I am pretty confident I have analysed more engine games than anyone else in the world, and I truly feel that my understanding of chess has benefited greatly from it. However, some aspects of engine play and evaluation are still difficult to grasp and internalise. I came across an instructive example of this while analysing a line of the Classical Pirc with 6…Nc6.

There are many difficult things about learning a new chess opening, but unresolved contradictions are perhaps the most painful. Unresolved contradictions typically arise in a student’s mind when opening courses praise a strategy in one chapter and then show it leading nowhere in another!

In the last post, we looked at the most natural human responses to Dragon’s stunning 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Qd2!? In this post we look at the way the engines counter this idea… and it’s equally stunning!  

I’ve been continuing my investigation of the Pirc together with Dragon 3.3. It’s slow progress because Dragon keeps on digging up exciting new ideas which I can’t resist analysing! In the next couple of posts, we stop in amazement to look at a virtually unknown idea in the Austrian Attack with some subtle and venomous points!

Some more general Pirc instruction: the difference between …c6 and ..a6 systems and a useful technique to develop better understanding of your openings.