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Glad your 'in it' again.

Have a nice day.

Hello.

Michael Ayton wrote on 12/05/15 at 01:41:18:

Vigus in Chess Developments the Pirc (Everyman Chess 2012) shows (on p.168-171) a few pitfalls and interesting ideas in the 4...a6 5.h3 line. After your:

(1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.h3 Bg7 6.f4)

he gives:

(1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.h3 Bg7 6.f4 0-0 7.Nf3 Nc6) plus also (7...b5) and (7...e6) and seems to slightly favour 7...Nc6.

Personally (and I don't often play 4...a6, be aware) I would instead of the above mentioned moves consider:

(1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.h3 Bg7 6.f4 0-0 7.Nf3 Nfd7!?)

With the point that white on his next move ideally would like to develop his light square bishop to a nice square (basically d3) or possibly make some active move like e5. However considering that black can now hit white with a fast c5 he may have to do something else; less in accord with the demands of the position. A few continuations for example:

(8.e5 c5) With counterplay.
(8.Bd3 c5) The tension in the centre favours black who can further improve his position with b7-b5 quite easily.
(8.h4 Nf6) It seems unlikely that any attack would succeed after white has given up the kingside light squares.
(8.g4 b5!?) In the structure after b5 it is not really certain that white would have liked to play g2-g4.
(8.Be2 c5) White's position does not seem that threatening after he posts the bishop on e2.
(8.Qd2 b5) And while white has reasonable coordination and still some chances for aggression one can ask if queen really belongs on d2. Maybe using the fact that the queen defends e3 by going
9.h4!? Nf6 10.e5! Ng4 (not forced but natural) 11.h5 can be mildly dangerous, but the position does not seem that clear.

Michael Ayton wrote on 12/07/15 at 22:57:47:


Nope. After he (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 a6 5.h3) he dribbles himself away by writing that after 5...Bg7 6.a4 the position transposes into one of his illustrative games  (see the Perfect Pirc Modern p.151).

Thus the variation with 5.h3 followed by f4 is not covered. There is decent coverage of 5.f4 though, instead of 5.h3.

Have a nice day.

Quote:


Thanks for this confirmation that Black has respectable answers to the Archbishop! I always thought so, but I must admit I had overlooked the logical 7 ...Bb7 here, meeting 8 Bg2 with 8 ...Nb6. Obviously 8 g5 is possible, but the typical 'North Sea' plan with 8 ...Nh5 looks decent.

And it seems 7 ...Nb6 is perhaps OK too. After 8 g5 Nfd7 9 h4 here I don't greatly like giving White so much space with 9 ...Bb7; but, after 9 ...h5 10 d5, I wonder if Black shouldn't play 10 ...cxd5 11 cxd5 a6 12 Bd4 Rg8 instead of 10 ...Bb7 11 Bd4 Rg8 12 dxc6 bxc6 13 Bb5 winning a pawn. But, back on move 8, I guess Black can go 8 ...Nh5 here too (9 d5 Bb7)! -- in other words, perhaps he doesn't have to put the Knight on the newly freed d7 square just because he can!

In the 4 Be3 a6 5 g4 line, I reckon 5 ...Nbd7!? is OK here as well after:

I 6 g4 b5 7 g5 Nh5 7 Be2 Bb7!
II 6 f4 b5 7 e5 b4!
III 6 Nf3 e5! 7 de de 8 Bc4 Bg7 9 0-0 0-0.

Does Moskalenko say anything about this, I wonder?

JEH wrote on 12/05/15 at 08:57:46:

That's the point: what to play then against the Modern where Bg5 seems less effective?

Michael Ayton wrote on 12/05/15 at 01:41:18:


4. Le3 c6 5. h3 I think either move is fine, you can play either 5...Sbd7 or 5...Lg7. You can play that line iwth 7...Sb6 if you want. But the setup I talking about is like 7...Lb7 8. Lg2 Sb6 9. b3 a5!? trying to get the pawn phalanx with b4-c5-d6-e7. You can let the bishop on f8 for the time. With 7...Sb6 there is 8. d5 but 8...Lb7 should be fine I think. 9. dxc6 Lxc6 and White overextended.

7...Sb6 then 8. g5 Sfd7 9. h4 h5 10. d5 Lb7 like abowe, or 9...Lb7 10. h5 Tg8!? and your plawn is ...a5 and try to push b4 and c5 again. For example 11. Df3 a5.

Then you also can play 5...Lg7 instead.

Black also has good options just as much as White has "good" options, Blacks three main moves are 4...c6, 4...a6, and 4...Lg7. You can play 4...Lg7 like Marin or 4...a6 like Kramnik. 

If you really prefer 4...Lg7, look at bog of Vigus (both the 2006 and 2012) as well as the 2009 bog by Vigus/McNab/Palliser. Also DVD of Marin (Attacking lines, Volume 2). It has coverage of 4...Lg7 for Black.

And White has to learn to play against all three if she wants to play 4. Le3. Does not seem so easy for White to me 

DenVerdsligeRejsende wrote on 12/04/15 at 10:14:25:


But you having better results with that opening than another is not really about soundness, but you playing better from the resulting positions I guess. I don't know if the Pirc is unsound, but anyway, there are many openings that may be unsound and still pretty strong players win with them. Remember, Miles even beat Karpov with 1...e6 

JEH wrote on 12/04/15 at 10:10:05:


Not sure about that, because I also play the Sicilian, French, and Caro. If I want a must-win defence, I turn to the Pirc. Which is why this poll feels a bit weird. Having some people call the Pirc unsound but I have better results against around the same level opposition than the Sicilian and French!

And German notation? It is also Skandinavian notation