I have played against this defence as white probably 30 times in recent years.. and I think I have about 29 loses and one draw.  (I once played a 60 move game to fight for a draw).

 

Even if the guy is rated hundreds of points lower, I just can not seem to ever find a way to get any kind of advantage. I always build up a nice center, of course, but nothing ever comes of it. I am tired of losing to this opening (yes I do hate.. HATE.. playing against it :) I generally play 1.e4 as white, so I play alot of Ruy Lopez/Sicilian games as white, and I generally do very well against black in these games.

 

So, I'd appreciate some advice from someone who has had success against this opening as white. And no I don't feel like posting a game. I try to limit the amount of times I embarass myself in public.

 

i'll do my best :)

thing is, pirc players are always booked out to the teeth because they play this uber-sharp opening that requires precision. in my opinion you have 2 ways to counter this:

#1 play quietly with a king's indian attack and aim for an equal but less edgy middlegame.

#2 pick one line and study the monkeys out of it!

Yeah, I've never really tried a king's indian against it. I'll look into it. I really rarely encounter this defence, but when I do it always makes me so mad to see it, because I almost invariably lose to hypermodern defences like the Modern and Pirc. I always want to punish them for their seemingly inferior position (although it isn't of course.. but it looks like it should be to me :) Hypermodern is just not my style at all so I don't like playing it, and I HATE losing to it :)

The Pirc defence is my favourite. I have won many games using this defence. It has the capability of transforming into different openings depending on what White plays. I agree with erik that to play the Pirc means to be ultra sharp in the opening. But the resultant middle game can be pretty open which suits certain styles of play.

There is a way to play against the Pirc called the '150 Attack'. You play e4, d4, Nc3, Be3, Qd2, Nf3, Bd3. So pieces are developed, centre protected, easy to remember so far as Black probably won't have done anything to disturb you. Now you castle Queenside, Play Bh6, take the Black Bishop on g7, play h4, h5, hxg, opening the h gile for your rook, Play Qh6 and then it's mate. Easy!

Err, ok, so Black gets some moves too, and it's not that easy (otherwise nobody would play the Pirc), but you've got a plan, and unless Black has you can win almost as easy as this. So Black will come at you with moves like e5 or c5 or c6/b5/b4 to attack your King, but you've got a good position to play from in any case. 

 

 

 

anyone have any good PIRC games? i'm thinking of re-adopting this line as black...