Philidor Defence - 3...
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Well, looking at this position really quickly, b x knight ch. pawn x b then q x q followed by the win of the king pawn looks good for white.
surely you can't win the king pawn because of this:
wlapre wrote: Well, looking at this position really quickly, b x knight ch. pawn x b then q x q followed by the win of the king pawn looks good for white.
That line fails to a ....Rd1# ! Its better for white to play either 4dxe5 right away or after 4Bb5 Bg4 5d5 !
I believe in the philidor the best option for black at move 3 is 3....Nf6
haha well i thought i saw the answer for a second but black checkmates! white can still double isolate blacks c pawn but black gets the two bishops, and white's pieces are awkward. 6.0-0 is probably best. Technically i think 5.dxe5 is a mistake. When you played Bb5 you transposed to the old steinitz variation of the ruy lopez, and d5 is the book move.
After 3...Nc6 i would be inclined to play 4.Bc4. Of course, 4.dxe5 is possible if you want to play a game with no queens, but why let black get away with not learning any theory, i would test him on all aspects of the game; opening,middlegame, and endgame.
Here are some lines in the Philidor, only a brief outline. If you want detail go search your database 
Click move list to see the Hanham variation.
thanks ppl!
According to chess assistant 4Bc4 and 4Bb5 both score 75% against 3....Nc6, while 4dxe5 scores 79%. The very fact that white has 3 moves scoring over 70% against 3....Nc6 pretty much condemns the move imo. 3...Nf6 is the highest scoring for black at 44% while 3...Nc6 only scores 26%.
Reb wrote: According to chess assistant 4Bc4 and 4Bb5 both score 75% against 3....Nc6, while 4dxe5 scores 79%. The very fact that white has 3 moves scoring over 70% against 3....Nc6 pretty much condemns the move imo. 3...Nf6 is the highest scoring for black at 44% while 3...Nc6 only scores 26%.
Thanks for the stats reb. I agree with the stats too. You wont find 3...Nc6 in NCO either, only transpoitions.
how about Qd5 after black plays dxe5?
zoofagus wrote: how about Qd5 after black plays dxe5?
Seems pretty good choice. White gets better a position (after 6...qxd5 7.exd5 Bxf3 8.gxf3 a6 9.dxc6 axb5 10.cxb7 Rb8 +/-)but certainly a playable position for black at beginner level.
This is my faverite line of the Philidor's Defence ,1 e4 e5, 2 Nf3 d6,3 d4 f5! I have had lot of good games with it, give a lot of problems to white he does not kknow what to do with it Thanks
longbow wrote: This is my faverite line of the Philidor's Defence ,1 e4 e5, 2 Nf3 d6,3 d4 f5! I have had lot of good games with it, give a lot of problems to white he does not kknow what to do with it Thanks
Philidor played this line himself i think. The idea behind it is to get a king of reversed kings gambit i think. Its a good surpriseline to have alright, but is the hanham variation not the most popular?
Supposedly, according to general consensus, if black were to play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nc6 4.Bb5 Bg4 5.dxe5 dxe5, then that would be a mistake. However, the novice brain that I have can't see how to get the advantage as white. Can someone help me?