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’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.
Hey brotha! Super glad to hear you enjoyed the video bro. All those names you just listed are GREAT resources and I think I've spoken with all of them at one point or another. Ya unfortunately I haven't studied the Black Elshad super in depth yet but I am wanting to study it more and then make a video on it. Thanks for the reminder. And that sounds really cool the custom course you are working on, keep it up!
This is the best opening for black by far, there are so many options and for beginner to intermediate players I have tried learning a bunch of other defences and they are so complicated with way too many different lines, your video explains everything pefectly.. Thank you.
First off, thanks for the kind words! Happy you enjoyed the video. And totally! The Czech Pirc is super underrated and is universal as we don't really care much what the opponent plays. Could even play it as white!
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!
Hey Jarrod, glad you're enjoying the videos! Yes, I will put the Byrne Variation down as a priority for the next regular Pirc video I do. Thanks! (By the way, a ton of Czech Pirc Defense videos coming out soon.)
Hey Dwight! Glad you liked it! Ya it's a nice system as it has a lot of flexibility out to move 10-15. You can go for those Czech Ideas and oftentimes go back into a Black Lion (or regular Philidor) whenever you want to.
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.
I personally recommend the hippopotamus defense, that Solomon made multiple videos about. Fairly easy to play and super flexible, giving you a chance to expand on both sides of the board both pieces as well as pawns. It almost always leads to a closed position tho, so you need to be comfortable with that. I used to play it a lot and it's super and I mean super solid, but can switch to aggressive and violent in a blink of an eye. Added bonus (at least for me) is that it looks really stupid and sometimes baits the approach, but if you go with the correct move order and adjust your piece positioning from time to time, TRUST ME; if your oponent is below 2500 and it's not a serious tournament, where people prepare specifically for you, if your oponent finds a way to crack your setup, you can straight up report them for cheating (that is if you finish your setup, so watch out for early tactics to find a correct move order). With white it's called pincer attack, but it plays out just the same. You don't even need to account for the extra tempo unlike in king's indian attack, where you loose flexibility because of it. You can play it in the king's indian style, you can attack on the queenside, you can have the center closed and use pawn breaks to activate your knights or you can have an open center to have monster bishops. Really no limits with the hippo. (Also good way to wait out cheaters with quick moves back and forth after glueing the position shut amd waiting untill they don't have time to cheat and beat them on the clock/have them blunder cuz they r bad if they cheating lol). Leela chess 0 even played hippo in some serious TCEC back in the day and won, so stockfish is lying XD. Fu stockfish.
Hey Alan! Totally! Ya white can easily play Nf3, d3, c3, and get similar ideas. One might even think about playing 1. d3 first to try and get black to make an e5 push - giving us this same setup but with an extra tempo. Always fun and interesting to get openings you like with black and try to move them over to when you're playing white as well.
Well, the czech defense deviates already on move 3, so unless you want to surprise someone (or yourself lol), then I'd recommend staying with one. It's definitely usefull to know both tho, since some plans are similar, but executed slightly differently, it's definitely worth knowing both. I was often playing kid when I was a beginner, because youtubers have told me to, and I knew only one major plan of kid (so basically nothing in such flexible system). I still can't play kid for sht, but with every opening I played, that prepares pawn storm on the kingside, I always play this way and it usually works, so it wad definitely a developing point in my chess career.
Glad you enjoyed it! Always good for Pirc players to be able to mix things up and go with some different lines/variations/ideas depending on what mood they're in!
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!!!!
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!
Thank you Frank! Glad you enjoyed the video and are getting some things out of the Pirc series - appreciate you! And ya, before studying these openings to make the videos, I didn't realize how close the Philidor/Pirc/Black Lion are all connected to each other it's pretty cool.
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 CZcams are mainly just collections of games, which are still excellent, but again, there are relatively few videos about this opening on CZcams. 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.
