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Posted by lapsekili
nikto.net

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
nikto.net

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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Children 1, Astronaut 0 — In the end, the astronaut could not outwit the children. Wednesday, Greg Chamitoff, an American astronaut, resigned a long-running correspondence chess game against a group of children from Stevenson Elementary School in Bellevue, Wash. They had started the game in September 2008 while Chamitoff was stationed aboard the International Space Station. The game had been the idea of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Officials at the agency had asked the United States Chess Federation about having Chamitoff play a game of chess against some of the federation’s members. Stevenson was chosen as an opponent because the school ...
Posted by ketchuplover
nikto.net

8/17/2008
11:08:04

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What does the Lion have to do with the Philidor?
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London Chess Classic: Kramnik's lesson in positional play — McShane-Kramnik, London 2009. Black to play. With two rounds to go in the London Chess Classic, the Norwegian chess prodigy Magnus Carlsen looks set to win the tournament. Vladimir Kramnik, his main rival, is in second place. In this game from round three, Kramnik displayed his refined positional understanding. RB I've been following this tournament online, but I missed this particular game, and more's the pity because I can't find a good continuation for Black. Clearly Kramnik has the better game – the two centralised knights look very threatening – but how to convert Black's positional superiority into a winning position? 1...Nxd2 2 Nxd2 doesn't lead anywhere and ...
Posted by ganstaman
nikto.net

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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Gelfand Wins World Chess Cup — Boris Gelfand of Israel is the 2009 World Cup champion. Gelfand won the title by beating Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in a playoff on Monday. The first four games of the playoff were rapid games (25 minutes per player per game) and Gelfand took the lead by winning the second game. But Ponomariov, with his back to the wall, won the last rapid game to tie the match up again. The playoff then went to blitz chess (5 minutes per player per game) and Gelfand once again took the lead by beating Ponomariov in the first game when he managed to trap Ponomariov’s queen in 21 moves. Ponomariov rallied again, winning the second game. But Gelfand won the third and Ponomariov ...