Pirc Defence
Play the same six moves against anything: ...d6, ...Nf6, ...g6, ...Bg7, castle, and only then hit the centre with ...e5. You never have to memorise what White does, your king is safe by move six, and opponents under 1200 who grab space early usually cannot hold it once you strike back.
Spar this openingYour setup
- Knightf6
- Bishopg7
- Knightc6 / d7
- Bishopg4 / e6 / d7
- Rooke8
- Pawnsd6 g6
- CastleO-O
Bg7 before e5. The bishop must be on g7 before you push ...e5. Without it, dxe5 dxe5 Qxd8+ Kxd8 Nxe5 wins a pawn and your king has lost castling. With the bishop on g7, ...Nxe4 and ...Bxe5 get the pawn back.
d6 before Nf6. ...d6 first. If the knight comes out before ...d6, e5 kicks it and you are in an Alekhine you did not choose. With ...d6 in, e5 is never a threat.
Ideas
Concede the centre, castle, then hit it with ...e5 or ...c5.
White gets e4 and d4 for free and it looks like a lot. It is only a lot if it can be held. You develop behind your pawns, get the king safe, and then strike at d4 with a pawn and pieces at the same time. A big centre with too few defenders becomes a target.
...Bg7 and castle before ...e5. Never the other way round.
The ...e5 push opens the d-file. If your king is still on e8 and the bishop is still on f8, White trades on e5, trades queens with check, and takes the pawn. Once the bishop is on g7 and you are castled, the same push is your best move.
f4 means a pawn storm is coming. Castle and hit the centre before it arrives.
With pawns on e4, d4 and f4 White wants e5 and f5 and a kingside attack. You cannot out-wait that. Castle, put the knight on c6 to hit d4, and play ...e5 as soon as it is safe: it forces White to resolve the centre before the storm has any pieces behind it.
Bishop to e3, queen to d2 means Bh6 is coming. Answer with ...c6, ...b5 and keep playing.
The plan is to trade off your g7-bishop and attack down the h-file. Do not sit still: ...c6 and ...b5 give you queenside play, ...Nbd7 covers your king's dark squares, and if Bh6 comes you can trade it and carry on. Your counterplay is faster than it looks.
If e4 is guarded only by the c3-knight, ...Nxe4 Nxe4 d5 forks bishop and knight.
A bishop on c4 and a knight on c3 with nothing else guarding e4 is a pattern worth knowing. Take on e4, and when the knight recaptures ...d5 hits both the bishop and the knight, so you get the piece straight back. Material stays level, but White's centre is gone and the bishop has spent two moves achieving nothing. If you are not castled yet, check that Bxf7+ is not a problem first.
Bishop on g7, king castled, knight on c6: now push ...e5.
This is what the whole opening has been building toward. ...e5 attacks d4 with a pawn while your knight already attacks it. If White pushes d5, the knight goes to e7 and your bishop is free. If White trades, you recapture and the g7-bishop looks through to the queenside.
Castled, bishop on g7, centre challenged. Now bring the rook to e8 and the second knight into the fight.
The Pirc middlegame rewards patience. If the centre is still closed, keep adding pressure with ...Re8, ...Nbd7 or ...Nc6, ...c6 and ...Qc7. If White has traded on e5, the g7-bishop is your best piece; keep it. If White storms the kingside, trade the attackers and hit back in the centre.
The structure
Traps
The tell: You have played ...g6 and the urge is to hit the centre now, before the bishop has reached g7.
With the bishop still on f8 nothing covers e5 after the trades. White takes on e5, trades queens with check, and takes the pawn: you are a pawn down and your king has lost castling. One move later, with the bishop on g7 and the king castled, the same push is your best move.
The tell: Your pawn and knight both hit d4 and White moves a piece away from the centre instead of answering the threat.
After ...exd4 Bxd4 the d4-bishop is the only thing holding the centre together, and ...Nxe4 removes its support: the c3-knight has to recapture, then ...Nxd4 and ...Bxd4 clear the board. You come out a pawn up with the better bishop. The lesson is the count: two attackers on d4 need two defenders.
The tell: White pushes e5 on move three with nothing developed, and recaptures with the d-pawn.
The d-file is open and White's queen is on it. You trade queens with check, the king must recapture and loses castling, and then ...Ng4 hits the loose e5-pawn and f2 at once. White cannot hold everything.
Model games
The whole plan in eleven moves: bishop, castle, pin the f3-knight, second knight to c6, then ...e5. When White closes with d5 the knight reroutes via e7 and you chip at the chain with ...c6.
White grabs space with f4 and aims at your king. You castle immediately, hit d4 with the knight, and push ...e5 before the storm has any pieces behind it. The centre opens and the g7-bishop comes alive.
White sets up the Bh6 trade. You do not fight it: ...c6 and ...b5 start your own play, the queen comes to a5, and once the bishops are off you break with ...e5 as usual.
How the coach grades a move
Every move you play gets one of six grades, from the engine’s view of the position, with the book’s verdict taking over when it is harsher. The sentence beside it is always the reason. Tap it for what the move did, why this opening wants it, and whether anything was better.
- Best
- Nothing better was available.
- Good
- Within a few percent of best. Noise at this depth.
- Playable
- A small real gap. The better move is named, play goes on.
- Inaccuracy
- Seven to twelve points of winning chances. The game stops to show you.
- Mistake
- Twelve or more, or a move the book warns against, or a broken order rule.
- Blunder
- Twenty-five or more. Usually material.
Catalogued as B07–B09 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, the reference index most databases sort by.