Protection of Philidor - chess strategy

The defense of Philidor is a strategy that became one of the most important achievements of François-Andre Danikan Philidor, thanks to which he immortalized the memory of himself and his family.

Although the outstanding Frenchman was first-known for his operatic activities and fervent musical comedies. However, he was very fond of chess and shined this game for a long time. He was of the opinion that it's not worth risking and rashly attacking. His tactics were waiting, he gradually built his planned offensive, leaving no chance for his opponents.

The essence of the strategy

The protection of Philidor is a stable, having many opportunities for pawn moves, a chess debut. It is successfully applied in response to 1.e4.

Despite the fact that there are a lot of variations in the arrangement of the figures, there are a number of important factors:

• The king of the opponent must be cut off at the edge of the board.
• Your king must stand in front of the opponent's king, and only one cage can separate them.
• The elephant protects him from the risk of the rear shah.

When the protection of Filidor is used, chess of black color acquires a sufficiently strong status. Although the position is a little cramped, it is difficult for them to create successful retaliatory moves. For this reason, such a debut is not very popular, but many world-famous grandmasters still apply this tactic from time to time.

Mat Legal

Protection of Philidor can get into the "trap", if you apply the strategy of the game, developed by Legal.

Legal de Kermour is a senior contemporary and teacher of the chess game of Franzois Filidor. After losing only once to his talented student, he spent the rest of his life taking the position of the second most powerful player in Paris.

The photo above shows an example of a possible arrangement of figures under the "mate of Legal".

Today there is also an upgraded version of this strategy. The difference from Legal's version is that the updated one uses an additional pawn for White.

Saint-Bree was so much disappointed with his loss that he jumped out of the room without even checking the final White's devastating move.

Conclusion

More often than not, White analyzes Philodor's strategy at the very end of the game, as they are busy solving other tasks during the game. Often, a rather weak-looking arrangement of black chess misleads the enemy, forcing him to relax and weaken his vigilance. White discovers that their position is losing when they no longer get out of the trap.

In chess, the application of this strategy carries some risks, but they are often justified, so many well-known chess players take it into their arms.

The protection of Filidor in chess still continues to be a strong enough tactic, often used even by world-class grandmasters.