Hello.

picasso911 wrote on 10/07/17 at 10:42:07:

The 5...c5 Austrian (and certainly the 5.a3 0-0 6.Nf3 c5 in the excerpt) is a lot about playing the right moves and sequences and is fundamentally a lot more principled way of playing compared to the strategic wizardry of 5...0-0 6.Bd3 Na6. I suppose therefore that if there is some imbalance towards concreteness over strategic considerations, in the Austrian part of the book at least, it would seem fairly ok for me. That being said I too was hoping for 5...0-0 6.Bd3 Na6.

Most interesting of all for me though is how well or unwell Marin weaves in strategy in the 4.Be3 c6 chapters. Here, even if the moves given are good ones, one can certainly make the argument that some basic strategic understanding of the positions is good for an author to convey to the reader.

Given that 4.Be3 c6 is the line chosen there is presumably also a good chance that the 6...c6 classical will be seen (otherwise for example black would have to do something clever after 4.Be3 c6 5.Be2 - although I'm not saying this should be a total impossibility). Here some strategic wisdom from Marin would be welcome. Black's task strategically is not really so easy imo.

Have a nice day.

Hello.

We have a release date.

From QC blog:
The QC publication date of “The Pirc Defence” by Mihail Marin and “Sharp Endgames” by Lund will be November 1. I know that date is a holiday in some countries, so I guess chess shops in those holidaying countries will have the books a day later.

Have a nice day.

So 5. ...c5 against the Austrian and different recommendations to his DVD!

Hello.

Confused_by_Theory wrote on 08/21/17 at 16:17:36:

Another line that could be interesting is:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 a6!? 6.0-0 Nc6
I'm not quite sure what is best, although for now I think the most difficult is...
7.Re1
(7.a4 0-0 transposes to 6...a6 while avoiding 7.Re1. This is a big point behind the move order).
(7.d5 Nb8!? Is maybe even a little bit positionally more risky than Na7 despite optically putting the knight more sensibly. Now e6 is the plan for black and if 8.Nd4 0-0 since black essentially has the positional c5+b5 threat 9.a4 seems best although now 9...e6 and if 10.dxe6 Bxe6! 11.Nxe6 fxe6 and I'm not sure this is so bad for black. Maybe white is marginally better somehow but I reckon black should be OK.)
Against other white seventh moves a6 and Nc6 should be quite decent to have played for black as well - they are very natural moves.

...When I very briefly thought this was a good time to go for a certain kind of setup with:
7...e6
Only...
8.a4! b6?! 9.a5 b5 10.e5
Very disappointingly is at least +=, meaning black has to play something less principled than 8...b6 and allow white to clamp down with a4-a5.

Instead though maybe:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 a6!? 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Re1 Bg4!?
Is a little bit stronger than usual (a6 should be useful Re1 I don't know how much), with critical line looking to me like:
8.d5 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 Ne5 10.Be2 c6 and yea... It seems like a game. White has some grip, although black is quite solid and it's not obvious how white will actually put on pressure.

Also there is:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 a6!? 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Re1 0-0
With effortless transposition to the line 5...0-0 6.0-0 a6 7.Re1 Nc6. In other words I don't think black is losing much by using this move order.


Posted just to share a few thoughts basically; not that I think it's going to be in the book. Anyway. Pre-release excitement is building here .

Have a nice day.

Thanks for the links! Marin already recorded a nice two-volume DVD series for ChessBase, I'm interested to see where his recommendations vary - in a book there's clearly more scope to give lines requiring a very precise follow-up. With books such as 'Playing 1.e4' and 'A Practical Repertoire for Black' published since, there's plenty of scope for further analysis!

I feel the biggest nuisance is actually 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0, since White seems to hold a positional advantage in all lines. I guess a key to playing the Pirc successfully is to accept that you are objectively a little worse and be comfortable in the arising unbalanced positions. Against 4.Be3 I like the 4...c6 approach with ...Nbd7, whereas 4.f4 has looked less critical of late due to recent developments in the 4...Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Bd3 Nc6 variation (though 5...c5 is also fine, of course).

Part of me would like to see two recommendations against each main line, though I am a demanding reader!

Great news! 

As Quality Chess already published a large book by Tiger Hillarp Persson based in some extent on the Pirc, I'm very curious to see Marin's (probably) different approach and recommendations. 

Double Woot!