IMO, you should still prob get the book if you're going serious about the czech pirc. I honestly treat youtube videos as somewhat of a guide, to be a backbone of an opening for me, so that I can see if I like it and if I really like it, I find more sources to vasten my knowledge as much as possible (tho nobody can beat Solomon on giving multiple, easily digestible, analysis based lines). Two years back, I saw an opening called the black lion and some guys being very enthusiastic about it. I was honestly quite sceptic, but I played a game with it and lost to an early tactic. I thought, that happens if you're not experienced and I played anothet one and launched a devastating and violent attack on the white king (I lost that game lol) and immediately fell absolutely in love. I downloaded a book, learned some lines and variations eventually leading to me buying that book and thoroughly analyzing each one of my games to avoid old mistakes and develop usefull habbits, that as of today, turn out to be correct 90% of the times. Right now almost all of my games with both colours are the lion setup (unless I need to untilt with a scotch gambit I've been playing for 5 years) and I'm pursuing a goal of becoming a lion specialist. I wanna be that one guy who always knows the best moves in the positions of this one opening he plays (like some of these london system fans) and I'm getting closer and closer to archiveing this goal. Unless you're of course below 1000, then, you watch this video 15 times and do your best not to hang your queen xd. My point is, that if it's an opening you love and want to get to know better (how romantic), then you definitely should pursue learning more and more about it (ask it, what is it's favorite color is XDDD sry I'm a lil drunk) untill you become undefeatable in this one opening. You get me bro? It's your chess fingerprint, you won't wanna be like "I've been playing this opening for nearly 10 years" and then get crushed by an oponent of an equal strenght who never heard about it, let alone studied the theory. Keep improving! Never stop the grind like a true sigma would!!
Thank you Dennis! I was really hoping you'd like it because YOU are one of the big reasons I wanted to make this opening happen! And ya the Colle-Zukertort is super solid - I'm honestly surprised there's not more on it as it has so many ideas and strategies and themes. This will be my next Dennis video I gotta make!
@@TheChessGiant You have the talent to catch the opening’s spirit, and then explain it in cristal clear fashion. For this reason I asked you to make a video about one of my favourite chess opening: the Czech System. Thanks a lot!
Hey, I just wanted to check back in and say that this opening rocks. I'm playing at the 700 level (for now) but I've been using nothing but the Czech Pirc for the last couple of weeks and my win rate is at 65% with it. Having the one opening for everything really helps with concentrating on TACTICS, which is where the game is won for us scrubs. I'm tempted to try it with white, haha.
Hey Matt, catching up on comments lol. Hope you've been well man. And ya I would recommend trying it out as white, no reason not to! You're exactly right that it all comes down to tactics!
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).
Super underrated option for black that most e4 players (including myself for many years) had barely even heard of - I'm surprised this isn't played more.
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).
Hey Michal, you know what they say... if it ain't broke - don't fix it! Let me know how this goes though if you ever do try it out - at the very least you could go for that early pressure and then bring the queen back to c7 making it look like your passively playing only to throw the Black Lion at them a couple moves later.
I'm gonna keep it honest Nikhil, I forgot about this line with being busy doing videos on the Pirc/Czech/Lion/Monte Carlo. I will put this back on my radar!
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.
Hey Mohammed! I will make a note of this, the King's Gambit is super fun! I did make one video on a variation awhile back concerning the King's Gambit - I will leave the link here in case you are interested! Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Triple Muzio Gambit! czcams.com/video/lA7cKTuI7Jk/video.html
THANK YOU so much for this video. I have watched it and re-watched it in slo-mo. Super tear down of the Czech! Question: for beginners (say 800-1000 online), would you recommend sticking with this opening, or also trying to cram in something like the King’s Indian or the standard Pirc lines?
You got it! Glad you liked the vid brotha! And I would probably say keep sticking with it until you're getting a little tired of it. Then you can start new things. It's good to try different openings out because you may eventualy land on one you love. And, in the midst of switching openings and trying various stuff out, you can only get better! Hope this helps, Thanks, Solomon
@@TheChessGiant Months later, this is still my reference video for the Czech and I keep picking up new things from it. Absolutely such great quality and clear explanation. Probably the key to me having a better win rate as black than as white 😂. Great vid!
Thanks for that! Really appreciate it man. Glad you found it helpful. And don't forget you can play this same exact setup for white with Nf3/d3/c3! Could even start with d3 if you wanted to allow e5, and then play Nf3 and c3 and boom you're in a Czech Pirc but up a tempo!@@GianniPhat
Ya this is a fair take! The Czech is more of a Philidor/Pirc that has ideas on the queenside while the Black Lion just throws pawns at the enemy king like there's no tomorrow.
1:36 - Qa4 waiting option: Bg5 d6 Bd7 castle d5 expansion v W d5 e5. 2:12 V e5: …dxe - if dxe …QxQ …Nd5; OR W Nxe5 …BxB if NxB …Nb-d7; 2:50 V d5: …cxd5 …e5
@@TheChessGiant Yes indeed I had numerous victories with this system. Needed to adjust the Black Lion system a bit with this approach. Thanks again for your clear and efficient guidance!
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.
