One benefit of playing 1...d6 to get to the Philidor is that you don't need to learn something against the Kings Gambit, Vienna, Bishop's Opening and all the 2.d4 gambits.   

As some one who played the Philidor on and off for years I would say that my primary complaint with it was that it tended to be drawish.   I found very few people who enjoyed playing against it and even fewer who played the theoretically important lines, but I found it difficult to get an advantage against weaker players who just played cautiously against it.  I probably did best against equal or slightly higher rated players (my rating usually sat in the high 1700's or low 1800's) who tried to punish it. 

Over time I gravitated into the Center Counter because it offered many of the same benefits (slightly unusual, fairly easy to learn, and not something white players tend to study) but also offered a more unbalanced position and more winning chances against lower rated players.

These days there is a lot more theory readily available  for white players against both defenses so I can't recommend either as much as I once did - although that hasn't stopped me from playing either one.   

Craig,

I don't play this either. The way I count tempi is something like this: after Black has moved, how many moves does it take White to connect his rooks and the same for Black. Subtract the numbers an viola! In this case it’s three for White and one for Black. I’d say Black has two tempi for the pawn here. I may even count the fact that Black’s rook is already on an open file (but Black may need to move Kb8 at some point as is the general case in castling queenside).

Thoughts?

Béla

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Funny you should ask and I have a form of an answer from the same article from chess cafe. 

1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 d6
3.d4 Bg4
4.dxe5 Nd7
5.exd6 Bxd6
6.Be2 Qe7
7. 0-0 0-0-0

This looks realatively decent the lead in dvelopment is no laughing matter and i would take black here. I am reasonably sure that intitiative lovers will agree.

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Ah, the Holy Grail. I'd recommend sticking with the main line stuff. It'll be far better for you in the long run as you won't end up having to discard it! 

But if that doesn't appeal, I think 1. ...d5 is the best way to minimise theory, but that's a different forum. 

 

I was under the impression that 3...Nd7 was verging on unsound after 4.Bc4? I could be wrong here though, it's several years since I read Kosten's book on the opening and, in all honesty, I haven't really looked at it from either side (even though I can reach it as white and have played it via 1...d6 as black). My choice would be (and, on the one occasion, was) 3...Nf6.

If you ever see him playing online, FM Mark Noble employs the Philidor on a common basis...and a reversed form from the white side of the board.  (His handle on USCL is MNoble...don't know about other places.)  Perhaps you can watch or review some of his games to learn a thing or two about this opening.    

NeX iRae

The problem with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 is that White gets an advantage with 4.dxe5 Nxe4 5.Qd5. If you want to play a solid Hanham set up try the move order 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5. White doesn't really profit by exchanging queens (there are games on ChessPublishing's site that show this), so after 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.a4 c6 you've got your Hanham set up