bravery, including English grandmaster Nigel Short. Said Short of the move, "Radjabov plays very imaginatively... he just won't give up, he is extremely tenacious and will always find a way to muddy the...
.
The main alternatives after 3.d4 f5 are:
- 4. Bc4 after which Black should reply 4... exd4
- 4. Nc3 is also best followed by 4... exd4
- 4. dxe5 forces Black to complicate matters further with 4... fxe4
- 4. exf5 e4
All of these lead, with correct play, to a small advantage for White.
3...Bg4?!
Inferior is 3... Bg4?!, in light of 4. dxe5 Bxf3 (alternatively, Black can gambit a pawn with 4...Nd7?!, known as the Duke of Brunswick Gambit) 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 giving White the advantage of the bishop pair in an open position. (Now the "natural" 6...Nf6? allows White to win a pawn with 7.Qb3. This was played in the famous "Opera Box game", when Paul MorphyPaul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
as White declined to win the pawn but retained a strong initiative after 7...Qe7 8.Nc3.)
Line starting 3.Bc4
An alternative approach for White is to play 3. Bc4, and either delay d2–d4, or forgo it altogether and instead play d2–d3.3.Bc4 is also White's route to an attempted Légal Trap
Légal Trap
The Legal Trap, Blackburne Trap, also known as Legal Pseudo-Sacrifice and Legal Mate is a chess opening trap, characterized by a queen sacrifice followed by checkmate with minor pieces if Black accepts the sacrifice. The trap is named after Sire de Légal , a French player...
.