Hey! Great question! So ya if Bg5 we take on e4 with the knight but against Bd3 are simply able to snatch off the bishop on g5 as both our queen and knight attack it! By playing Nxe4, we are threatening Nxg5 and Nxc3, and if a move like Bd2 stopping both we can simply snatch off that bishop and we are a pawn up.
1:41 - I am 1050 right now and when I got Bishop to g4, I always see h3, not the light squared bishop to f2. This, instead, leads to BxNf3 and then QxBf3 and none of this is covered in the video, which left me completely unprepared after watching this multiple times. That is my only real criticism of this video - not covering both the best (and at least for me most common) reply to the early Bishop attack.
Hey! Ya in that case I would recommend Bh5 and then continuing with the developmental plan. If g4 from white, we play Bg6 and this may look scary but black is more than fine. If white continues throwing pawns to g5 or h4, they will only weaken and overextend their position. Hope this helps! Thanks, Solomon
I would say delay castling a little bit. Develop your pieces as much as you can with Be7/Qc7/Nbd7 - and then see what white does with their king. If their king is on the kingsie, the Black Lion is a ton of fun. But, if the king hasn't castled or is on the queenside, the Black Lion is simply less dangerous. Additionally, the Black Lion looks at that Nd7-f8-g6-f4 manuever, so if white has a pawn on g3 with a fianchettoed bishop, the traditional Black Lion won't have the same thump behind it. However, simply castling and not going for the more aggressive Black Lion is not a mistake (generally speaking). Just two different approaches. Hope this helps!
For the variation where white plays f4: instead of Bd3 after Qa5, white has a strong Qf3! did you check this option? Would you show how black should continue after Qf3? White also has Kf1 to remove his king from the black queen's pin... Can you show us how to continue after these options?
Thanks for this! Ya so after Qf3 the best option for black is to play e5 and black has a playable game there. And Kf1 is an option but it is probably better for white to castle eventually
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
This has been one of the more consistent openings for me with black, is it possible to start with a reti (kxf3, then setup the pawns d3 and c3) and play this system with white?
100% possible! I actually bring up how people can go into a Czech as white after the Ponziani Opening lol. e4 Nf3 c3 (and then d3, Be2 etc if wanting to) You can totally play this as white with 1. Nf3 and there's not much black can do about it.
@TheChessGiant haha ok awesome, love the channel, the tutorials are probably the best on CZcams no joke. Just long enough videos to get most of the basics and different variations without having to sit through a several hour lecture on an opening.
Would you be able to send me a timestamp so I know exactly where you're talking about? Thanks! (Also I'm just taking a guess but if you mean after Qa5, okay we just keep developing. Our plan and method of developing doesn't change.) Hope this helps! Thanks, Solomon
I unfortunately don't at the moment, once I get working on my course I will send some to you!! (Maybe email me or comment sometime in the future tho just to remind me) Thanks!
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.
Ya you bring up a good point. Whether to play Bxf3 or Bh5 is highly debated, and I would personally recommend Bxf3 (and not Bh5) because of the exact line that you mention. After Qxf3, there are ways black can make it a good game, (GM Varuzhan Akobian is the best Czech Defense player I know of) but ya white is obviously okay at the moment.
Because they're about to be down a piece. Although, I guess it depends on the time control and what the ELO is! At a lower level, play on! If you got two GMs, there's simply no reason to continue.
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.
duBIoUs OpeNInG nYEeegH Bruv you can beat 2000 rated players with haloween gambit, there is no such thing as bad opening (please exclude bs like duras gambit that don't even have a single trick behind them) if you're comfortable with it. Chessbrah literally wins every game with main line englund against IM's in blitz, you can't convince me, that something is bad, because stockfish doesn't like it. Its far more important, that you like it.
I would actually disagree with you Gray! This opening has been played in over 5,500 tournament games at the master/grandmaster level. GM Varuzhan Akobian (peak 2685 FIDE) is an expert in this opening and has used it to win some huge games. The computer might not have 3. ...c6 in it's top few moves - but from a practical standpoint this opening performs very well and black will get a playable middlegame no matter who you're going up against.
@@Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol There are bad openings. Strong players can use bad openings to beat weaker players, but that doesn't make the opening itself good.
