after f5 d3!
A Philidor Trap
f5 was Philidor's original concept - his idea was that pawns should not be obstructed and put in front of Knights. It's now thought "too loosening".
For a little bit on the man who invented the Philidor Counter-Gambit, click ⇒ Here
This "trap" will only work against chess imbeciles that play 3.Bc4?! Your typical beginner player that thinks because 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 is a line, that 1.e4 anything 2.Nf3 anything and if 2...d5 hasn't been played, then 3.Bc4
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6, 3.d4! is SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER! So strong that the majority of Philidor players go thru the Pirc to get there instead of the old fashion way.
Thanks, everyone! ThrillerFan, according to the Opening Explorer, 515 games against top players have 3. Bc4. That's quite a lot, so maybe you should check your sources before you criticize people.
3.Bc4 is not stupid, it's just okay. Objectively there's no need to avoid 3.d4, as that is a break that White must play anyway if he is seeking advantage. I think the point of 3.Bc4 is just to try to trick Black out of the Hanham Variation (the most common setup involving the moves ..c6, ..Nf6, ..Nbd7). For instance 3...Be7?! 4.d4!
Thanks, everyone! ThrillerFan, according to the Opening Explorer, 515 games against top players have 3. Bc4. That's quite a lot, so maybe you should check your sources before you criticize people.
Hmmmm....Let's see
3.d4 - played 3949 times
3.Bc4 - played 431 times
Total Games with 2...d6 - 4214
So let's see about this: Factor in 87 games of 3.Nc3, 11 of 3.c3, 9 of 3.g3, 5 each of 3.d3 and 3.c4, 2 each of 3.Be2, 3.Bb5+, and 3.Nd4, and 1 each of 3.h3 and 3.b3 (both won by Black I might add), and you have a grand total of 3949 + 431 + 87 + 11 + 9 + 5 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 which is 4505 games.
3949/4505 = 87.65% of the time 3.d4 is played
431/4505 = 9.57% of the time 3.Bc4 is played
Over the course of 4505 games, 431 games is nothing. 3949 games is A LOT!
But you go ahead and play the inferior move 3.Bc4 (note I said "inferior", not "losing"). I will continue to play the far superior 3.d4 and win!
And note - This is from a far more valid source, ChessTempo.com, which is a database of legit games, not internet blitz like what most the games here are, so any numbers from chess.com must be taken with a grain of salt!
Has anyone seen this opening trap White can fall into? I just fell into it...