Here's my review:
The Philidor Files, by Christian Bauer, Everyman Chess (
http://www.everymanchess.com), 2006, 304 pages, £14.99
The ancient Philidor Defence 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6) has been undergoing a quiet revival in the last couple of decades. The main theoretical objection has always been that (compared to 2…Nc6) strongpointing e5 with 2…d6 hems in the dark-squared bishop. I have always found this reasoning to be less than convincing, since in Black’s main (and ultra-respectable) defence to the Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6) the bishop is also confined. I am sure that professional grandmasters, pragmatists as they are, would have ignored the above theoretical objection in their hundreds had there not also been some practical problems with the Philidor, which for most of its history have seemed insurmountable.
The old mainline of the Philidor (reached after e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 0-0) has always seemed playable and strategically sound for Black - there are even theoreticians such as Palatnik (in The Tarrasch Formula) who regard the Black position as strategically more promising, regarding the Nc3 as misplaced - the main problem has always been: how to reach it!
The original Hanham move order of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 is fraught with dangers and even the most accurate continuation 4.Bc4 c6 5.0-0 Be7 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Ng5! Bxg5 8.Qh5 leaves White with two bishops and Black with dark square weaknesses.
Then Nimzowitsch proposed the improved move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4 Nc3 Nbd7 but eventually it became clear that White can avoid being forced into Hanham channels by 4 dxe5 Nxe4 5 Qd5! which seems to give an edge for White in all lines.
For many years this seemed the end of the story, but recently some strong grandmasters have been using one of two different Pirc-type move orders to try to reach the desired variation.
a) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 when after 4 Nf3 Black reaches the desired line by 4…Nbd7, whilst he does not fear 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 - this seems quite playable for Black as long as you know what you are doing.
b) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7!? when the most critical line to prevent Black from reaching his goal is 4.f4!? e5 (anyway) when
i) 5 Nf3 can be answered by 5…exd4! 6 Qxd4 (6 Nxd4 g6!?) 6...c6!? and Black intends a sharp gambit with ...d5 and ...Bc5.
so in The Chess Advantage in Black and White Kaufman recommends:
ii) 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nxe5 (once again inviting a queenless middlegame but one which is a bit more unbalanced than a) above) 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 8.Nf3 and he claims White is better after 8...Bd6 9.Bg5 c6 10.0-0-0 Kc7 11.Be2 Nfd7 (11...Nfg4? 12 Rxd6! Kxd6 13 Rd1+) 12.Nd4. Even this is not so clear after 12...Bb4 or 12... a6 13.Nf5 Bf8. Also in a correspondence game I could make no impression with the white pieces against the novelty 8...Nfd7.
OK, this is not a great deal of fun for Black, but it is some evidence that the move order 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nbd7 is probably viable for Black. Thus Whites have been having to turn their attention to how to prove an edge in the main-line Philidor-Hanham position.
During the dark years when the Hanham seemed either unplayable or unattainable, some inventive grandmasters turned their attention to a completely different approach to the centre. Antoshin played 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Be7 whilst Larsen promoted 4,,,g6. The latter line can lead to sharp and interesting games with opposite-sides castling, but one has the feeling that White should be better - Black is short of space and the g6-pawn makes it easier for White open lines against the enemy king.
Antoshin’s line has proved more resilient. Black allows White a space advantage but develops his kingside very quickly, meaning that he is soon ready for action in the centre (…d5) and failing that he has a flexible and dynamic pawn chain on the queenside.
There are now three good books on the Philidor, as far as I am aware. The first was Tony Kosten’s Winning with the Philidor (1992) which provided a very useful synthesis of developments up to that point and was enriched with many new insights and much original analysis. This book is still worth consulting, as is Kosten’s 1997 supplement Trends in the Philidor. In 2005 the young German IM Christian Seel published Geheimwaffe Philidor devoted entirely to the Antoshin; this is in German but is a typically excellent production from Chessgate and I recommend it to anyone interested in the Antoshin.
Finally we have The Philidor files from the strong French GM Christian Bauer, a hefty tome that ambitiously covers the whole Philidor spectrum (Hanham, Larsen, Antoshin) as well as the various move orders that modern players are employing (for both sides) to try to reach (or avoid) certain lines.
