Introduction to the Philidor defence

The Philidor defence is named after the famous 18th-century french composer and chess player, François Philidor, who advocated it as an alternative to black's common knight to C6 on move two. The original idea was to challenge white's centre with a pawn thrust to F5, supported by the light-squared bishop. Though François's analysis in his mid 18th century chess treatise popularised the opening, it was by no means an original work. Gioachino Greco the 17th-century Italian chess player and author had written of it a full century prior to Philidor. That is not to say that Philodor's contributions were insignificant. Today, the Philidor is known as a solid but passive choice for black, it is seldom seen at elite levels of play with the exception as an alternative to the heavily analyzed openings that can ensue after the normal knight to C6. It is considered a good opening for amateur players who seek a defensive strategy that is simpler and easier to understand than the complex positions that result from openings such as the french defence. However, the resulting pawn structure can prove to be a lethal weapon in the hands of a strong positional player. François Philidor once said, "Pawns or the soul of chess"; which is appropriate since his defence's most advantageous quality are the solid pawn structures which result from careful play.

The 'Exchange variation' of the Philidor defence is by far the most common modern continuation to black's D6 pawn push. This is because unlike the classical variant in which white develops their light-squared bishop, white instead challenges the centre early. This pawn push by white forces black into the exchange because they do not have an extra defender on both their queen as well as E5 squares. The Philidor unjustly has a reputation as a passive response to white's E4 pawn push; however I would argue that though it does allow white early initiative by focusing on defence rather than offence, it is a less commonly known response by black and can result in powerful pawn positions in the middle to end game. It is also relatively simple to understand and can often times bring white players into unfamiliar territory, especially at the club level.

The Classic variation of the Philidor defence, though now surpassed by the Exchange variation in popularity, is still an effective response by white to black's simple, yet flexible D6 pawn push. Though mentioned by Greco in the 17th-century. It was Philidor who extensively analysed and championed this particular opening. François, firmly believed that pawns were the soul of chess, this may have been one of the reasons why he was such a staunch proponent of the D6 pawn push, he did not want to constrict his pawns with knight to C6, though this is not shared throughout the chess masters, there is something to be said about being able to avoid the Spanish game with a simple C6 pawn push. The Philidor defence aims to control the centre of the board and provide a solid defence for black's king. Black creates a central pawn chain taking control of the important C5 and E5 squares. Black's pawn chain also serves as a barrier protecting black's king. The Philidor Defense has a reputation for being a solid yet drawish opening. However it can result in dynamic and tactical positions should white attack aggressively.

The Hanham variation of the Philidor defence is named after Major James Moore Hanham, an American chess master, who played in many American and international chess tournaments between 1884 and 1889. During the American Civil war despite being a southerner, James Hanham fought for the union Army, and attained the rank of Major. It is due to Major Jame's innovations to this variation that it now bears his name. James Moore Hanham introduced jumping their queen-sided knight to D7 in order to defend their E5 pawn in the New York tournament of 1889. The original variation delayed knight to D7 move until after what we now call the Nimzowitsch variation, the knight to D7 continuation was endorsed by Nimzowitsch himself.

This variation gets its name from the Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, who wrote a short essay on it, entitled 'Why Not the Philidor defence?'. Prior to Magnus Carlson, Bent Larsen was the strongest recorded Dutch player, and throughout the 1960s and 70s was the second strongest non-Soviet player, right next to Bobby Fischer. The Larsen variation of the Philidor is a less common continuation of the exchange, which is not only the most common, but is also the most active response to the 'Philidor defence'. In the Larsen black pre positions their dark-squared bishop for either a queenside offensive or to use it to control the centre in a more modern school of play; regardless, in this variation rather than formulating an early attack, black will generally look to complicate the middle game and search for counter play opportunities. This is because the Larsen variation is rather slow moving.