Czech Pirc Defence

[Simon Rogers]

I noticed one of our strong players at our club has started playing the Czech Defence and had a nice win in the club championship recently.
1. e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6
Can I still play the Austrian Attack against it?
What's black ideas in this opening? Any traps I need to be aware of?
Please help, many thanks.

[Matt Mackenzie]

I think the "Austrian" set up against it is pretty common. Black often (as in "proper" Pirc lines) goes with Qa5 to try and get counterplay.

[Roger de Coverly]

I think the "Austrian" set up against it is pretty common. Black often (as in "proper" Pirc lines) often goes Qa5 to try and get counterplay.

You can certainly play 4. f4. The reply is likely to be 4. .. Qa5. You can meet this by developing with 5. Bd3 which is likely met by 5. .. e5. Alternatively you can prod the Knight with 5 e5. A likely reply is 5. .. Ne4 which can be met by 6. Qf3. One key idea is that if they take on c3, you don't recapture immediately but play Bd2 to avoid doubling your c pawns.

[Nick Burrows]

There is a good reason it is a very rare bird in top flight chess. Play logical developing moves, keep the tension and white maintains an advantage without doing anything special. Excellent attacking chances in the middlegame. For example:

[ECO "B07"] [Opening "Czech Defense"] 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 Qa5 5. Bd3 e5 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. Be3 Nbd7 8. O-O Be7 9. Qe1 Bxf3 10. Rxf3 O-O 11. Kh1 exd4 12. Bxd4 *

[John Upham]

One of the more entertaining games in this line is


[Event "BCF-ch 76th"] [Site "Plymouth"] [Date "1989.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Emms, John M"] [Black "Hodgson, Julian M"] [Result "0-1"] [Annotator "user"] [ECO "B07"] [WhiteElo "2300"] [BlackElo "2535"] [PlyCount "54"] [GameId "1166636568547328"] [EventDate "1989.07.??"] [EventType "swiss"] [EventRounds "11"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "CBM 015"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "1990.04.01"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "1990.04.01"] [SourceQuality "1"] {[%evp 0,54,25,16,81,74,73,67,70,41,64,8,55,33,65,55,74,55,71,-165,-134,-140,-122,-140,-148,-151,-115,-115,-78,-75,-92,-92,-100,-239,-239,-282,-271,-281,-235,-235,-234,-234,-255,-339,-316,-400,-362,-363,-363,-356,-364,-364,-399,-399,-337,-336,-339]} 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6 4. f4 Qa5 5. Qf3 d5 6. e5 Ne4 7. Bd3 Na6 8. Nge2 Nb4 9. Bxe4 dxe4 10. Qxe4 f5 11. exf6 Bf5 12. Qf3 Nxc2+ 13. Kf2 O-O-O 14. g4 Nxa1 15. gxf5 Qxf5 16. Rd1 exf6 17. Ne4 Re8 18. N2c3 Kb8 19. d5 Bb4 20. dxc6 bxc6 21. Bd2 Nc2 22. Qd3 Bxc3 23. Qd6+ Kb7 24. Nxc3 Rd8 25. Qe7+ Rd7 26. Qe4 Qxe4 27. Nxe4 Rd5 0-1

Julian played many games with the Czech System. Ben Purton is an expert on this line.

[Jon Mahony]

I've got a book for sale on the subject if you are interested... (see for sale tab - will haggle )

Andrew Martin also made an old Foxy openings VHS / DVD on the line, however there is a huge hole in his analysis of the classical variation (where white has played Nf3 rather than an Austrian set up with f4) where, if White just plays a simple, early h3, and prevents Blacks bishop getting to g4 thus spoiling basically the whole opening (or what is analysed at any rate)

I tried it when I first started playing, though I found it a bit fiddly and would often get into trouble with it - probably not a great choice for a near beginner; I sometimes think of looking at it again now I'm more experienced, there are some very nice traps in the Austrian attack line especially - The previously mentioned Emms / Hodgson game being one of them. Though yes, I don't think you'll get too far with it at the higher level.

[Tim Spanton]

Faced the Czech Pirc, aka the Přibyl, in round three at Mariánské Láznĕ on Monday.

[Jon Mahony]

Faced the Czech Pirc, aka the Přibyl, in round three at Mariánské Láznĕ on Monday.

Wonder if it's had a resurrection of interest... new Chessable course possibly?

[John Upham]

Wonder if it's had a resurrection of interest... new Chessable course possibly?

The most recent tome on the Czech System is from Cyrus Lakdawala

1...d6 move by move from Everyman Chess.

Frequently employed by Akobian, Sarin, Pakieza and Jobava in recent times.

In the early (but not very early) days by Vlastimil Jansa, Josef Pribyl, Julian Hodgson, Martin Pribyl but most of all by Josef P.

First ever master(?) game appears to be Blumenfeld-Evtifeev from 1906.

[Tim Spanton]

Faced the Czech Pirc, aka the Přibyl, in round three at Mariánské Láznĕ on Monday.

Wonder if it's had a resurrection of interest... new Chessable course possibly?

Possibly - it may help that I'm playing in Czechia

[John Upham]

One of the earliest publications on the Czech System was

How to Play the Pirc - A New System for Black! 1.e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6

by GM Jansa and IM Pribyl

published by Chess Enter Prises Inc.

in 1988

[Jon Mahony]

One of the earliest publications on the Czech System was

How to Play the Pirc - A New System for Black! 1.e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 c6

by GM Jansa and IM Pribyl

published by Chess Enter Prises Inc.

in 1988

I currently have a copy for sale

[John Upham]

The next significant volume on the Czech System was the excellent book from Gambit Publications:

"An Explosive Chess Opening Repertoire for Black"

A complete system for Black based on 1...d6!

by

Jouni Yrjölä and Jussi Tella

from 2001.

Really very good indeed.