why - Chess Forums

OttoVonUberSteiner

May 31, 2017

0

#1

Why so many people play the Philidor defense on chess.com? What's so good about it? I estimate that more or less 30% of reponses to the my e4 openings end up in the Philidor..

NM dpnorman

May 31, 2017

0

#2

jengaias wrote:

Surprisingly Black is already in a psychological zugzwang after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3

Most want to avoid Ruy Lopez.

If they don't like Petrof then the only thing that remains is Philidor's.

Um...no, if you play 1...e5 then that means you're okay with one of those things. I play 1...e5 and I have an enormous amount of preparation against the Spanish, in which I am very confident, and don't "want to avoid" the Ruy Lopez.

"Most" definitely don't want to avoid it. A few do. Those are the ones who try to make the Petroff or Philidor work. But as evidenced by all statistical evidence, 2...Nc6 is the most popular move by a mile, maybe for a reason

kindaspongey

May 31, 2017

0

#3

Data-Corder wrote:

Why so many people play the Philidor defense on chess.com? ..

Perhaps books like The Black Lion, 2nd Edition by Jerry van Rekom & Leo Jansen (2009)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122350/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen123.pdf

and A Cunning Chess Opening for Black by Sergey Kasparov (2015) are a factor.

http://www.jeremysilman.com/shop/pc/Cunning-Chess-Opening-for-Black-A-76p3899.htm

https://www.newinchess.com/Shop/Images/Pdfs/9008.pdf

Khallyx

Jun 1, 2017

0

#4

jengaias wrote:

dpnorman wrote:

jengaias wrote:

Surprisingly Black is already in a psychological zugzwang after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3

Most want to avoid Ruy Lopez.

If they don't like Petrof then the only thing that remains is Philidor's.

Um...no, if you play 1...e5 then that means you're okay with one of those things. I play 1...e5 and I have an enormous amount of preparation against the Spanish, in which I am very confident, and don't "want to avoid" the Ruy Lopez.

"Most" definitely don't want to avoid it. A few do. Those are the ones who try to make the Petroff or Philidor work. But as evidenced by all statistical evidence, 2...Nc6 is the most popular move by a mile, maybe for a reason

Really?

Wow!

Thank you man I didn't know that.

p.s. Lack of humor is probably the greatest indication of lack of intelligence.

Please show me evidence for your claim, oh mighty intellectual being.

IM poucin

Jun 1, 2017

0

#5

Philidor, among low rated players, is chosen for several reasons :

- They want to avoid Italian stuffs, 2 knights, all gambits, etc...

- They want to avoid Ruy Lopez (which is difficult to handle for low rated players)

- They like d6-Cbd7-c6-Be7 set up because they can do it against almost everything (even king's gambit), it suits for lazy players.

What to do against them?

Well, just work it, especially the move order (which can be tricky for black : shall we remember that 1.e4 e5 is not the good move order to play the Philidor, except if they play exd4).

Usually they will be crushed, and they will continue to play it because of the reasons mentioned above.

Thats chess, we can't complain to play against "nice" opponents.

AussieMatey

Jun 1, 2017

0

#6

I call it the Philidour.

SmithyQ

Jun 1, 2017

0

#7

My favourite opening as White is the Open Philidor, where Black exchanges with 3...dxe4 and I follow up with not the mainline 4.Nxd4 but my preferred 4.Qxd4. I played it numerous times and have a great score with it ... and then, after about 1700 rating, no one played it anymore.

My sense is that many players, even in the 1500-1600 range, have little knowledge of opening theory, or even opening principles. They simply see that Nf3 attacks the pawn on e5, and d6 is a natural defence to that. It is similar to how many lower-rated players play the Steinitz variation of the Ruy Lopez; it's not because they know the theory, but the opposite. They see that the defender to e5 is being attacked, and so they play d6 almost reflexively.

While certainly some know theory and have made a conscious choice to make this their main defence, a good section simply play it because it's the first move that comes to mind.

NM dpnorman

Jun 1, 2017

0

#8

@jengaias If I don't get your joke, it's not because of lack of intelligence on my end. It's because given all the other bile you post on these forums, it's impossible to tell whether you're joking or serious.

Khallyx

Jun 1, 2017

0

#9

jengaias wrote:

Khallyx wrote:

jengaias wrote:

dpnorman wrote:

jengaias wrote:

Surprisingly Black is already in a psychological zugzwang after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3

Most want to avoid Ruy Lopez.

If they don't like Petrof then the only thing that remains is Philidor's.

Um...no, if you play 1...e5 then that means you're okay with one of those things. I play 1...e5 and I have an enormous amount of preparation against the Spanish, in which I am very confident, and don't "want to avoid" the Ruy Lopez.

"Most" definitely don't want to avoid it. A few do. Those are the ones who try to make the Petroff or Philidor work. But as evidenced by all statistical evidence, 2...Nc6 is the most popular move by a mile, maybe for a reason

Really?

Wow!

Thank you man I didn't know that.

p.s. Lack of humor is probably the greatest indication of lack of intelligence.

Please show me evidence for your claim, oh mighty intellectual being.

What evidence do you want?

I talk about psychological zugzwang for Black after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3.

Isn't it more than obvious that I am kidding?

Of course the joke might be bad and bad humor also shows lack of intelligence.

The OP's question is why most of his opponent's play Philidor and dnorpman uses again statistical nonsense as arguments.Something that is popular is not necessarily better from something that it's not.The reasons for popularity of one or the other opening are unknown even to grandmasters(Psakhis says that in his book "The Complete French defense").

The low rated players who play Philidor are , as a general rule ,indeed the ones that want to avoid Ruy Lopez(they usually lose the pawn on e5) and don't like(or don't know) Petrof.I repeat , as a general rule.I have seen it in my chess club.There is 1 that likes the closed positions of Philidor and likes to wait their opponent and slowly plan his counterattack.Even he was dissapointed from Ruy Lopez(had some bad defeats).My experience says that Philidor is rarely the first choice of a lower rated player.It's the choice of the player who afraids or has been dissapointed by Ruy Lopez (and that doesn't mean Philidor is a bad opening, Larsen used it with success, it means it's a difficult opening and for certain tastes.)

Have you something to add in this except meaningless and laughable sarcasm?

p.s. I have no problem with meaningless and laughable sarcasm. I just wonder if it is the only thing you are capable of.

Full-blown transparent trolling, gotcha. Have a good one.

sammy_boi

Jun 1, 2017

0

#10

dpnorman wrote:

@jengaias If I don't get your joke, it's not because of lack of intelligence on my end. It's because given all the other bile you post on these forums, it's impossible to tell whether you're joking or serious.