Review: Christian Bauer “The Evergreen Philidor”
14 years ago, in 2007, Grand Master Christian Bauer published the highly acclaimed book The Philidor Files. At that time, shortly after the turn of the millennium, Firidor's defense was experiencing a renaissance. Innovative players like Morozevich, Svidler, Aronian, Bakrot and, above all, Nisipeanu, enriched the Black build, which is often described as too passive, with many new ideas and gave 1e4 players another tough nut to crack on the way to the opening advantage!
At that time, the focus was largely on the action sequences 1.e4 e5, 2.Nf3 d6
After 3.d4 exd4 quickly led to the worlds of the Antoshin Variation, “modern” Philidor can now be accessed almost exclusively via 1.e4 d6, 2.d4 Nf6, 3.Nc3 e5. In his book Grandmaster Bauer examined all the common settings and of course also early deviations such as 3.Bd3 or 3.f3. A wonderful book that I enjoy looking through over and over again!
He has now completely overhauled his 'Philidor Files' and brings a welcome update to his book with his new edition of 'The Evergreen Philidor' chess rule!
The course is in German.
This time Bauer focuses his repertoire for Black on the two modern methods of targeting the “evergreen” Philidor: namely on 1.e4 d6, 2.d4 Nf6, 3.Nc3 e5 as well as the “Perilous Lion”, where Black plays 3…Nbd7 avoids Early exchange of queens.
Bauer discusses the main lines after 1.e4 d6, 2.d4 Nf6, 3.Nc3 e5, 4.Nf3 Nbd7 as well as new developments in early deviations such as Shirov's 5.g4 as well as the brand new one from GM Jones in his “Café Reference” Recommended 5.Rg1!?.
What I personally found a bit unfortunate at this point is that after 5.Bc4 Be7, 6.0-0 0-0, 7.Re1, Bauer limits the lines containing 7. …c6 and subjects them to revaluation. Especially in differences after 7.a4, the answer is 7. …exd4!? It proved to be very interesting. FM Segio Trigo Urquijo recommends the play after 7.a4 exd4 in “The Modernized Philidor”, and enriches 7.Re1 a6!? Also about many new ideas.
The still relatively new and attractive idea of Black 5.Bc4 Be7, 6.OO Nb6!? Unfortunately, Bauer does not discuss this. It has been played over 300 times with encouraging statistics by strong players and allows Black to move the game into unexplored territory for White very early. But those are only two
Personal criticisms at this point I would have liked to see in this update.
In line 1.e4 d6, 2.d4 Nf6, 3.Nc3 Nbd7 The latest trends in 4.g4 ultra HD are missing!? h6 is another update to the frequently encountered 4.f4, making the evergreen Philidor an attractive alternative to slots like Sicilian due to its surprise effect!
Because Black can usually knock down the first 7 to 10 moves quickly, Philidor is a good choice for the practical player, not only for games that require regular thinking time, especially in blitz and speed chess, Black provides a lot of theoretical knowledge with Philidor compared to the usual mainstream openings. !
In an impressive 7-hour runtime, Grandmaster Bauer brings you the details of Philidor Defense and often gives you the choice of which line you want to play in black: Do you want to lure your opponent into a queenless midgame and outplay? There, or would you rather look for a fight
Full of?
Interactive assignments, including video feedback and practice with ChessBase apps, allow you to easily learn your new repertoire and play the major positions at different levels.
A great update to the previous classic!
This video course covers the different move sequences that lead to the key positions of the Philidor Defense, as well as the relevant deviations from white.
The course is in German.
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