How to play Philidor Defense

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Tue May 24, 2016 11:26 am

Philidor is difficult to play with black. Always capture on d4 to get the knight on d4 otherwise you may easily lose in a few moves for Bf7, Ng5, Nd5 are always threatening.

This may be interesting for black as an alternative to 2 .. Nc6. Haven't tried it yet.

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

rnbqkbnr/ppp2p1p/3p2p1/8/3NP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Tue May 24, 2016 12:31 pm

Sorry for this has nothing to do with Philidor for he always played 3 .. f5.

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

rnbqkbnr/ppp3pp/3p4/4pp2/3PP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq f6 0 4

Don't understand how this can be playable. After 4. de5: fe4:

See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philidor_Defence

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

rnbqkbnr/ppp3pp/3p4/4P1N1/4p3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 5

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Tue May 24, 2016 4:58 pm

[Event "Unknown"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1790.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "François André Philidor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Tue May 24, 2016 7:32 pm

Maybe interesting comments.

[Event "Analyse du jeu des Échecs"] 
[Site "?"] 
[Date "1749.??.??"] 
[Round "?"] 
[White "NN"] 
[Black "François André Philidor"] 
[Result "0-1"] 
[WhiteElo "0"] 
[BlackElo "0"] 
[EventDate "1749.??.??"] 
[ECO "C41"] 
[PlyCount "64"] 
 
1. e4 
{Annotations by Philidor from Black's perspective.} 
1... e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 f5 
{It is always advantageous to change your 
king's bishop's pawn for his king's pawn, because, by that 
means, your king's and queen's pawns may place may place 
themselves in the centre of the chess-board; besides, in 
castling on the right wing, your castle finds itself free and 
able to act from the very beginning of the game, as will be 
shown by a back-game on the same play.} 
4. d3 c6 5. exf5 
{If 
your adversary refuse taking your bishop's pawn, you are still 
to leave it exposed, and not move it till he has castled; you 
must afterwards, with your pawns on the right wing; form your 
attack upon the pawns which cover his king, as is explained in 
a back-game on that move. You are to observe, as a general 
rule, not to determine easily to push on the pawns on either 
wing before your adversary's king has castled, because he will 
otherwise retire on the side where your pawns are less 
advanced, and consequently less able to annoy him.} 
5... Bxf5 6. Bg5 Nf6 7. Nbd2 
{Should he take your knight with his 
bishop, you must take his with your pawn, in order to bring 
the strength of your pawns towards the centre.} 
7... d5 8. Bb3 Bd6 
{This is the best square your king's bishop can choose, except 
the fourth of your queen's bishop: in that place he may be of 
use in forming your attack upon the king's castle's pawn, in 
case he should castle on his left side.} 
9. Qe2 Qe7 10. O-O 
{If he had castled on his queen's side, it would then have 
been your play to castle on your king's side, in order to 
attack him afterwards more easily with the pawns on your 
left. Again, it being necessary to observe, as a general rule, 
that, as it is often dangerous to attack the adversary too 
soon, here likewise you must be reminded not to be too hasty 
in your attack, until your pawns are previously sustained by 
one another, and also by your pieces, otherwise those 
premature attacks will be unsuccessful, as will be shown by a 
back-game on this play.} 
10... Nbd7 11. Nh4 
{He plays the knight to 
make room for his king's bishop's pawn, with a design next to 
advance it two squares to try to break the line of your 
pawns.} 
11... Qe6 12. Nxf5 
{If he had pushed his king's bishop's 
pawn two squares, instead of taking your bishop, you should 
then have attacked his queen with your queen's bishop, and 
then pushed your king's castle's pawn upon his bishop, to 
force him to take your knight; in this case, your best way 
would be to take his bishop with your pawn, in order the 
better to support your king's pawn, and replace it in case it 
be taken.} 
12... Qxf5 13. Bxf6 
{If he did not take this knight, his 
bishop would remain imprisoned by your pawns, or he would lose 
three moves, which loss would entirely ruin his game.} 
13... gxf6 14. f4 Qg6 15. fxe5 fxe5 16. Rf3 
{He plays this castle with 
the design either to attack and remove your queen or to double 
it, if necessary, with his other castle.} 
16... h5 
{You play this 
pawn two squares, to give room to your queen, in case your 
adversary attack her with his king's castle.} 
17. Raf1 O-O-O 18. c4 e4 
{Here is a move as difficult to comprehend as to be 
well explained; in the first place you are to observe, that 
when you find yourself with a string of pawns following one 
another, the pawn which is at the head of them must strive to 
preserve its post; your king's pawn not being upon the same 
coloured squares, or in an oblique line with the others, your 
adversary has pushed his queen's bishop's pawn, for two 
reasons: the first, to induce you to advance your queen's 
pawn, which would then be stopped by that of his queen, and, 
by that means, to render useless your king's pawn thus left 
behind: the second is, to prevent, at the same time, your 
king's bishop from battering upon his king's castle's 
pawn. You ought, therefore, to push your king's pawn upon his 
castle, and even sacrifice it, because your adversary, by 
taking it, opens a free passage to the pawn of your queen, 
which you are to advance immediately, and sustain, in case of 
need, with your others, in order order to try to make a queen 
with it, or draw some other considerable advantage from it, to 
win the game. It is true, that his queen's pawn being now on 
the same line with its king, appears to have the same 
advantage of having no opposition from your pawns to make a 
queen; however, the difference is great, because his pawn 
being entirely separated and incapable of being joined to, or 
sustained by, any of the others, will always be in danger of 
being seized on is road by your pieces continually warring 
against it. This move, as has been before observed, is very 
difficult; and one must be already a good player to judge well 
of it.} 
19. dxe4 d4 20. Bc2 Ne5 
{It was necessary to play this 
knight, in order to stop his king's pawn; the more so, because 
this very pawn, in its present situation, stops the passage of 
its own bishop, and even of its knight.} 
21. Rf6 Qg7 22. Qf2 
{He plays his queen, in order afterwards to give check, but, 
if, instead of playing her, he had pushed his king's castle's 
pawn, to hinder the attack of your knight, you must have 
pushed your queen's pawn one square, which would have insured 
you the game.} 
22... Ng4 23. Qf5+ Kb8 24. Rxd6 
{He takes this bishop 
to save his king's castle's pawn; besides, that bishop proves 
more incommodious to him than all your other pieces, and by 
this play he keeps your queen's castle in check with his 
queen.} 
24... Rxd6 25. Qf4 Qe5 
{Having the advantage of a castle 
against a bishop, towards the end of a party, you will gain by 
exchanging queens; because his queen is troublesome to you in 
her present situation, and to avoid the check-mate, he finds 
himself under the necessity of taking her.} 
26. Qxe5 Nxe5 27. Rf5 Ng4 28. c5 Rg6 29. Nc4 Ne3 30. Nxe3 dxe3 31. Rf3 Rd8 
{You must make yourself master of the openings, to bring the 
castles into play, especially at the latter end of the game.} 
32. Rxe3 Rd2 
{Whatever else he had played, he could not prevent you from doubling your castles, without losing his bishop, or suffering you to make a queen with your pawn.} 0-1