@@meowcat5596 IMO the only weak openings in chess are the ones you're uncomfortable with. I myself can play 100 games of both von henning gambit against the caro kann (-0.9 in the first four moves) and regular advanced caro (somewhere close to +0.5) and have higher winrate on the gambit line, because I largely prefer developing pieces than ending up with the isolated overextended center pawn. Even if my oponent plays 20 straight moves of theory against the von henning gambit, I'll still preffer my position in that variation, because I'm not comfortable with having overextended e pawn not defended by tactics (unlike in many scotch gambit lines). Openings, that are bad for me (like many, many sicilians, that computer loves so much) aren't bad for someone, who genuinely enjoys them and is willing to learn about them. Take the williams gambit for this example (-2.1 disadvantage as I'm checking it on the phone rn). It has very little to no tricks and offers somewhat suboptimal setup for white (by comparison to other openings). I used to win a crap load of games with it, because either my oponent was too scared to take the pawn thimking I have studied it for hours and got run over in the center, or took it and faced my hours of study against the position he never played before, because it's supposed to be bad. The truth is, that humans aren't computers (that includes the strongest damn world champions) and more often than not, they can't convert these tinny tiny advantages, that computers see as a simple 30 move tactic. This is why Tal is many people's favorite chess player and world champion. Because he didn't play the objectively best moves, but he just kept winning and winning in a glorious style and that was soooo enjoyable to watch, many people (myself included) try to somewhat mimic his style. My point is (sry for going ham withthe side stories, I'm a lil drunk, I hope the grammar is correct), that if you're not getting a loosing position in an opening and you genuinely enjoy it, then it's in fact the best opening in chess for as high as you can reach with it. (then you have to switch for boring main lines, but honestly, I don't wanna go this far, because it would ruin my fun in the game I'm addicted to) (go hate on duras gambit, leave solid czech pirc alone lmao)
Interested in PRIVATE LESSONS with Solomon? Here's a link! www.thechessgiant.com/lessons
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.
The Chess Giant is a chess genius at explaining chess openings.
Haha thank you Gershon! Super happy you're enjoying the content, hopefully I can keep improving at making videos!
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.
Hey brotha! Super glad to hear you enjoyed the video bro. All those names you just listed are GREAT resources and I think I've spoken with all of them at one point or another. Ya unfortunately I haven't studied the Black Elshad super in depth yet but I am wanting to study it more and then make a video on it. Thanks for the reminder. And that sounds really cool the custom course you are working on, keep it up!
This is a surprisingly good opening. Thanks for your coverage. Also, NM Robert Ramirez, has four videos on the Czech Pirc which are worth watching.
Hey James! You got it brotha. And yessir! NM Robert Ramirez is coming out with some great stuff!
Great job, coach.❤
ys! Robi is classic n simple to understand.
This is the best opening for black by far, there are so many options and for beginner to intermediate players I have tried learning a bunch of other defences and they are so complicated with way too many different lines, your video explains everything pefectly.. Thank you.
First off, thanks for the kind words! Happy you enjoyed the video. And totally! The Czech Pirc is super underrated and is universal as we don't really care much what the opponent plays. Could even play it as white!
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!
Hey Jarrod, glad you're enjoying the videos! Yes, I will put the Byrne Variation down as a priority for the next regular Pirc video I do. Thanks! (By the way, a ton of Czech Pirc Defense videos coming out soon.)
The Pirc is a lovely opening, especially the Czech variation.
Agreed!! The Pirc Defense/Czech Pirc Defense are both underrated and solid options for black which give great opening play.
I love how this flows into possible Black Lion. Thanks again for the instruction! I am saving this one
Hey Dwight! Glad you liked it! Ya it's a nice system as it has a lot of flexibility out to move 10-15. You can go for those Czech Ideas and oftentimes go back into a Black Lion (or regular Philidor) whenever you want to.
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.
I personally recommend the hippopotamus defense, that Solomon made multiple videos about. Fairly easy to play and super flexible, giving you a chance to expand on both sides of the board both pieces as well as pawns. It almost always leads to a closed position tho, so you need to be comfortable with that. I used to play it a lot and it's super and I mean super solid, but can switch to aggressive and violent in a blink of an eye. Added bonus (at least for me) is that it looks really stupid and sometimes baits the approach, but if you go with the correct move order and adjust your piece positioning from time to time, TRUST ME; if your oponent is below 2500 and it's not a serious tournament, where people prepare specifically for you, if your oponent finds a way to crack your setup, you can straight up report them for cheating (that is if you finish your setup, so watch out for early tactics to find a correct move order).
With white it's called pincer attack, but it plays out just the same. You don't even need to account for the extra tempo unlike in king's indian attack, where you loose flexibility because of it.
You can play it in the king's indian style, you can attack on the queenside, you can have the center closed and use pawn breaks to activate your knights or you can have an open center to have monster bishops. Really no limits with the hippo. (Also good way to wait out cheaters with quick moves back and forth after glueing the position shut amd waiting untill they don't have time to cheat and beat them on the clock/have them blunder cuz they r bad if they cheating lol).
