How to Play the Philidor Defense || "Scary Variation" / Anti-Philidor || Chess Openings for Black

In today's chess video on chess openings for black, we will be discussing the second part of my favourite opening in the world, the Philidor Defence and will be covering one of the so called, "anti-philidor" variations. In this scary variation against the Philidor, what should we play... or is it just doomed?
If you have any questions concerning chess write your question in the comments below and you can have a chance of being featured in the next video!
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My name is Sean Lei and I am a Canadian Chess National Master. If you have any questions about the game, or about chess in general, just leave a comment and I would be happy to answer all of them!
If you want your game analyzed, you may send them to the email [e-mail] for me to make a video analyzing your game.

[@danno1800]

Thanks, Qd4 is the one move that always beat me as black. Now I have better ideas. Much appreciated…

[@everhappens007]

Excellent content - its so hard to find quality Philidor / Old Indian videos. I love this opening as I feel it forced me to play positional chess and stick to a plan instead of playing like a drunk Morphy minus the genius :) You deserve a lot more views. I certainly will keep watching the rest of this series. Keep it up!

[@SLChessDevelopment]

You’re completely right!! It does force the positional player out of you and was one of the ways that helped me improve!

[@phantomtroubleshooter2793]

I always thought the philidor was weak but I struggle to find a consistently good opening for black. Now I play d6 vs. everything. Thanks

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Haha, my thoughts exactly

[@sdsuccess3528]

Great to have you spell out these situations where Philidor looks weak, but is actually still strong. I realized you are totally right about this after a couple games where it got real messy, queens got traded, and then I still won the game. Super helpful insights! Thanks Sean.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Of course! Anytime. I love how underrated the Philidor is. So many times have higher rated players laughed at this opening but when I play against them, it's a different tale.

[@chrismanchester7133]

Love this series and your Philidor content is what keeps me coming back to this channel as a subscriber. There is surprisingly little content on the Philidor out there. Most of the content I see are videos on how to play against it and not how to play it successfully. More Philidor content please.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Thank you for the kind comment! More Philidor will come out don’t you worry! It’s my favourite opening and my secret weapon. Seriously, no one knows how to play against it.

[@jelly8594]

I second that! More more more!😋

[@SLChessDevelopment]

@@jelly8594 more is coming :)

[@gboundrapa]

Please, complete the repertoire with black and white in you videos xD! I'm really happy to find your philidor content!! Ty from Brazil

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@gboundrapa]

@@SLChessDevelopment Hey! If you can, please post videos about how to handle different openings that usually use fianchetto by white. Sometimes it's hard to break through if they play too solid. xD

[@SLChessDevelopment]

@@gboundrapa Hahaha, I will try to in the future but for sure, there's no way to effectively "counter" them as they are solid for a reason but I could give a few tips and tricks.

[@danno1800]

This is so helpful! Thank you very much…

[@SLChessDevelopment]

You are very welcome!

[@richardnadeau7882]

Thanks Sean for a great overview of the "scary" variation of the Philidor. I have been playing 1...d6 as a universal opening for Black for a while. I've experimented with the Black Lion: (both the passive and aggressive lines advocated by Ginger GM). The Czech Pirc (1..d6, 2...Nf6, 3...c6 - see Chess Giant) and even a dubious gambit line (1.e4 d6 2.d4 e5 3.ed Nc6 see Igor Smirnov) in blitz against weaker opponents. The "scary" line is the one that has always given me the most trouble. This fills a knowledge gap that is not covered very well elsewhere. I look forward now to taking a closer look at your other Philidor videos. Keep up the excellent work.

[@petepalmere210]

This looks very much like the Austrian Attack versus the Pirc Defense. Robert Ramirez Chess Lessons #'s 57 & 73.

[@ajarnray4115]

Very nice I play this system now all the time and have the book the black lion, but your videos are so clear that they help me very much. Would love to see you go over one of you OTB games playing this. Great video thanks and I can't wait to see the next scary one.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Thank you! I’m glad you’re learning and playing this opening. Now I did say this one is the “scary one” by popular belief but actually thaaat scary. H3 against a good player is a bit spooky as that shows they know why they’re doing o.O

[@coolclearfacts6105]

Many thanks for posting this video.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

You're welcome

[@AndrewIsbell]

Thank you. Another scary move is 4.g4 which GM Ben Finegold played against me in an online blitz game. GM Finegold made a video series on this opening so he knows what he is doing. This has been my main defense as black for a couple years now and luckily only GM Finegold and one other player has found 4.g4. I also like 3..Nbd7 for the same reason as you but this is the drawback. g4 is already a good pawn sack when you don't play 3..Nbd7, but when black plays this then 4.g4 is not even a pawn sack anymore. Have you played against this move? If so please make a video on it. Thank you for the upload.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Hey there! Thanks for the comment. As for g4, it’s the same variation as the h3 one except more forwards! Now, g4 is the much more pressing issue and the variation to be scared about but with proper play black can get into great positions especially if white doesn’t know what he or she is doing (which be honest, who studies these variations!)

[@alexmiller3220]

.

[@tiyopolinafillipus1411]

Your a good player and thanks for the ideas hope to play you oneday.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Sneakiest_of_snakes is my username on lichess and chess.com, add me and we can play!

[@Chesstastic5000]

Just go for e5 instead of Ndb7. And if they take you have a slight edge according to the database. And it’s a simple position to play!

