The Pirc Defense is the hypermodern reply to 1.e4 that goes 1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6. Black lets White build a broad pawn centre, fianchettoes the king's bishop on g7, castles short and then attacks the centre from the flanks with ...c5 or ...e5. It is named after the Slovenian grandmaster Vasja Pirc, and its ECO codes run from B07 to B09. The pages we opened cover its history and variations well. They do not tell you which move Black players really choose at the decision point, or how that choice compares with the engine's. We ran the maia3-5m checkpoint, see how Maia chess actually works, on two Pirc positions at seven rating bands from 1000 to 2200, and graded every legal move with Stockfish 18 at depth 20. Percentages on this page are the model's predicted share of human moves at that rating. They are not game database frequencies and they are not win rates.
Every evaluation is from White's side, so +0.75 means White is better by three quarters of a pawn. The two dataset positions are the one after 3.Nc3 with Black to move, and the one after 3...g6 4.Nf3 with Black to move. The line checks are separate local runs of ten seconds per line, which we call a local Stockfish check, so a number can differ by several hundredths from the dataset. The tables are measured on our own model, and the line evaluations come from our own engine runs.
Where the Pirc comes from
Wikipedia says the opening was played occasionally in the 19th century and thought irregular, and that it gained popularity after the Second World War, when Pirc played it often from the late 1940s. Duncan Suttles is credited with making it regarded as playable in the 1960s. Chess.com says it peaked in the 1970s. The main line is close to a King's Indian, except that White has not played c4. If you know that structure, the King's Indian Defense page shows the same ideas with White's c-pawn on c4.
The ECO split is useful when you look something up. B07 covers the quieter systems with 4.Bc4, 4.Be2, 4.Be3, 4.Bg5 and 4.g3. B08 is the Classical System with 4.Nf3. B09 is the Austrian Attack with 4.f4.
The Pirc's real decision is move three
After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3, Black has many playable moves, and the opening is only a Pirc if Black chooses 3...g6. The engine does not choose it. Stockfish ranks 3...e5 first at +0.53. The Pirc's 3...g6 is +0.75, tied with 3...Nbd7, and 3...c6, the Czech Pirc, is +1.05. In a ten second local check the gap between e5 and g6 is smaller still, +0.65 against +0.76. Here is what the model predicts people play.
| Rating | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1600 | 1800 | 2000 | 2200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3...g6 (+0.75) | 62.1% | 64.8% | 64.9% | 63.8% | 63.0% | 62.1% | 57.5% |
| 3...c6 (+1.05) | 13.5% | 15.8% | 16.7% | 16.6% | 15.8% | 14.5% | 13.6% |
| 3...e5 (+0.53) | 5.5% | 3.5% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 4.1% | 7.5% | 15.2% |
The model predicts 3...g6 as the likeliest move at every band, from 57.5 percent at 2200 to 64.9 percent at 1400. The engine's top move is a minority choice. 3...e5 is not monotonic: it starts at 5.5 percent at 1000, falls to its lowest of 2.8 percent at 1400, stays near 3 percent at 1600, and then climbs to 7.5 percent at 2000 and 15.2 percent at 2200. 3...Nbd7, the other +0.75 move, rises from 4.3 percent at 1200 to 11.7 percent at 2000. The second most likely move for most bands is 3...c6, which gives up about 30 centipawns against 3...g6.
Do not read this as humans missing the right move. A 22 centipawn gap is small, and 3...g6 is the move the opening is named for. The honest reading is that the best move leaves the Pirc. After 3...e5 4.Nf3, Wikipedia and Chessiverse both say the game transposes to a Philidor type of position. We checked one version: 4...Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 gives White +0.50 with the engine suggesting 6.O-O. The other try is 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8, which is +0.40 for White after 6.Bc4, a queenless middlegame where Black has lost the right to castle but is not worse by much. If you are curious what that structure feels like, our Philidor Defense page has the same kind of data for 2...d6 in 1.e4 e5.
After 3...g6 the setup plays itself
The second dataset position follows 4.Nf3. Stockfish ranks 4...Bg7 first at +0.69, with 4...c6 close behind at +0.74 and 4...a6 at +0.85. The model agrees with the engine.
| Rating | 1000 | 1200 | 1400 | 1600 | 1800 | 2000 | 2200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4...Bg7 (+0.69) | 90.6% | 91.1% | 91.8% | 92.6% | 93.3% | 94.0% | 94.5% |
| 4...Bg4 (+1.34) | 5.7% | 6.0% | 5.8% | 5.0% | 3.9% | 2.6% | 1.4% |
This is the opposite pattern. Bg7 is the engine move and the human move, found 90.6 percent of the time at 1000 and 94.5 percent at 2200, rising at every step. The one tempting mistake is 4...Bg4, which costs about 65 centipawns more than Bg7 and fades from 5.7 percent at 1000 to 1.4 percent at 2200. The lesson for a repertoire is practical. Entering the Pirc is easy and the model finds the fianchetto reliably. The hard decision is the one before it, and after it the difficulty is not the move but what White does next. So spend your study time on White's systems, not on the first four moves.
