Hi everyone, since I play the Scotch Gambit against all 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, when encountering the Pilidor, after 3.d4 exd4, I play 4.Bc4. The idea is that I have a Scotch gambit, except that black has played d6 instead of Nc6, which surely holds no advantage for him, and only loses a tempo to play d5 later on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've played 2 blitz games with it so far, and have continued 5.Ng5 Be6 6.Bxe6 fxe6 7.Nxe6.

Has anyone ever used it or faced it here before? Comments on this please!

I'm also a Scotch Gambit fan but i do not play against the Philidor in this way as I think there are more aggressive ways of dealing with it.

I much prefer this type of line: http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=20766679

http://www.queenalice.com/game.php?id=577284

Of course this depends on Black's responses, but activating my queen side and castling there so as to rip open the center and Black's king side is much more fun, IMO. If Black fiddles with pawn moves too much (and so many lower rated Philidor players do) he will be lost by move 15 or so. I play a similar line against the Pirc, http://ChessStudent.blogspot.com/, and have pretty good success with it as well.

Well, I think your approach is the book lines, which give white a small edge against the Philidor. However, I think that d6 is a move that isn't as useful for black as compared to Nc6 in the Scotch Gambit.

 

Any comments on the Scotch Gambit in the Philidor?

I've played the black side of the philidor with 3. .. exd4. About this line: if black knows how to deal with it he'll have no problems. In this case that means 4. Bc4 should be answered by Be7 and only then Nf6. if white plays Nxd4 you just transpose to more common philidor lines, and if white continues with 5. c3 you also answer it with Nf6!.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. cxd4? is answered by Nxe4 and after a future ..d5 black has a Petroff with the white c2-pawn missing and only 1 tempo less. I think black can safely take the pawn after 6. Qe2?! (queen is misplaced here after black chops his rook onto e8) or even 6. O-O.

@RobertKaucher, theory says the bishop is better placed on f4 than e3 - ofcourse this only matters if black knows what he's doing, and moves such as Bd7? a6?! and Nc6?! don't help him.
But usually the bishop will be exposed on e3 after black plays the pawn break ..d5:

Here is a grandmaster game in this line, won by black.

That was an interesting endgame - I would have rated it about even, with black's rook on an open file and white's rook on a half open file, so a slight edge to Black.  But somehow black managed to capitalize on his more active rook.

Thanks for all the comments everyone.