Nico Zwirs: A Surprise Weapon against the Philidor Defence in 60 Minutes Downloadversion

ChessBase 60 Minutes Download, Englisch, 2022.

Niveau: Fortgeschritten, Turnierspieler, Profi

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The Philidor defence is a popular opening for club players. Black gets their usual set-up and a lot of standard patterns. So, what can be nicer than playing an unusual set-up against it? The most standard set-up is with 5.Bc4. In case White wants to spice it up 5.g4 is the well-known option - the only drawback is that this is a pawn sacrifice. The move suggested in this 60 minutes course is 5.Rg1, with the idea g4. The plus side is that you still get all the g4 ideas without losing a pawn. Aside from that the move is very new - the author even managed to surprise another International Master with it. Funnily enough his opponent faced the Philidor the day after and played 5.Rg1 as well! Even though both games ended in a draw, it was White who had all the fun. The course includes a complete repertoire, which is easy to learn and has a lot of fresh ideas.

Nico Zwirs is a Dutch International Master living in Amsterdam. He grew up in Apeldoorn. He got the IM title in 2019 and will try to become a GM in the next couple of years. With his peak rating being 2453 he is well on his way. He’s active player and plays in several European leagues.