[@narayan243]

Nice video as always

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Thanks

[@johantode6910]

Lion defense Main line: e4 d6 d4 Nf6 Nc3 Nbd7 Lion's Den: f4 e5 And after: fxe5 dxe5 dxe5 Nxe5 Qxd8+ Kxd8 Usually follows Bg5. According the authors best move than is c6. (Be7 is considered less and draw at best). But c6 leaves the possibility: 0-0-0+ Kc7 Bxf6 gxf6 According the engine this position is fine for black, but it kinda troubles me and does not feel natural. A lot of trading and the double pawn is worse in endgames. Or so it seems. Any thoughts on that?

[@rustamdj979]

İ playing this opening with white as well :) i had victories on lichess against 2740 a few times:)

[@Onoins425]

Enjoying these videos. I still get totally destroyed playing against computer, but against humans pretty good!

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Computers do be like that sometimes

[@arielpatdu6931]

Do have PGN for this one. I would like to study and practice. Thank you

[@phidybee3334]

So.after the check fork that you refer to as the special move if white x knight with pawn he gets 2 centre pawns again, is this position equal now??

[@RayT70]

Hi Sean, how should black respond after 1. e4 d6 2. f4 Thanks 👍

[@SLChessDevelopment]

e5 like usual! If he plays f5, get the pawn break d5 in

[@itsgunner5562]

I'm 1500 n destroyed a 1700 wit ur help, thx dawg

[@SLChessDevelopment]

no problem brother

[@apoorvbansal2615]

hey there Sean nice video 👍 Umm i was wondering like how can we remember moves from chess games , so how do we do that , how can we remember chess moves , i don't think only practicing helps , i mean we need to really memorize them to get better so is there any trick to memorize the moves (like brain tricks like mnemonics etc ?) *ps. Also i have realised after following your advice, that analysing our own games really help (so thanx for that tip) i mean i write down good moves in my notebook which i played in a game

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Hey there Apoorv! If you wish to become a super GM one day, unfortunately having to memorize thousands of variations is required to get to that level so your memorization needs to be that good. On the other hand, if you wish to become one of the lower masters like CM, NM, and possibly FM... such memorization is not really required (though would help greatly!) As to remembering chess moves, practicing surely helps! But you have to practice the same opening over and over again until you are so familiar that you can recite the moves in your head. Try simpler openings like the Philidor thy I’m teaching as back! At first, remember the key concepts like attacking e4, where to put knights, where to put bishops. After that’s done, just experiment with your openings. Every time you make a mistake, you correct them for the next game... until you have your opening perfected! Hopefully this helps!

[@apoorvbansal2615]

@@SLChessDevelopment thank u so much, yes this helped greatly , thanks for all the effort you put into making these videos Really appreciate it

[@SLChessDevelopment]

@@apoorvbansal2615 thank you for enjoying them :)

[@tahkky7838]

Whats black’s plan after e4 d6 d4 nf6 nc3 nd7 f4 e5 nf3 exd4 nxd4 g6 nf3 bg7 e5? Seems quite scary and i cant find a solid way around this

[@lightningplayz4831]

I have been trying out the philodor after watching your videos on it and an annoying move white plays is Qc3. Usually one of the plans for black is to play c6 and b5 but with the queen there c6 becomes weak. How to deal with this problem? Thanks and nice video.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Hey there! I would like to know how the opponents queen got to c3? That’s not a common place for the queen to goto as that’s where the knight goes to protect e4! If the knight isn’t there taking on e4 with your knight seems strong... If the queen is a bother on c3 though and you can’t take on e4, try Qc7! This protects your pawn, connects the rooks and proceeds to allow own b5

[@lightningplayz4831]

@@SLChessDevelopment wait sorry I meant to say Qf3 which attacks c6

[@SLChessDevelopment]

@@lightningplayz4831 hi! If your opponent plays qf3 and it attacks c6, that just means you won the e4 pawn already! If you did, playing pawn d5 blocks the queen from your c6 pawn and gives you a great centre. If that doesn’t work, again, qc7 is a common move but Bb7 might be useful to look at too

[@TheGoat7463]

At 2:33, what if instead of going Nf3, he goes Nd5+ can I want to know what happens if I do that because everyone Beats me with Nd5+ after Ke7.

[@JohnS-il1dr]

...Nxd5, followed by ....Re8 and ....Kf8 hand castling to safety

[@El_ankalis]

In the first variation can't he just capture with the pawn rather than the bishop?

[@SLChessDevelopment]

He can, but it is the same concept afterwards, the dark squares are really bad for the opponent!

[@penamparberapi9200]

I'm not a good player, but right now i'm teach primary school chess club... tq SL, give me a bright sight how to respond to d4 by black.. for e4, i teach my student to use dutch defence (stonewall) for white i teach my student dutch defence tq so much, now i know what to teach my primary student for their opening

[@penamparberapi9200]

im from Malaysia

[@SLChessDevelopment]

@@penamparberapi9200 That's really cool! I personally don't like the dutch... a little too boring but I am sure you are teaching your students well!

[@n1c530]

i drew an IM with this opening :D

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Wow, really?

[@bggines_1260]

You very much look like my cousin Sean thou you're a bit younger😊..

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Haha

[@thelegendaryphoenix6860]

Unless it guaranteed you second place I would have kept playing if you win a pawn

[@natzigaro4924]

Sean, you spent quite a bit of time trying to remember and explain whether it was in grade 10 or grade 12 ...... no one cares . Sometimes you ramble too much with extraneous information about other players you have played against. You are abit like Simon williams who rambles too much. Otherwise i like your videos and find them instructive.

[@SLChessDevelopment]

Thanks for the feedback