Openings · B07–B09

Pirc Defence

Let White build the centre, then take it apart from the flank: a fianchetto, a hypermodern plan, and a lot of patience.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6played as Black

The idea

Black gives White the pawns on d4 and e4 on purpose, and attacks them from a distance with a bishop on g7, a knight on f6 and the breaks …c5 and …e5. The whole defence rests on those breaks coming at the right moment; there is no other source of counterplay.

It is the sharpest of the modern defences to meet, because White's most testing tries — the Austrian Attack with f4, and the 150 Attack with Be3, Qd2 and Bh6 — are both direct attempts to mate before the breaks arrive.

Practise the line

You play Black; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 20/2

1.e4d6
2.d4Nf6

White is answering…

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

The knight on c6, in front of the c-pawn

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.e5

The mistake: Developing …Nc6 in the Austrian Attack.
Why it costs: 7.e5 comes with tempo, and the knight on c6 blocks the …c5 break that is Black's only counterplay. Black ends up with a bad version of both plans: no pawn breaks and a knight that has to move again.
Instead: …c5 straight away, or …Na6 and …c5 next. In the Pirc the c-pawn goes first and the queen's knight goes to a6 or d7.

Letting the g7 bishop be traded

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 O-O 6.Bh6

The mistake: Castling into Bh6 without …c6, …b5 or …Re8 ready to answer it.
Why it costs: The bishop on g7 is the defence. Once it is traded, h6 and g7 belong to White and Qd2, h4 and h5 is not a plan Black can meet by defending — it has to be met by counterplay that is already under way.
Instead: …c6 and …b5 before castling, or meet Be3 with …Ng4 to trade the attacker. Sometimes the answer is …Bxh6 followed by …Kh8 and a rook to g8, but only with a break in hand.

Playing ...e5 for its own sake

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O e5 7.dxe5 dxe5 8.Qxd8 Rxd8

The mistake: Breaking with …e5 and trading queens as though the game were level.
Why it costs: The endgame is pleasant only for White: Black's e5 pawn is fixed on a dark square, the bishop on g7 bites on it, and Nd5 and Bg5 come with tempo. Black has traded his counterplay for a slightly worse ending.
Instead: …c6 and …b5, or prepare …e5 with …Nbd7 and …c6 so that the recapture on e5 is with a piece. Timing is the whole opening.

Try it on one of your own

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