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Posted by lapsekili
beck-web.com

8/15/2008
12:45:55

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Subject: The Philidor's Defence

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I could not understand what its purpose is.Why do you play d6 and close the bishop's great diagonal?

Posted by gt2win
beck-web.com

8/15/2008
13:05:26

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I've no idea, and no-one else seems to either. It can be seen as an anti-Ruy Lopez opening compared to 2. Nc6 (meaning 3. Bb5 is good against 2. Nc6, but not against 2.d6.) Other than that, it's difficult to see what benefits it brings.

Posted by ganstaman
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8/15/2008
14:25:02

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The Philidor most certainly makes sense, it's just a question of whether the plan involved is actually good enough.

The whole idea is to build a very solid position. The pawn on d6 supports the e5 pawn and allows black to maintain a pawn in the center following dxe5 ...dxe5. Black develops his pieces into a cramped position, but this almost dares white to try to tear it all down, if he can. The bishop is ok on e7, where it serves some defensive roles and can relocate when necessary.

Also, black gets some initiative on the queenside sometimes. Other times, black will play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6 -- ceding the center but opening up for a fianchettoed bishop.

There's also another plan for black given on this site: www.vanrekom.nl (it's easier to just look at the diagrams and variations there then for me to repeat it all here). It's more aggressive, pushing forward on the kingside while hoping that the center and queenside hold strongly enough to keep black from collapsing.
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Posted by ketchuplover
beck-web.com

8/17/2008
11:08:04

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What does the Lion have to do with the Philidor?
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As Chess Olympiad Begins, No Surprises, but More Controversy — The first round of the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, on Tuesday did not produce any upsets, though a few high-ranked chess teams yielded a draw or two. According to the Olympiad’s Web site, there are 1,300 players from 144 countries. The Chess Olympiad, which was first held in 1927 (or 1924, unofficially), is convened every two years. The 2010 Olympiad is particularly important as elections for the top offices in the World Chess Federation, the game’s governing body, will be held near the end of the competition. Prior to the start of the Olympiad, it had been plagued by problems, including a race to finish building the main venues before the teams arrived. Now that the chess event has ...
Posted by ganstaman
beck-web.com

8/17/2008
16:31:19

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Message:
"What does the Lion have to do with the Philidor? "

The Lion is a variation of the Philidor. You can reach the Philidor via the Pirc move order, and then go for the whole Lion thing.

In any event, after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 you have the Philidor, and then you could continue with 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O (still all Philidor territory) and now 6...h6, preparing the whole Lion thing with ...c6, ...Qc7, ...g4, etc.
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Chess Puzzles: Richard Reti's Marvelous Squares — A chessboard is a square, divided into 64 black and white squares. But there are more squares in chess, mostly invisible, as part of an amazing chess geometry hidden in chess players' minds. One classic square is often used in pawn endgames when a king is chasing the enemy's passed pawn. The king doesn't have to walk in horizontal or vertical lines, he can run diagonally or zig-zag across the field. But he needs to be close enough to catch the pawn. How close? The king has to walk into a square whose one side is defined as the distance between the pawn and its promoting square at the edge of the board. We can use a famous study by Richard Reti as an example. The world-class player ...