The first thing I always check when evaluating an openings book is: does the author actually play the stuff he is peddling? The reader can be reassured in this case: in my database I found over fifty games featuring Bauer on the black side of Philidor or Philidor-type positions, ample evidence that it will be worth listening to what he has to say.
So let’s see how he has organised his material:
The book starts with a short introduction (pp 5-9) which includes a brief mention of move-order issues and some material on the typical pawn structures that can arise. This section left me feeling slightly unsatisfied – I felt that readers would have benefited from lengthier discussion and explanation of these issues.
Chapter 1 (pp 10-43) is entitled Early Deviations and touches upon 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 Bc4 (in my view a practical choice – White can head for slow Spanish positions, as in Kasparov-Giorgadze 1979) and a range of rare options for Black after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6, of which the most important is the section (pp 16-22) which explains the problems that Black faces with the original Hanham move-order 3 d4 Nd7. The ancient 3 d4 f5 is also examined here and found wanting, although I suspect that the last word on this has not yet been spoken.
Chapter 2 (pp 44-82) deals with white deviations after 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 exd4 (of which 4 Qxd4 is the most important) and then examines Larsen’s 4 Nxd4 g6, which Bauer sums up as follows: “offers Black dynamic counterplay, but is quite difficult to handle and probably fundamentally suspicious”.
Pages 83-131 deal with the Antoshin, which has been receiving some high-level support in recent years from the likes of Nisipeanu, Bacrot and Fridman. Most attention is devoted to the critical plan of 6 Bf4, followed by Qd2 and 0-0-0. Anyone wishing to play this for White might find the theory re-assuring, but preparation has now become a nightmare, since Black has four playable options, all sharp and challenging, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 Be7 6 Bf4 0-0 7 Qd2: a) 7…d5, b) 7…a6, c) 7...c6 and d) 7…Nc6.
Pages 132-197 make up a long series of chapters dealing with the move order 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 (looking en passant at 1 e4 d6 2 d4 e5, which also appears playable for Black). Ten pages deal with the interesting 3 f3 (also covered in Beim’s excellent Chess Recipes from the Grandmaster’s Kitchen). Bauer also covers 3 Bd3 e5 4 c3 d5! Pages 166-174 deal with the critical semi-ending line 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 e5 4 dxe5 dxe5 5 Qxd8+ Kxd8, which Bauer concludes is OK for Black, as long as he answers 6 Bc4 with 6…Ke8, rather than 6…Be6, which was being touted as best a few years ago. I was fascinated by chapter 9, which covers a possibility that I wasn’t previously aware of: 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 g4!?
We have to reach page 207(!) before Bauer begins his treatment of his favoured Philidor-Hanham set-up, reached by his preferred move order 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Nbd7 4 Nf3 e5. Chapter 10 looks at alternatives to the most popular move 5 Bc4, including Shirov’s controversial 5 g4!? Chapter 11 examines White’s attempts to blow Black away quickly after 5 Bc4 Be7, namely 6 Bxf7+, 6 dxe5 dxe5 7 Bxf7+ and 6 Ng5 0-0 7 Bxf7+; this last is the most threatening according to Bauer, who considers it unclear. The remaining three chapters deal with different treatments by Black and White of the mainline 6 0-0 0-0.
Each chapter ends with a useful summary and conclusions. Note that the book uses a ‘tree’ structure, rather than the usual Everyman ‘complete annotated games’ layout. There are some complete games however, and so an index of the players would have been useful. There is an index of variations but the lack of a bibliography is a minus point. It is not clear whether Bauer has looked at other sources such the Opening for White according to Anand series or The Carpathian Warrior, although it seems that he did refer to Winning with the Philidor and The Lion. These days an indication of the cut-off point for the research in the standard sources (NiC Yearbook, Informator, TWIC) should be standard for any opening book. Without that, it is even more than usually necessary for the keen reader to do his own research using databases.
Verdict: **** (out of a possible five stars) It is not everyday that a 2600-rated GM writes an opening book, so although the topic is a comparatively rare opening, we should pay attention. If you can read German and are just interested in the Antoshin, then Seel’s book would be my top pick, but otherwise I think that Bauer’s book is now the best source of reliable information on the Philidor.
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Philidor Defence - Bauer's new book (Read 15464 times)