Leela chess 0 even played hippo in some serious TCEC back in the day and won, so stockfish is lying XD. Fu stockfish.
Hey Alan! Totally! Ya white can easily play Nf3, d3, c3, and get similar ideas. One might even think about playing 1. d3 first to try and get black to make an e5 push - giving us this same setup but with an extra tempo. Always fun and interesting to get openings you like with black and try to move them over to when you're playing white as well.
This was the first opening I ever liked for black. It's tough to pull off for low-ranked players but its a solid system.
That's awesome Matt! Hope you've been well.
Never played this opening before. Was with Pirc defence always. Combination will be a deadly combination. Another beautiful explanation. Thanks
Well, the czech defense deviates already on move 3, so unless you want to surprise someone (or yourself lol), then I'd recommend staying with one. It's definitely usefull to know both tho, since some plans are similar, but executed slightly differently, it's definitely worth knowing both.
I was often playing kid when I was a beginner, because youtubers have told me to, and I knew only one major plan of kid (so basically nothing in such flexible system). I still can't play kid for sht, but with every opening I played, that prepares pawn storm on the kingside, I always play this way and it usually works, so it wad definitely a developing point in my chess career.
Glad you enjoyed it! Always good for Pirc players to be able to mix things up and go with some different lines/variations/ideas depending on what mood they're in!
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!!!!
Super glad you found it helpful bro! And thanks for the kind words I appreciate it. More Czech Pirc content on the way!
Where has this opening been all my life! Love it!
Great option for black!!
I foresee many czech-mates in my future. Thanks again!
Yessir!
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!
Thank you Frank! Glad you enjoyed the video and are getting some things out of the Pirc series - appreciate you! And ya, before studying these openings to make the videos, I didn't realize how close the Philidor/Pirc/Black Lion are all connected to each other it's pretty cool.
Very nice video! Straight to the point! Better than 90% others chess video
Thanks for that! I teach as much as I can in a given time so thanks I appreciate this one.
Thanks man, well presented.
Glad you enjoyed it Karl!
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 CZcams are mainly just collections of games, which are still excellent, but again, there are relatively few videos about this opening on CZcams. 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.
IMO, you should still prob get the book if you're going serious about the czech pirc. I honestly treat youtube videos as somewhat of a guide, to be a backbone of an opening for me, so that I can see if I like it and if I really like it, I find more sources to vasten my knowledge as much as possible (tho nobody can beat Solomon on giving multiple, easily digestible, analysis based lines). Two years back, I saw an opening called the black lion and some guys being very enthusiastic about it. I was honestly quite sceptic, but I played a game with it and lost to an early tactic. I thought, that happens if you're not experienced and I played anothet one and launched a devastating and violent attack on the white king (I lost that game lol) and immediately fell absolutely in love. I downloaded a book, learned some lines and variations eventually leading to me buying that book and thoroughly analyzing each one of my games to avoid old mistakes and develop usefull habbits, that as of today, turn out to be correct 90% of the times. Right now almost all of my games with both colours are the lion setup (unless I need to untilt with a scotch gambit I've been playing for 5 years) and I'm pursuing a goal of becoming a lion specialist. I wanna be that one guy who always knows the best moves in the positions of this one opening he plays (like some of these london system fans) and I'm getting closer and closer to archiveing this goal.
Unless you're of course below 1000, then, you watch this video 15 times and do your best not to hang your queen xd.
My point is, that if it's an opening you love and want to get to know better (how romantic), then you definitely should pursue learning more and more about it (ask it, what is it's favorite color is XDDD sry I'm a lil drunk) untill you become undefeatable in this one opening. You get me bro? It's your chess fingerprint, you won't wanna be like "I've been playing this opening for nearly 10 years" and then get crushed by an oponent of an equal strenght who never heard about it, let alone studied the theory. Keep improving! Never stop the grind like a true sigma would!!
Thank you Dennis! I was really hoping you'd like it because YOU are one of the big reasons I wanted to make this opening happen! And ya the Colle-Zukertort is super solid - I'm honestly surprised there's not more on it as it has so many ideas and strategies and themes. This will be my next Dennis video I gotta make!
Very fast and clearly said, all to the point.. Enjoyed very much and sure like to go with it. Thank you ......
You got it Sadasivan! More Czech Pirc videos coming soon! Wishing you a good week.
Appreciate the great video Solo!
Thank you! Glad you liked it, the Czech Pirc is great.
