Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Czech Pirc Defense!
There are many good chess openings for white, but the Czech Pirc Defense of the Pirc Variation combines ideas from the Philidor Defense, Pirc Defense, and Black Lion Defense. All three of these are top tier chess openings for black and the Czech Pirc Defense borrows ideas from all three of them. In this video, we look to cover the chess opening lines, chess opening variations, chess opening theory, chess opening moves, chess opening ideas, chess opening tricks, and chess opening traps so that you are prepared for whatever comes your way. The Czech Pirc Defense is a good chess opening for beginners, and a good chess opening for intermediate and advanced players as well. Below are my top 5 reasons why someone should play the Czech Pirc Defense.
5 REASONS THE CZECH PIRC DEFENSE IS GOOD FOR CHESS BEGINNERS/INTERMEDIATE PLAYERS
1. The Czech Pirc Defense gives you great winning chances – This chess opening for black creates inequalities right at move 3, and will give you unique lines and variations to fight for winning chances. Playing against the Czech Pirc Defense is highly unpredictable as it has so much flexibility and different types of chess moves and chess ideas that black can employ. It combines chess opening strategy from the Pirc Defense, Black Lion Defense, and Philidor Defense – making this one of the most dangerous chess openings out there.
2. The Czech Pirc Defense is easy to learn – On top of this being a top tier chess opening for black, the Czech Pirc Defense doesn’t require tons of memorizing. Now, if you want to watch this video through a couple times to memorize some of the lines and variations, that is great! However, the objective of this opening is fairly simple, and there’s not much white can do to stop it!
3. The Czech Pirc Defense is rare – This is not a chess opening that most e4 players are used to! If they’ve even heard of it, chances are the e4 player has only memorized a couple moves against this – which will give you the upper hand especially in speed chess. So much of chess is about being comfortable and reaching middlegame positions that you like to work with. By using unique ideas and forcing your opponent to look at lines and variations they haven’t seen before, you could find yourself making ground on both the clock and chess board.
4. The Czech Pirc Defense has dangerous chess opening traps/tactics – Due to most e4 players not being well prepared for the Czech Pirc Defense, and the opening having unique moves and ideas, there are many traps white could fall for if not careful. One of them which we cover in this video can help you beat higher rated players and win games fast, all from simple preparation!
5. The Czech Pirc Defense can easily transpose into a Philidor Defense/Black Lion Defense – As mentioned, this top tier chess opening for black borrows a ton of ideas from other openings. In fact, as a Czech Pirc Defense player, you have the flexibility to even transpose into a Philidor Defense or Black Lion Defense at times! This is not one of those openings where you need to commit to entire variations simply by playing a single move. The Czech Pirc Defense gives you some options on how you want to approach the game based on your style of play!
The Czech Pirc Defense has been a great chess opening option for black against e4 at all levels of play. Our goal is that by watching this video you feel better prepared for the lines, theory, moves, traps, tricks, principles, ideas, and strategy that the Czech Pirc Defense brings along with it. We hope you enjoy learning how to play the Czech Pirc Defense!
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
1:27 Czech Pirc Theory vs 4. Nf3! (Black Lion Defense Included!)
10:05 Czech Pirc Theory vs 4. f4! (Chess Opening Trap Included!)
SIMILIAR CHESS OPENINGS FOR BLACK!
Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Pirc Defense!
Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Black Lion Defense!
Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Philidor Defense!
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I’m first!
Thanks
I foresee many czech-mates in my future. Thanks again!
Dubious opening. Should play the regular Pirc instead.
best black opening imo
Love this opening,against anything…nice upload.Dont play main line chess,its a theory memory test.Play off beat…Jobava london (better than normal) everyone plays the normal london,b3 nimzo larsen,Alekhine against e4…Take them out of their chess book.
Never played this opening before. Was with Pirc defence always. Combination will be a deadly combination. Another beautiful explanation. Thanks
When trying to learn a system as Black, I often will also play it as White, too. I like it's morphing potential. Great system. I've been hoping you'd give us your take on this.
Thanks, Solomon.
Great post. Tank you, Solomon!
Appreciate the great video Solo!
This video is everything I was hoping for. This is THE definitive video on the Czech Pirc. Thank you! It doesn't work well against 1. d4 and 2. c4, does it? Of course, one can always play the English Rat in that case, another great video of yours. As far as new videos, I know you did a video on the Colle Opening, another great video, but how about a video on the Colle -Zukertort, where white plays b3 instead of c3? Judit Polgar did a series on it, but the free videos on YouTube are mainly just collections of games, which are still excellent, but again, there are relatively few videos about this opening on YouTube. Also, the idea of playing Ne5, f4, the rook lift to f3 and an attack on the kingside figures prominently in the Stonewall Attack. White also has the option of playing instead the more positional c4, leading to more complex positions. The Colle-Zukertort is a nice alternative to the London Opening, which everybody seems to know. Just an idea.
I played it but the Lion is just more agressive in my opninion. And more fun
Another fine video Solomon. You have been a great help lately with Pirc players (much appreciated). I played the Czech when I stumble a bit with mainline Pirc (still learning but getting closer thank to you and your videos). However, early on, I noticed Black Lion set ups and you did reference the pawn push around the 7 minute mark and how it ties with the Black Lion ideas. Love it. Great transposition and flexible ideas to build on. Thanks again!
