Philidor Defense: Hanham, Krause, Steiner Variation (C41)
Has anyone seen this Philidor?
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Mar 28, 2017
0
#3
Nope, not the same. The Knight blocks the Bishop and obviously White played d4.
Mar 28, 2017
0
#4
Mar 28, 2017
0
#5
Man, you play the meanest Philidor I've ever seen. By "Chessmaster software" do you mean an opening book that accompanies the Chessmaster program? I just checked a database, and here is what I gleaned...
It appears that 3. Bc4 is the 2nd most popular move for White in Philidor's Defense, so it would be worth learning that variation for Black players of Philidor's Defense. I didn't find any name for it, either.
3. d4 {'Bruhl Attack.' #1 pop. w 48%.}
3. Bc4 {#2 pop. w 49%.}
As for Black's 3rd move responses, 3...Be7 is the most popular while your 3...c6 is only the 6th most popular, but they all look like decent responses.
3...Be7 {#1 pop. w 39%.}
3...Nf6 {#2 pop. w 56%.}
3...Bg4 {#3 pop. n 58%.}
3...h6 {#4 pop. w 58%.}
3...Nc6 {#5 pop. w 47%.}
3...c6 {"Pivnik Defense." #6 pop. w 42%.}
In the main line of this variation, Black still plays ...c6, just a little later:
If you're asking where Black normally puts his QB, it looks like you chose well with ...Bg4. The only two games after this point had Black placing his QB as follows:
12...Bg4
17...Be6
When your opponent play passively it gives you the opportunity to take the initiative and play aggressively: Your opponent breaks opening principle, moving the same piece twice (5.Ng5?), by doing so you gain the advantage, you played too risky, instead of 7...Bg4?! better is 7...Nc6 protecting pawn e5 and able to meet any threat ( Qe2 would not been so dangerous to you) . If your opponent would have castle instead of checking with his queen 13.Bxc6+ Ke7 14.Qc5+? bad move ( much better is 14.0-0 white is winning not black. Play on opening principle always develop and keep your king safe, your opponent break moving same piece twice and you neglect king safety ( that is why knight is develop first before bishop, knight do a better job in protecting the center and bishops harder to judge where they should be place in a position).
Mar 28, 2017
0
#7
Thanks for the replies!
To Sqod, I've had Josh Waitzkin's Chessmaster 10th edition PC game for ages. It's got some nice tutorials, though I no longer use it frequently. Thanks for the compliment!
To yureesystem, 7...Bg4 was an intentional blunder - I wanted to force him to expand his wing and/or to draw out his Queen. It worked out way better than I hoped, though. My opponent could have done things very differently up until the 12th move. From then on, it was pure emotional harassment...
To Yigor, thanks for the historical reference!
When playing Black I frequently face the mildly annoying situation where White, after opening with e4, moves the Knight on f3, inevitably followed by the Bishop on c4. I am not particularly fond of the imminent threat on my f2 tile...
So, preemptively, I command one of the Queen's lap-dogs to give my Philidor Defense (I know - too passive, can be demolished, blah-blah) some additional support.
Like this:
The thing is, I can neither find such a variation in the Chessmaster (10th ed.) software, nor on Youtube. Does anyone know if someone has coined this variation to their name already?
Have a look at what transpired the last time I asked Philidor to defend me (I wonder if my opponent destroyed his mouse after the game):