Great post. Tank you, Solomon!
You got it Alvaro! Thank you, hope you had a good weekend.
@@TheChessGiant You have the talent to catch the opening’s spirit, and then explain it in cristal clear fashion. For this reason I asked you to make a video about one of my favourite chess opening: the Czech System.
Thanks a lot!
@Álvaro Bastida Thank you! Apperciate the kind words it was fun making this video. And you got it!
Thank you for such an instructive video! It is also intresting to talk about the move 4. f3
Thank you Nikolay! And ya I will have to take a closer look at this!
Hey, I just wanted to check back in and say that this opening rocks. I'm playing at the 700 level (for now) but I've been using nothing but the Czech Pirc for the last couple of weeks and my win rate is at 65% with it. Having the one opening for everything really helps with concentrating on TACTICS, which is where the game is won for us scrubs. I'm tempted to try it with white, haha.
Hey Matt, catching up on comments lol. Hope you've been well man. And ya I would recommend trying it out as white, no reason not to! You're exactly right that it all comes down to tactics!
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).
Ya it definitely leaves a lot of potential doors open for black which is nice!
best black opening imo
Super underrated option for black that most e4 players (including myself for many years) had barely even heard of - I'm surprised this isn't played more.
this is my requested video thanks for that bro.
You got it! Always feel free to send more ideas as always!
Coach Robert Ramirez did a couple great videos about this one as well, thanks for the video, I like your explanations too !!!
Robert Ramirez is great! Glad I was able to assist you in your studies as well!
tons of great ideas fo yet another underestimated system, well done!
Thanks!
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).
Hey Michal, you know what they say... if it ain't broke - don't fix it! Let me know how this goes though if you ever do try it out - at the very least you could go for that early pressure and then bring the queen back to c7 making it look like your passively playing only to throw the Black Lion at them a couple moves later.
I would like to see a video comparison of Pirc vs Czech Pirc pluses and minus' . Overall which is better and why.
Great video idea Steve! Thanks for sharing!
@@TheChessGiant Drop it like it's Hot. Anxiously awaiting your word's of wisdom.
Thanks
You got it!
Thanks for sharing Czech pirc defense .you can play this with white as well.
You got it Edmund! And ya, totally playable from the white side too!
Hey Solomon, eagerly waiting for your video on the Goldman variation of the Caro Kann
I'm gonna keep it honest Nikhil, I forgot about this line with being busy doing videos on the Pirc/Czech/Lion/Monte Carlo. I will put this back on my radar!
Great job, best I have seen so far.
Hey David, thanks for this! Glad you liked it man.
I enjoyed the videos, and it is a pain to go against the pirc defense.
Thanks John! Glad you are liking them. And ya the Pirc can be tough lolol
What a brilliant video!
Super glad you enjoyed it Daniel! Wishing you a good weekend.
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.
Thanks for the great thoughts! (And sorry for responding so late lol... trying to catch up on comments)
Can you please do a czech pirc vs kings gambit video? 🙏 it would be much appreciated
Hey! Does this exist? Could you send me a variation?
Can you make a video about king's gambit and cover all variations please and how we should play against them
Hey Mohammed! I will make a note of this, the King's Gambit is super fun! I did make one video on a variation awhile back concerning the King's Gambit - I will leave the link here in case you are interested!
Chess Openings: Learn to Play the Triple Muzio Gambit! czcams.com/video/lA7cKTuI7Jk/video.html
Can you make a 12 hour in depth Catalan video?
This sounds more like a Chess Course to me! But ya the Catalan is a solid option. I need to make a video on it soon.
THANK YOU so much for this video. I have watched it and re-watched it in slo-mo. Super tear down of the Czech! Question: for beginners (say 800-1000 online), would you recommend sticking with this opening, or also trying to cram in something like the King’s Indian or the standard Pirc lines?
You got it! Glad you liked the vid brotha! And I would probably say keep sticking with it until you're getting a little tired of it. Then you can start new things. It's good to try different openings out because you may eventualy land on one you love. And, in the midst of switching openings and trying various stuff out, you can only get better!
Hope this helps,
Thanks,
Solomon
@@TheChessGiant Months later, this is still my reference video for the Czech and I keep picking up new things from it. Absolutely such great quality and clear explanation. Probably the key to me having a better win rate as black than as white 😂. Great vid!
Thanks for that! Really appreciate it man. Glad you found it helpful. And don't forget you can play this same exact setup for white with Nf3/d3/c3! Could even start with d3 if you wanted to allow e5, and then play Nf3 and c3 and boom you're in a Czech Pirc but up a tempo!@@GianniPhat
Czech speaks for itself. Actually there is a new German Chessable course on the Czech ("Tschechisch") available, also the Short&Sweet version.
