The latest ChessBase Magazine has a long article on the Czech-Pirc System by Spyridon Kapnisis.  "Conclusion: Is the Czech System a viable system in 2026?  If someone want to employ this as their main opening, then the answer is clearly no!"

Sorry to keep harping on an opening that I'm guessing nobody around here really cares about, but I have another question. 

I've been watching more YouTube videos (probably my first mistake, but there really weren't that many interesting vids the last time I played/studied chess regularly), and I've come across the Old Indian Defense. Similar to the Czech, this is being billed as a "play this against anything" system for black by multiple titled players on YouTube. 

So dumb question - are these the same opening from different move orders, because I'm not really seeing much difference? The Czech videos seem to focus more on c6 as the automatic third move (after d6 and Nf6, obviously) and bringing the queen out to a5 or c7 immediately to support playing e5, while the Old Indian videos might delay c6 and not bring the queen out so early, using Nbd7 to support e5 instead. But other than that, they seem to be the same thing.

I just got back into playing chess. In browsing YouTube chess videos at random looking for something to play against 1. d4 (I've never really been happy with my repertoire against it in the past), I found a few videos recommending the Czech Defense as a universal system for black against almost anything. Here are two of them:

GM Igor Smirnov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTL-boifeFk
NM Robert Ramirez: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soHgoqfsh8Q ;

From what I can tell Smirnov puts out videos for beginners about pretty much any opening, always giving overly optimistic assessments about the great games you'll get. 

Ramirez seems much more realistic. He recommends this to his students who have already played both sides of 1. e4 e5 for a while as beginners and are ready to try something new, and claims to actually play this opening regularly against opponents his own level.

I'm curious to try this against 1. d4 and 1. c4 (I'll stick with the French against 1. e4, since I'm happy with that), but since more players at my level play the London System after 1. d4 than 2. c4, I'm curious how that goes. Smirnov shows a trap where the Czech will win a piece on move 7 against the London (starting at 9:34 in the video), but nothing where the London player isn't an idiot. Ramirez doesn't even mention the London. Does anyone know how the Czech Defense realistically works against the London? 

For you I recommend the Caro-Kann.

RivertonKnight wrote on 08/01/21 at 15:26:21:

Yes that is one of the problem lines for black. 

RivertonKnight wrote on 08/01/21 at 15:28:37:

Indeed all s1Editrice books I have seen were simple database dumps. No value whatsoever, even when new.

At club level the Czech system is not better nor worse than other openings. If white is booked up black can get a bad game and yet may still win. If white has no clue about the opening black can get a great game and yet may still lose. Repeating myself here, you should study and play what interests you. If you are seriously committed to this opening, the linked Krykun course at $49 seems like a reasonable investment. In fact I am curious enough that I may get it, although I suspect I am not the target audience. At least the description does not make any outlandish marketing claims.

You might want to check out the line 1 e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 Nc3 c6 4 f4 Qa5 5 Bd3 e5 6 Nf3 on your own before you start down the 1...d6 path for Black.

Hi.

On the white side I can also think of a couple of books that cover the Czech/Pribyl.

beating unusual chess defences: 1 e4 (Greet, 2011)
Playing 1.e4 Caro-Kann, 1...e5 & Minor Lines (Shaw 2016)
1.e4 vs Minor Defences (Negi 2020)

Played it myself once. I knew my opponent always played the Argentinian attack so I thought he'd do the very same even without g6 played. If I recall correctly that went:
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Be3 Nbd7 5.f3 e5 6.Nge2 Be7
And I was quite happy. It is not obvious white has such a threatening setup against black; who is now basically playing a Philidor.

Have a nice day.