I play openings that give my opponent a +1.5 advantage as an expert rated player.
The old Philidor line is apparently unsound for reasons I don’t know, but the pirc Transposition via e4 d6 d4 Nf6 Nc3 e5! Is completely ok.
its not unsound its just the normal move order forces black to play the Antoshin or larsen variation (actually if white plays 3.bc4 before d4 he is practically almost forced into the Antoshin or transpose to the 3...d6 italian) whereas most philidor players hope for the hanham variation.
as to why? its because if you ever try to get nd7 going, they are always tactical reasons why its a terrible idea, either dxe5 dxe5 qd5! or nxe5 nxe5 bxf7, or lines where black has no good reply vs ng5 and in some lines, even qh5 as well. The least dubious try if i remember correctly is a line where despite be7, white goes ng5 bxg5 qh5! grabbing a clean bishop pair. I believe ivanchuk has dared play it like this once or twice but its not a good idea. The pirc move order is an attempt to bait nc3 which is never among the critical lines of the philidor and is basically a free development tempi for your kingside so the tricks dont work
The line i was referring to https://lichess.org/dqlRtJgD#0
Mhmm~
interesting...
Back then, many good players played bad openings. It's a garbage opening.
we are talking about the philidor defense, not your play.
dark doing his best Pfren impersonation... it's pretty good!