I played it but the Lion is just more agressive in my opninion. And more fun
True alpha chad here
Ya this is a fair take! The Czech is more of a Philidor/Pirc that has ideas on the queenside while the Black Lion just throws pawns at the enemy king like there's no tomorrow.
Nice one
Thanks for watching!
1:36 - Qa4 waiting option: Bg5 d6 Bd7 castle d5 expansion v W d5 e5. 2:12 V e5: …dxe - if dxe …QxQ …Nd5; OR W Nxe5 …BxB if NxB …Nb-d7; 2:50 V d5: …cxd5 …e5
Very nice !!!!👍👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it Gil!
I was waiting for it
Sorry it took so long but hope you enjoyed it!
@@TheChessGiant
czcams.com/video/kvmKw7KKyBM/video.html
Here it is pirc in my way sir lol
Excellent!
Thanks Dubbel! Good on you for looking at the Czech Pirc, it's a great system!
@@TheChessGiant Yes indeed I had numerous victories with this system. Needed to adjust the Black Lion system a bit with this approach. Thanks again for your clear and efficient guidance!
I just won two games after watching this. Very flexible opening! 👍
Nice good work!! And ya, the Czech Defense is a ton of fun.
NGL a lot of time I play the Czech Pirc, I end up Castling Queen Side.
I like it! Always fun to add your own style/approach to stuff.
Great opening, but I always get crushed by White getting a knight to f5 in the middle game. Thoughts?
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.
Hey! Great question! So ya if Bg5 we take on e4 with the knight but against Bd3 are simply able to snatch off the bishop on g5 as both our queen and knight attack it! By playing Nxe4, we are threatening Nxg5 and Nxc3, and if a move like Bd2 stopping both we can simply snatch off that bishop and we are a pawn up.
now that chessle is out i feel like i am obliged to look at a lot of openings
Fair enough!
1:41 - I am 1050 right now and when I got Bishop to g4, I always see h3, not the light squared bishop to f2. This, instead, leads to BxNf3 and then QxBf3 and none of this is covered in the video, which left me completely unprepared after watching this multiple times. That is my only real criticism of this video - not covering both the best (and at least for me most common) reply to the early Bishop attack.
Hey! Ya in that case I would recommend Bh5 and then continuing with the developmental plan. If g4 from white, we play Bg6 and this may look scary but black is more than fine. If white continues throwing pawns to g5 or h4, they will only weaken and overextend their position.
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Solomon
6:49 when should I castle and when should I go for the black lion defence?
I would say delay castling a little bit. Develop your pieces as much as you can with Be7/Qc7/Nbd7 - and then see what white does with their king. If their king is on the kingsie, the Black Lion is a ton of fun. But, if the king hasn't castled or is on the queenside, the Black Lion is simply less dangerous. Additionally, the Black Lion looks at that Nd7-f8-g6-f4 manuever, so if white has a pawn on g3 with a fianchettoed bishop, the traditional Black Lion won't have the same thump behind it. However, simply castling and not going for the more aggressive Black Lion is not a mistake (generally speaking). Just two different approaches.
Hope this helps!
Beautiful thumb nail etc
Thank you!
For the variation where white plays f4: instead of Bd3 after Qa5, white has a strong Qf3! did you check this option? Would you show how black should continue after Qf3? White also has Kf1 to remove his king from the black queen's pin... Can you show us how to continue after these options?
Thanks for this! Ya so after Qf3 the best option for black is to play e5 and black has a playable game there. And Kf1 is an option but it is probably better for white to castle eventually
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
Varuzhan Akobian! He has a lecture about the Czech Pirc at the Saint Louis Chess Club which you might find helpful.
This has been one of the more consistent openings for me with black, is it possible to start with a reti (kxf3, then setup the pawns d3 and c3) and play this system with white?
100% possible! I actually bring up how people can go into a Czech as white after the Ponziani Opening lol. e4 Nf3 c3 (and then d3, Be2 etc if wanting to)
You can totally play this as white with 1. Nf3 and there's not much black can do about it.
@TheChessGiant haha ok awesome, love the channel, the tutorials are probably the best on CZcams no joke. Just long enough videos to get most of the basics and different variations without having to sit through a several hour lecture on an opening.
What about f3 defending the pawn on e4
Would you be able to send me a timestamp so I know exactly where you're talking about? Thanks! (Also I'm just taking a guess but if you mean after Qa5, okay we just keep developing. Our plan and method of developing doesn't change.)