whereagles · Post by **whereagles** » Tue May 24, 2016 10:20 pm

Philidor defense is defined by 2. ...d6. The move 3. ...f5 is a gambit (of Philidor's authorship) which, if I recall correctly, is not that sound.

The Philidor defense is playable, although it leaves to some cramped positions for black. Taking on d4 is not necessary as well, I think. It leaves white with a little bit more than its initial advantage.

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Thu May 26, 2016 3:29 pm

Looks like Nd7 is playable too. After Ng5 black must watch out for a Ne6 trap.

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Thu May 26, 2016 3:52 pm

Henk · Post by **Henk** » Thu May 26, 2016 6:32 pm

Looks like Rubinstein only played it once.

F. Bluemers · Post by **F. Bluemers** » Thu May 26, 2016 10:23 pm

Henk wrote:Philidor is difficult to play with black. Always capture on d4 to get the knight on d4 otherwise you may easily lose in a few moves for Bf7, Ng5, Nd5 are always threatening.

This may be interesting for black as an alternative to 2 .. Nc6. Haven't tried it yet.

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
a b c d e f g h

rnbqkbnr/ppp2p1p/3p2p1/8/3NP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5

[Event "Edited game"] [Site "HP"] [Date "2016.05.24"] [Round "-"] [White "-"] [Black "-"] [Result "*"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 * your webbrowser and/or your host do not support iframes as required to display the chess board

This is not so new,it's known as the Larsen variation(yes,another one..).
Keene wrote an article about it in MCT 1987 volume 5.
That was a nice magazine.

How to play Philidor Defense

How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense

Re: How to play Philidor Defense