PIRC DEFENCE

The 'Pirc Defence', sometimes known as the 'Ufimtsev Defence' or 'Yugoslav Defence', is a chess opening characterised by Black responding to 1. e4 with 1. ...d6 and 2. ...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish an impressive-looking centre with pawns on d4 and e4. It is named after the Slovenian Grandmaster Vasja Pirc (pronounced "''peerts''").

Contents

General remarks

Early Deviations

Austrian Attack

Classical (Two Knights) System

150-Attack and Argentine Attack

Other systems

Sample game

ECO codes

Further reading

General remarks

The Pirc Defence is a relatively new opening. In the 1930s it was considered inferior, but by the 1960s it was found to be quite playable. This opening is tricky to play and correct play is sometimes counterintuitive. Black, in hypermodern fashion, does not immediately stake out the center with pawns, but rather works to undermine White's pawn centre with pieces.
Move order is not so critical in the Pirc as in other openings, but the most common sequence is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6, with Black fianchettoing his bishop on g7 next move. A distinction is usually drawn between the Pirc and lines where Black delays the development of his knight to f6 — this is known as the Modern or Robatsch Defence.

Early Deviations

After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3, 3...g6 is the main line Pirc. Black has an alternate system known as the Pribyl System or Czech Defence, which begins with 3...c6. This often transposes to the Pirc if Black later plays ...g6. Alternatively, Black can play ...Qa5 and ...e5 to challenge White's center, or expand on the queenside with ...b5.
An unusual but quite reasonable deviation for White is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.f3. Former world champion Garry Kasparov once surprised American Grandmaster Yasser Seirawan with this move. After 3...g6 4.c4, an unhappy Seirawan found himself defending the King's Indian Defense for the first time in his life. Black can avoid a King's Indian with 3...e5, which may lead to an Old Indian type position after 4.d5, or with 3...d5. This can transpose to the Classical Variation of the French Defense after 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 e6 6.Nf3, to the Tarrasch Variation of the French Defense after 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 e6 6.c3 c5 7.Nd2 Nc6 8.Ndf3, or even to the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit with an extra tempo for White after 4.Nc3 dxe4 5.Bg5 exf3 6.Nxf3.
A common deviation by Black is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5. This has been tried by many GMs over the years, and more recently including Azmaiparashvili, Felgaer, Gagunashvili, Eljanov, Ivanisevic, Damljanovic and Bauer. 4.dxe5 is known to be equal, and play normally continues 4...dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Bc4 Be6 7.Bxe6 fxe6. Instead, White normally transposes to the Philidor Defence with 4.Nf3.

Austrian Attack

The Austrian Attack begins 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4. In placing pawns on d4, e4 and f4, he may establish a large centre, with plans to push in the centre and possibly attack on the kingside (this is the ''Austrian Attack''); Black often counters with ...c5 to break the pawn centre up. Jan Timman has played both sides of this variation with success. Yuri Balashov does well with the white pieces and Valery Beim has an impressive score on the black side.

Classical (Two Knights) System

The Classical (Two Knights) System begins 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3. White creates a strong pawn center and Black castles quickly and builds a compact structure, easy to defend. White must organize an attack without trading too many pieces. Efim Geller, Anatoli Karpov and Evgeni Vasiukov have chosen this system with White. Zurab Azmaiparashvili has an impressive score on the Black side.

150-Attack and Argentine Attack

The setup Be3 and Qd2 is very common against the King's Indian Defence and the Sicilian Dragon, so why not against the Pirc? Indeed this system is as old as the Pirc itself.
The system 4.f3 was introduced by Argentines around 1930 and again in 1950. It was never considered dangerous for Black because of 4.f3 Bg7 5.Be3 c6 6.Qd2 b5. It received a severe blow around 1985, when Gennady Zaitchik showed that Black could castle anyway and play a dangerous gambit with 5...0-0 6.Qd2 e5.
The Argentines feared the sally ...Ng4. Especially some British players (Hebden, Motwani, Lane, later also Adams) realised, that this was mainly dangerous for Black. So they began to play Be3 and Qd2 in all sort of move orders, but omitted f2-f3. They called this the 150-Attack, because only players of this strength (about ELO 1800) could be naive enough to expect mate in 25 moves.
The original Argentine idea probably is only viable after 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 0-0 6.0-0-0 c6 (or Nc6) 7.f3 b5 8.h4. Black usually does not castle though and prefers 5...c6 or even 4...c6. The question if and when to insert Nf3 remains open.

Other systems

Other approaches for White are to play Bc4, Bg5 or to fianchetto the king's bishop with 4.g3 and 5.Bg2.

Sample game

In the following game, Azmaiparashvili uses the Pirc to defeat then-reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov:
Karpov-Azmaiparashvili, USSR Championship, Moscow 1983 1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O Bg4 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 e5 9.d5 Ne7 10.Rad1 b5 11.a3 a5 12.b4 axb4 13.axb4 Ra3 14.Bg5 Rxc3 15.Bxf6 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Ra3 17.Bxg7 Kxg7 18.Ra1 Qa8 19.Rxa3 Qxa3 20.Be2 Qb2 21.Rd1 f5 22.exf5 Nxf5 23.c3 Qxd2 24.Rxd2 Ra8 25.Bxb5 Ra3 26.Rc2 Ne7 27.f4 exf4 28.Bc6 Nf5 29.Kf2 Ne3 30.Rc1 Kf6 31.g3 Ke5 32.Kf3 g5 33.gxf4+ gxf4 34.h4 Nxd5 35.Bxd5 Kxd5 36.Kxf4 Kc4 37.Re1 Rxc3 38.Re7 Kxb4 39.Rxh7 d5 40.Ke5 c6 41.Kd4 Rc4+ 0-1

ECO codes

Some of the systems employed by White against the Pirc Defence include the following:

★ 4. Bc4 : ECO code B07, Kholmov System (4.Bc4 Bg7 5.Qe2 O-O 6.e5 dxe5 7.dxe5 Nfd7 8.e6 Ne5; also the very entertaining line 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. Qe2 Nc6 6. e5! where White sacrifices queen and two pawns for three pieces, but achieves a huge lead in development.)

★ 4. Be2 : ECO code B07 (sub-variants after 4..Be2 Bg7 include the Chinese Variation, 5.g4 and the Bayonet (Mariotti) Attack, 5.h4.)

★ 4. Be3 : ECO code B07, 150 or "Caveman" Attack (4.Be3 c6 5.Qd2)

★ 4. Bg5 : ECO code B07 Byrne Variation

★ 4. g3 : ECO code B07, Sveshnikov System

★ 4. Nf3 : ECO code B08, Classical (Two knights) System (sub-variants after 4. ...Bg7 include 5.h3 and 5.Be2)

★ 4. f4 : ECO code B09, Austrian Attack (sub-variants after 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 include 6.e5, 6.Bd3 and 6.Be3; also, after 4. ...Bg7 is 5.Bc4, the Ljubojevic Variation. Black also has the option to move into the Dragon Formation after 5.Nf3 with 5. ...c5.)

Further reading

★ John Nunn and Colin McNab, ''The Ultimate Pirc'' (Batsford, 1998)

★ Alexander Chernin and Lev Alburt, ''Pirc Alert!'' (London, 2001)