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Solomon
Good Day do you have PGN for this video . Any chance. Thank you
Hey Ariel, unfortunately I don't at this time, but I will be making a course on it soon and will include PDF's there!!
Hey Solomon! Do you have an .pdf of the Czech pirc? Any material helps!
I unfortunately don't at the moment, once I get working on my course I will send some to you!! (Maybe email me or comment sometime in the future tho just to remind me) Thanks!
@@TheChessGiant what's your email then. I'm gonna send that chessbase book about the mikenas defense
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.
Ya you bring up a good point. Whether to play Bxf3 or Bh5 is highly debated, and I would personally recommend Bxf3 (and not Bh5) because of the exact line that you mention. After Qxf3, there are ways black can make it a good game, (GM Varuzhan Akobian is the best Czech Defense player I know of) but ya white is obviously okay at the moment.
16:51.... Why would white resign?
Because they're about to be down a piece. Although, I guess it depends on the time control and what the ELO is! At a lower level, play on! If you got two GMs, there's simply no reason to continue.
What happens if the e5 pawn pushes up to try lock up the center what can i do?
At what point? Could you send me a timestamp so I know exactly where you are talking about? Thanks!
😮
👀👀👀
The Pirc Defence is named after the Slovenian grandmaster Vasja Pirc- pronounced as /pɪərts/ ....
Thanks for sending in this proncunciation!
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.
Exactly! Get positions which both sides having to use creativity think for themselves! And thanks brotha glad you liked it.
12:16
Tried this against the pincer bot and still got destroyed every single time. 😩
Vasja Pirc je Slovenec in ne Ceh.
LP
Dubious opening. Should play the regular Pirc instead.
Against a much higher rated player, yeah, maybe.
duBIoUs OpeNInG nYEeegH
Bruv you can beat 2000 rated players with haloween gambit, there is no such thing as bad opening (please exclude bs like duras gambit that don't even have a single trick behind them) if you're comfortable with it. Chessbrah literally wins every game with main line englund against IM's in blitz, you can't convince me, that something is bad, because stockfish doesn't like it. Its far more important, that you like it.
I would actually disagree with you Gray! This opening has been played in over 5,500 tournament games at the master/grandmaster level. GM Varuzhan Akobian (peak 2685 FIDE) is an expert in this opening and has used it to win some huge games. The computer might not have 3. ...c6 in it's top few moves - but from a practical standpoint this opening performs very well and black will get a playable middlegame no matter who you're going up against.
@@Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol There are bad openings. Strong players can use bad openings to beat weaker players, but that doesn't make the opening itself good.
@@meowcat5596 IMO the only weak openings in chess are the ones you're uncomfortable with. I myself can play 100 games of both von henning gambit against the caro kann (-0.9 in the first four moves) and regular advanced caro (somewhere close to +0.5) and have higher winrate on the gambit line, because I largely prefer developing pieces than ending up with the isolated overextended center pawn. Even if my oponent plays 20 straight moves of theory against the von henning gambit, I'll still preffer my position in that variation, because I'm not comfortable with having overextended e pawn not defended by tactics (unlike in many scotch gambit lines). Openings, that are bad for me (like many, many sicilians, that computer loves so much) aren't bad for someone, who genuinely enjoys them and is willing to learn about them. Take the williams gambit for this example (-2.1 disadvantage as I'm checking it on the phone rn). It has very little to no tricks and offers somewhat suboptimal setup for white (by comparison to other openings). I used to win a crap load of games with it, because either my oponent was too scared to take the pawn thimking I have studied it for hours and got run over in the center, or took it and faced my hours of study against the position he never played before, because it's supposed to be bad. The truth is, that humans aren't computers (that includes the strongest damn world champions) and more often than not, they can't convert these tinny tiny advantages, that computers see as a simple 30 move tactic. This is why Tal is many people's favorite chess player and world champion. Because he didn't play the objectively best moves, but he just kept winning and winning in a glorious style and that was soooo enjoyable to watch, many people (myself included) try to somewhat mimic his style.
My point is (sry for going ham withthe side stories, I'm a lil drunk, I hope the grammar is correct), that if you're not getting a loosing position in an opening and you genuinely enjoy it, then it's in fact the best opening in chess for as high as you can reach with it. (then you have to switch for boring main lines, but honestly, I don't wanna go this far, because it would ruin my fun in the game I'm addicted to) (go hate on duras gambit, leave solid czech pirc alone lmao)
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I’m first!
Nice!!!