Nice! I will definitely try this one out, but something tells me, that I won't be able to resist getting that knight to the juicy f4 square. I'm not particularly fond of putting my queen all the way on the queenside when I plan expanding on the kingside (I guess I'll try to play more philidory), but I love that structure and I'm familiar with how to defend it, so will def give this one a go if I don't feel like crushing my oponent too hard (lmao, so humble).
I love how this flows into possible Black Lion. Thanks again for the instruction! I am saving this one
this is my requested video thanks for that bro.
tons of great ideas fo yet another underestimated system, well done!
The Pirc Defence is named after the Slovenian grandmaster Vasja Pirc- pronounced as /pɪərts/ ….
I was waiting for it
I would like to see a video comparison of Pirc vs Czech Pirc pluses and minus' . Overall which is better and why.
now that chessle is out i feel like i am obliged to look at a lot of openings
Hey Solomon, eagerly waiting for your video on the Goldman variation of the Caro Kann
OH BABY! THE GIANT MAKES A PROMISE AND THE GIANT DELIVERS!!!! Thank you so much for this. You're doing great work and your ability to take a request and turn it into the definitive training video is jaw dropping.
I like how it's tricky and hopefully confusing for White because of the transition possibilities to a good versions of the French, Philidor and Caro-Kann (I think).
Thanks for sharing Czech pirc defense .you can play this with white as well.
i like this opening, but im being clueless after my Nf6 get attacked. lets see the line if 1.e4 d6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 c6 4.Nf3 Qa5 5.Bg5..
i mean, i can get the e4 pawn for free but white can get solid position to attacking black kingside after Bd3 , castle short, moving up the f pawn and bring the queen into the party… black king can't short castling white can break the kingside easily. i prefer using reguler pirc mostly, its flexibel to use and have an balance deff and attacking.
Can you make a video about king's gambit and cover all variations please and how we should play against them
Coach Robert Ramirez did a couple great videos about this one as well, thanks for the video, I like your explanations too !!!
I have been playing the Czech Pirc for a while now, just kind of winging it. I really liked this opening but there is not a lot of info on it out there. This video is great. Thanks for this!!!!
Nice one
At 8:32 into the video where you cover white playing Bc3 and the game becomes "awkward", I recently had a game where white instead attacked my queen with Bg5. I moved my queen to g6 and white did dxe. It became a crazy game which I eventually lost. I think though it should be equal.
Very nice !!!!👍👍👍
Thanks man, well presented.
Good Day do you have PGN for this video . Any chance. Thank you
I think the line 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 Bg4 is not very good for black when white plays 5.h3. Taking on f3 accelerates white development and after Bh5 6.Qe2 e6 7.g4 Bg6 8.h4 h5 9.g5 Nd7 10.Bh3 Be7 11.Be3 black has a very cramped position.
I’ve actually been studying the Czech Pirc off and on for 6 months or so, and have watched the GM Akobian video from St. Louis Chess club, the Palm Beach Chess club 4-part series on it, and the NM Robert Ramirez videos on it. I must say I really enjoyed your video, which not just reminded me of some things I had forgotten about it, but you also made made some things clearer for me and made me realize the theory behind some of the moves I didn’t know before. I’m definitely going to watch your video multiple times.
I’m actually working on a custom course on Chessable for playing the Czech Defense against almost anything white can throw at you, as I’ve seen videos where it was played against 1.d4 too, except for Kingside fianchetto openings, like KIA, English fianchetto variations, etc. for those, I’m going to play the Black Elshad, which is a perfect complement to the Czech defense, as a common line is 1…c6, 2…d6, 3…Qa5, which is 75% of the Czech defense:) It plays best against kingside fianchetto’s. Are you familiar with it at all? There very few videos on it. I’ve bought/read the book and created all the PGN’s from it. Would be great if you cover that.
What a brilliant video!
Vasja Pirc je Slovenec in ne Ceh.
LP
Hey Solomon! Do you have an .pdf of the Czech pirc? Any material helps!
Thank you for such an instructive video! It is also intresting to talk about the move 4. f3
Excellent!
I rewatch this series over and over and over and its really helping my games! I seriously love the Pirc and your coverage of all its variations. In fact, it was your Black Lion video that made me look at it in the first place. Is there anyway you could cover the Byrne Variation? I get that a lot in my games and its so annoying lol. Its probably what happens to me the most other than the Austrian Attack.
Please and thank you!
Very fast and clearly said, all to the point.. Enjoyed very much and sure like to go with it. Thank you ……
This is a surprisingly good opening. Thanks for you coverage. Also, NM Robert Ramirez, has four videos on the Czech Pirc which are worth watching.
The Pirc is a lovely opening, especially the Czech variation.
How do you spell the name of the player you reference who uses the trap you showed alot? I can't hear his name well and I want to look up some of those games
Beautiful thumb nail etc
Can you make a 12 hour in depth Catalan video?
I just won two games after watching this. Very flexible opening! 👍