Pirc "Enter the Dragon"

Hey there! I've been playing many hypermodern openings lately, and the pirc is one of my favorites due to its flexibility. If you play the pirc, then you should always be on the lookout for the chance to play ...c5. It's a very nice transposition into the dragon, or rather the pirc dragon, and should lead to a very nice game for black. If you are not able to play ...c5, then continue with the main line of the pirc with (...Nc6) ...e5 and a later ...f5. Here is an example of this opening, with different variations and commentaries along the way. Please comment or post feedback! :)

Opening position

At this position, white has 3 options, and we will examine them one at a time.

1) White pushes the d pawn.

2)White takes the c pawn.

3) White ignores ...c5 and castles out of danger.

I hope that this has given you some new ideas in this opening, and something to be on the lookout for while playing. Please not that white often does not often give you the chance to play this if he/she is experienced. Be sure to check out my other article "Pirc:White Plays 4. Bc4?" Thanks ^_^

Thanks for the post!  I lke trying new openings.

Glad that i could help :)

I tend to play the Chinese variation against the Pirc:

1. e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.g4

It has seemed to work fairly well so far.

Very instructive post on the Pirc Defense.

wow very nice

Nice explanations and brief introduction to the Pirc.  There are a few typos (e instead of d, etc.) in the 3rd and 4th game.  Is it possible to edit these?  It was all understandable anyway, and I for one learned a few things about the Pirc.  Thanks for the post.

Edited all the typos i think. Thanks for everyone's feedback ^_^

Dang, having some problems with putting pgns on posts, does anyone have any advice?

White shouldn't play Bf4.  Be3 is mich better.  White can also play f4 before Nf3 makign for a more aggressive response

Nicely done! However, I must say that 4. Nf3 isn't very ambitious. You should also cover these:

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6

4. f4 (The Austrian Attack)

4. Be3 (The 150 Attack)

4. Be2 Bg7 5. g4 (The Chinese)

I must say though, you did well overall.

The problem with the Dragon is the castling queenside line.  I have yet to find an adequate response to that move, so I am just going to stick to the French.

Thanks for the feedback. There are many other variations that white could play many of which could very well lead to a better position for white. This thread is just introducing one variation and helping players to be aware of this continuation.

Yes Mycow8u, the lines you explained are very well done, it certainly is good to see the Pirc   It's just that my opponents nevrer seem to play that sequence though I do get into the dragon anyway at times.

Yup ^_^

in the austrian attack I play Bb5+ and e5 if they try the "Pirc Alert" stuff. I assume thats what book you read?

yups :)