Old, Bold, Seldom Used Def for Black Against e4 then Nf3?

My BIL and I have played the Alekhine...he being black: seems Black gets his N chased all over the board and white has a ton of pawns out.

   Watched the vid by Simon Williams on the Black Lion.  It looks very good.  So I think I'll explore the deadly and sneaky Black Lion, the ominous Elephant Gambit and avoid the Watch the Grass Grow Gambits.  (while brushing up on the Scotch) 

   All this should last me six months.  Hopefully by then my tactics will catch up to my middle game and openings.  

   Thank-you to all.  Arigato and xie xie. 

   ITIDSWN   

The Alekhine tries to "trick" white into overextending his pawns and then attack them. But it may be a bit advanced for your (and my) level.

If you want the black lion then go with the modern move order 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 followed by e5. An advantage is you can play a solid Philidor if you want. I recommend "The Black Lion" by Rekom and Jansen published by New in Chess 2008. And if you want to stay in a traditional Philidor please check out "A cunning chess opening for black" by Sergey Kasparov. A great book. Sergey is very entertaining.

If you have trouble, check out their website. http://www.vanrekom.nl/thelion/varianten.htm If that is not enough you will have to buy the book :P

I don't know what all this hype is about the Black Lion.  It's simply a Philidor via the 1...d6 move order, which is even what Philidor books are recommending as well because of known lines that are better for White in the 1...e5 move order, like the Lasker Variation or the Antoshin Variation.

You'll want to read "The Philidor Files", which explains it all in a nutshell. 

Part 1 shows why the 1...e5 move order is under a cloud. 

Part 2 explains the various Anti-Philidor lines that White can play, like 4.f4, 4.g4, or if you play 3...e5 instead of 3...Nbd7, then the "Exchange Variation".  Allowing the Exchange Variation does avoid many of the other tricky Anti-lines that White can try, like 4.f4 or 4.g4. 

Part 3 explains the main lines after 4.Nf3, and basically goes into extreme detail on the Hanham Variation, which is basically the accepted line now for Black.  The problem with trying to reach it via 1...e5 is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 allows 4.dxe5 Nxe4 5.Qd5! and 3...Nd7 allows something else that I don't 100% recall, but it's not good.  Hence the reason you go thru the Pirc now, to get White to commit to Nc3.

Just a new catchy name I guess.  Old = Philidor  New = The Black Lion.  Sells books.

I just bought the "A Cunning Chess Opening for Black:  Lure Your Opponent into the Philidor Swamp"  by Kasparov.  (that Philidor Files is probably over my head right now)  Taking a peek, I'm not liking the 3...e5  as they often swap Queens and Black has lost right to castle.   Kasparov says his 2nd option is a treacherous swamp strewn with pitfalls.  (I'm wondering, pitfalls for White?)