FANTASTIC video. Not just the stuff on the Czech Pirc but the general advice too. So - Solomon - it's been a while. I bought your superb Hippo course and I did well with the Hippo thanks to your course (as black and white), but then I went off it a bit. I found your and Robert Ramirez's videos on the Czech Pirc and love it and I've moved to only playing this as black AND as white. And now I'm playing the best chess of my life. So Solomon can you please do some videos on playing the Czech with white! Sure, it's passive, but it's great as black and, with white, we have an extra tempo! So please please please can you do some videos on playing it with white (d3, Nf3, c3 etc). Thanks ❤🙏🙂
The thing you're talking about with looking for experts in the opening is a lot like how learning specific heroes for ranked goes if you wanna get good fast. I remember plenty times going to dotabuff to check who were the highest ranked players with the highest winrates etc. and look over replays to see how they handled stuff and think about it. Dope vid dude!
Hey Solomon, i had an idea that i wanted to share with you: "Player's repertoire", choosing a player and going through a small scout of his opening repertoire. What do you think?
@@TheChessGiant Morozevich for sure (chigorin, and his unique french lines), also the classics like Karpov, Kasparov, Tal, Nezhmeditnov, Albin, Grigorian... From new era: Caruana, Nepo, Gukesh, Pragg, You(haha)
Nice upload! Robert Ramirez swears by the Pirc. Like the Semi-Slav, the Pirc is so beautifully solid and flexible. "Real chess?"-too idiotic to take seriously in any case. I've been meaning to share this for a time now: ICCF sent me a club game. Get this! 700+ days, 50-day move time with 5-day increments per move. Say yeah! As. pre-1848 player it soothes the soul. PS-from one 'old soul' to another😊 Take care, be well!
I love playing the Pirc and Czech Pirc. However, I recommend studying the opening and the numerous variations you need to know such as the Austrian attack. 👍
I played Var at a simul in Santa Monica bay CC. His LAX flight landed late so he was over an hour late but he said “I’m sorry, if you’d like you can play me with white.” What a gentleman. (And I still lost brutally to him .. hahaha)
Oh that's awesome! Ya he is a very strong player. I don't think I have played him personally, but used to know him back when I was a kid. Would he remember me now? I am not sure. Was 13 and now am 25 lol. But ya that is cool. Very strong player!!
At 6:43, if 7. ... Bf5, 8. g4 seems to win immediately (unless Black likes 8. ...Bd7, or Bc8): if 8. ... Bg6, 9. f5 seems to trap Black's B, and if 8. ... Be4, 9. Nxe4 wins a piece, since White can meet 9. ... Qxd2, w/ 10. Nxd2, saving the N. What else has Black got?
Great points!! And ya against g4 I think black has to play Bd7 or Bc8. I would probably play Bd7 and e6 - and some could argue that we "weakened white's kingside" but honestly it just looks scary to me. I think the way Varuzhan went about it was much better. Thanks for sharing this you are spot on.
I played this defense for a decade. To be honest, it is technically inferior and struggles theoretically against both the f4 Qa5 line as well as the Bg4 h3 Bh5 Qe2 line.
I need a similar style opening for white! Any suggestions? I'm not very good, but this is my main opening for black and I'm pretty solid with it, but I've been playing the London with white and it hasn't went great. Any ideas?
You can play the Czech / Pirc with white. Just reverse the sides. :) My favorite opening with whites is, of course, King's Indian Attack, starting with Nf3, and similar stuff like Catalan. If you are a London player, you might find Colle-Rubinstein setup very useful (not known so much like London, so your opponents might get surprised). In English speaking countries, I believe it is called the Colle-Zuckertort system.
Like @oldrichklimanek6743 stated, you can play this same exact setup but for white! If you don't want a pawn on e5, you can play 1. Nf3 2. d3 3. c3. However, if you do want the opponent to take the center (which gives it a potentially more Czech Defense feel) you can play 1. c3 2. d3 or 1. d3 2. c3, and then play Nf3 and you will have the same ideas but as white! Let me know your thoughts thanks.
Ya it was a pretty simple tactic. Was surprised when white fell for it. In the database that was their rating but maybe they hadn't hit that level yet? I'm not sure.
Wondering, if there are any variations of the Czech Pirc where Black fianchettoes his dark-squared bishop? If so, starting with the Czech Pirc may be extra interesting for those viewers such as myself who normally play the Hippo but crave variety & appreciate keeping are opponents guessing a bit as to what opening or set up we are really aiming for.
Ya that is pretty rare usually due to d6 then becoming weak since we played c6 and Bg7 BUT there are times for it especially when white advances the d-pawn to d5!
Ya you are 100% correct that b3 is weakened, with c4 being weakened because of it. The engine has Na5 as the best move and Rb1 as the best follow up from white with the evaluation being +0.13 for white (so basically even lol) - I think another option can be dxc5 and then after Bxc5 white can go with b4? This might be a better approach than a3... what do you think?
@@TheChessGiant Yes Rb1 after Na5 seems good for white. Black can still put that knight on b3 anyways, and make it obnoxious enough. Not sure what you mean with the dxc5 after that. Is that knight to c5 to dislodge that white bishop ? In any case, I started chess something like 1.5 years ago and came across that opening in Robram's videos. I thought it was both easy to remember and could bring a lot of interesting options. It's good to have a solid start in a game without the need of studying it like a russian monk for weeks... Glad to see someone else giving it some attention.
