wcywing wrote on 08/09/09 at 07:56:56:
my positional skills are lacking
This pretty much rules out lines with g3 and Be2. In these White's main strategical goal is to prevent Black's counterplay, not to attack yourself.
First of all you should expand your question: a repertoire against the Modern
and the Pirc. The two are too closely connected.
What you need imo is straightforward stuff. All the GM's of course play the Austrian, so that must be the best. But you can expect that Black is prepared to the teeth for it. Moreover GM's interprete the Austrian very positionally these days; no early attacks. So I offer this option, which is my repertoire and the only variation I have remained faithful to for more than 25 years (yes, 1.d4 d6 2.e4
):
A) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 0-0 6.0-0-0 (more precise than 6.f3 e5) c6/Nc6 7.f3 b5 8.h4 or 8.Bh6. White's play is similar to the Jugoslav Attac - Bh6, h2-h4-h5, sac-sac mate. Please notice the lines 8.h4 Qa5 9.Bh6 Be6 10.h5 b4 11.Nb1 (a very dangerous gambit) and 8.Bh6 Qa5 9.Kb1 Be6 9.Nd5 (giving White a clear and lasting plus).
B) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.Bh6 Bxh6 (0-0 7.h4) 7.Qxh6 Qa5 (7...b5 8.e5, 7...e5; 7...Nbd7;) 8.0-0-0. You will need to put the most effort here, as it has the soundest reputation. It is nice that White still has the choice between f3, h3 and Nf3. Take a look at Kasparov-Radjabov, Moscow 2002 to learn how to handle the white pieces. Black of course can do better.
C) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 Ng4 6.Bg5 Bg7 7.Qd2 followed by h3 and f4.
D) 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 c6 5.h3 (5.Qd2 is less effective now as Black can leave the bishop on f8 for a while) Bg7 6.f4 and White argues that f2-f4 is more useful than ...c7-c6. His/her dream is to attack according to the Grand Prix Scheme: Bd3, Nf3, 0-0, Qd1-e1-h4, f4-f5, Bh6, Ng5 etcetera.
This means you often will have to play Austrian setups against the Modern as well. But that should not scare you off: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3
E) 3...d6 4.Be3 a6 5.f4 eg b5 6.Bd3 Bb7 7.Nf3
F) 3...d6 4.Be3 c6 5.f4 eg b5 6.Bd3 Nbd7 7.Nf3. If Black does not castle - and (s)he often does not - White usually grabs more space with an early e4-e5 and Nc3-e4 or Bd3-e4.
G) 3...d6 4.Be3 e6 5.Qd2 and 6.f3. You will have to remember here that White should postpone castling queenside. That robs of Black's dangerous plan of ...Nbd7; ...Rc8; and ...c5 as recommended by Martin. Instead you will just grab space on the king's wing. Thanks to Black's restrained setup White's king will be safe in the centre for a very long time and sometimes unexpectedly go to the right.
H) 3...c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5 6.Be3 Nh6 7.Nf3 Bg4 8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 Nf5 10.Bf2 h4 11.Bd3 e6 12.Ne2. This is the key. Black has nicely blockaded the kingside. So White's king will be safe there and White will develop an initiative on the queenside, usually with b3 and c4.
I believe Black may prove equality in line B but suffers in all the others. White's play has a sound positional foundation, unlike early h2-h4-h5 stuff. As far as I know there is no book dealing with this repertoire, so I advise you to consult a database and play through several games. You will see that White is doing well and pick up quite a few aggressive ideas.
Now if this is too much work you can play 4.f3, 5.Be3 against everything (The Argentinian Attack). But if Black does not castle early play will be rather positional. A sample line is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f3 Bg7 5.Be3 c6 6.Qd2 b5 7.h4 h5 8.Nh3 Nbd7 9.Ng5 Qa5. This made me turn to 4.Be3 (postponing f2-f3) - more flexibility to chose the most aggressive setup.
A final word on the 150-Attack, which is often recommended. Again 4.Be3, 5.Qd2 must be the most precise move order. In B) transposing to it with 6.Nf3 might be objectively better than my recommendation 6.Bh6. The problem I have with 6.Nf3 consists of the lines in which Black's does not castle and plays an early ...b7-b5. White will have to castle kingside and exploit Black's weaknesses with a2-a4. I will not dispute that this is very promising, but just refer to the quote above.