The Modernized Philidor Defense

Those who favor positional play and who have good endgame skills will want to take a look at The Modernized Philidor Defense by Spanish FIDE Master Sergio Trigo Urquijo. 

The move order route to the mains positions of the Philidor is via 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 as the older 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 is strongly met by 4.dxe5 Nxe4 5.Qd5 Nc5 6.Bg5 and Black has no way to equalize. The modern move-order does allow White to force a queen-less middle game where Black has lost the right to castle via 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8. After the further 6.Bc4 Be6 7.Bxe6 fxe6 White has also inflict doubled isolated e-pawns on the second player, and yet practice has shown these positions to be quite playable for Black. His king is closer to the center for the endgame and his e-pawns control many squares. 

The author of The Modernized Philidor Defense is not well-known but has done an excellent job of covering not only the main lines of the Philidor but the sidelines leading up to it. Your reviewer was curious about the sometimes-made claim that White has no forced draw in the Philidor. This is pretty much true, but to the author’s credit he does point out the following exception: As played in Z. Ma – Motylev, China 2013, and a half dozen other games. After 21.Ba7 or 21.Re1 White can pretty much complete the job of emptying the board. Of course, such possibilities are found in pretty much all openings and have no effect on the theoretical well-being of the Philidor.        

IM John Donaldson, US Chess, 09.2021.