The Lion System

Hi there,

I have been looking at an opening system for black called the Lion System.

Apparently one can play it against any opening, it appears to be similar to the Pirc or Philidore, even the Old Indian Defence.

Apparently there is no book in print that covers it.

The moves go something like this. 1.-- d6  2.---Nf6  3.---Nd7  4.---e5  5.---Be7

6.---O-O,  7--c6  8.--Qc7  9---Re8.

Does anyone play this regularly ?

What are the main ideas behind it ?

I would be interested in anyone's views.

That is true; the 'Lion's Head' transposes to a line of Philidor's. The fact remains that 'The Lion' does not exist. Playing ...d6 and ...Nf6 to control a pawn center is the idea of the Pirc. If an early ...e5 is played after Nc3, it may transpose to Philidor's. If c4 has been played, then it may transpose to the King's Indian or Old Indian. However, all these lines are existing theory and have names.

There is no critical line on the Lion website that is not already theory in an existing opening.

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nd7 4.f4 e5 is a specific "Lion" line - I doubt it could be classified as a Pirc, as black doesn't fianchetto, and the f4 pawn move gets us out of the Philidr territory as well.

But it's pretty academic...

 Sure, I agree that the moves have some sense to them. I am just arguing that it is a rather dubious plan and black has better. As I said before, I have put this variation into a number of different databases and white scores, on average, about 63%. To put this in perspective, white scores around 55% on average. A good opening for white is 57 or 58%. 

So, even if you are right that this is no longer Pirc territory, I still believe that it is nothing critical. 

 I think the plan is just too crude. In modern openings such as the Pirc and King's Indian, black gives away the center with a view to strike back when a foothold has been secured on the wing. I think this sort of line doesn't work very well because black tries to play in the center immediately without completing his kingside development. In other words, I see this idea as an "underprepared central thrust." Maybe this is the problem, and maybe not. I would like to hear what others have to say.

I_play_it_regularly.

Actually, this is still philidor theory. it is covered in Christian Bauers "The Philidor Files".

There was an article about it in September's Chess magazine (got it free with a book order). Seemed dubious.

The book will be re-released in November in english.

i should just try it out and see for myself

I've seen it before, I think it was originally championed by some Dutch guy. The idea is unique for the particular opening. Black prefers the position closed, then he will not castle and go for straight attack with Rg8, pawns and knights. I played it, and if white castles right into it, it can be fun. However if white opens up the game you will probably be struggling And you may have to castle queenside if you still can.

So yeah it is fun and that site you were given covers most of it, but I don't think it is really sound. 

"The lion" is mainly a commercial name but the backbone of this repertoire is the hanham philidor, a very solid and respectable defense which is reasonably often played at GM level. Nimzowitsch was the first to like B chances in this variation, and used it with great success in the early 900 despite the harsch criticism of Tarrasch, who defined the hanham "ugly and antipositional". The variation then fell out of favor when it was discovered that 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6? (the old move order) 4.dxe5! Nxe4 5.Qd5! is better for W.

Many years later people started using a different move order, bringing new life into the defense: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nd7 intending e5,Be7,0-0,c6 with a solid and flexible setup where B scores well. He can aim in the long term at d6-d5, b7-b5 with a queenside expansion, exd4 followed by pressure on W e4 pawn, depending on W response. I personally like B counterattacking and solid position.

According to GM Kaufman this setup is nice for B, the main problem being that it cannot be reached by force; W can deviate with either 4.f4 or 4.g4?!(Shirov gambit, which has been declared dubious by shirov himself but is in practice very dangerous to meet).

To sum it up, the setup mentioned in the opening post is not bad at all for B but cannot be played as a system; you have to be flexible and adapt your development to W moves. That said, if you like the resulting positions the hanham philidor is a very interesting defence to 1.e4, and you can certainly obtain good results with it.

 here is the book.

Now that this topic got reignited recently and I came across it whilst searching on a searchengine, I want to make a small statement: any one saying the Lion (the Black system) is a derative of the Pirc certainly is not willing to understand it.

The idea behind the Pirc is passive control of e5, and potentially blocking it. Playing Nbd7 at first opportune moment (2...Nf6 is required for e4 pressure) gives White headaches for Black is preparing the immediate e5, and keep it there. The Den variation, going 4.f4 e5 5.dxe5 dxe5 6.fxe5 Nxe5 7.Qxd8 Kxd8 seems already better for White, but the center is for Black, and at least a drawn game as result.

So what's so original about going e5, Be7, c6 etc? The point is the non-0-0. Black does not castle. In fact, the whole point is center block and side dominance, with h6, g5, Nf8 (thematic for the Lion), Ng6 and potentially Nf4. Breaking open via e5 releases the dark Bishop of Black, which I have seen being deadly in some breaks.

A clubmember of mine plays this regularly, both in the club- and regional competition and is known to create very doublesided positions, usually winning, at least drawing. The sample size for this opening is very small, and most databases would contain games where this system was played as try-out, most likely.

Not everything is perfect though, a lot of positions and variations do look like the Pirc much, and there are quite some transpositions. However, nowadays databases consider the variations with 3....Nbd7 the Lion and its typical variation(s), instead of the Pirc.

The Book on the Lion system go so-soish reviews. I think IM Martin has some DVDs and/or youtube clips on the opening where he suggests some minor improvements.