White's main systems and what each asks of Black
As of October 2026, Chessiverse reports that at 2200 and above 3.Nc3 is White's choice in 79.7 to 86.6 percent of games, and that 3.Bd3 is the second choice from 1400 to 2200. After 3.Nc3 g6, White's real decision is the fourth move.
The Austrian Attack, 4.f4
The Austrian is the sharpest, and forum players say it gives them the most trouble. One writes that it has by far the best results against them, another that it is not easy to struggle against but it scored well. After 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3, Black chooses between 5...O-O and 5...c5. After 5...O-O the most common move is 6.Bd3, the Weiss Variation, and 6...Nc6 is the usual reply. 6...Na6, with ideas of ...Nc7, ...Rb8 and ...b5, became popular in the 1980s. Our local check gives 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Bd3 Na6 as +0.72 for White, with 7.O-O the best move. The sharper 7.e5 is only +0.34. Black is a little worse, which is the price of the opening, but not in danger.
Against 5...c5, Black takes the centre head on. Wikipedia says that after 6.e5 Nfd7 7.exd6 O-O the play is good for Black. We checked it: the position is -0.04 for White, so the pawn push is not dangerous. The sharper test is 6.Bb5+, covered below.
The Classical System, 4.Nf3
This is the quiet main line, ECO B08. It goes 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 O-O 6.O-O. After 6...c5 7.Be3 cxd4 8.Nxd4, the structure transposes to a Sicilian Dragon type, and 365chess calls the line 6...c6 7.a4 Nbd7 8.a5 Qc7 the most commonly played in the Pirc. Our check puts that final position at +0.62 for White, with 9.Be3 the engine's choice. 365chess warns Black to be careful about playing too passively here, and that matches the number: the edge is steady rather than dramatic. This system asks Black for patience and a plan, usually ...e5 or ...c5 at the right moment.
The 150 Attack, 4.Be3
White plays 4.Be3, 5.Qd2 and often f3, then castles long and pushes the h-pawn or plays Bh6 to trade Black's best bishop. The name refers to an ECF grade of 150, about 1800 Elo according to chess.com and roughly 1825 according to Wikipedia. Both figures come from the same grade, so we say ECF 150. The idea was that a club player at that level could get a good game against a grandmaster with it. Black's thematic answer is queenside expansion: 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5. Our check gives that position as +0.34 for White, one of the smallest edges on this page.
The Byrne Variation, 4.Bg5
Robert Byrne introduced 4.Bg5 in the 1960s. We have no engine check on it, so we give no number.
The Chinese Variation, 5.g4
After 4.Be2 Bg7, the move 5.g4 is called the Chinese Variation, and 5.h4 is the Bayonet or Mariotti Attack. White grabs space and threatens g5. Stockfish says Black should react in the centre: 5...d5 is the best move at +0.38 for White, ahead of 5...h6 at +0.55 and 5...O-O at +0.54. Against a wing pawn storm, a central strike is the natural answer, and the numbers agree.
Pirc, Modern and Philidor compared
The Modern Defense is closely related. The main difference is when Black plays ...Nf6, which the Modern delays. The Pirc Defence Deferred is the crossover: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6. The Philidor connection comes through 3...e5, the engine's top reply, which leads to a Philidor type structure with a solid ...d6 and ...e5 pair. Wikipedia separates the Modern Philidor reached by 1...d6 from the Old Philidor reached by 1...e5. A player who wants that structure can go straight to the Philidor and skip White's Pirc systems.
A trap and a non-trap, checked
Wikipedia gives this line after 5.Nf3 c5: 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 Bxb5 10.Nxe6 Bxd4 11.Nxd8 Bf2+ 12.Kd2 Be3+. Its source summary flagged 10...Bxd4 as hard to reconcile, so we checked the final position ourselves. It is a perpetual check: the engine shows 13.Ke1 Bf2+ 14.Kd2 Be3+ repeating, evaluation 0.00. A club player facing 6.Bb5+ should know Black has a draw in hand. The other idea, 6.e5 Nfd7 7.exd6 O-O, looks scary but checks at -0.04 for White, so do not panic if you meet it.
Two famous games, checked
Kasparov against Topalov, Hoogovens tournament in Wijk aan Zee in 1999, round 4, is called the most famous Pirc game of all time on Wikipedia's Pirc page, and it has its own article as Kasparov's Immortal. It was a 150 Attack: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 7.Nge2 Nbd7 8.Bh6 Bxh6 9.Qxh6 Bb7 10.a3 e5 11.O-O-O Qe7 12.Kb1 a6 13.Nc1 O-O-O 14.Nb3 exd4 15.Rxd4 c5 16.Rd1 Nb6 17.g3 Kb8 18.Na5 Ba8 19.Bh3 d5 20.Qf4+ Ka7 21.Rhe1 d4 22.Nd5 Nbxd5 23.exd5 Qd6 24.Rxd4, and Kasparov won. We checked the position after 22.Nd5. Our local check prefers 22...Nbxd5, the move Topalov played, at -0.27 for White, while the other tries rise to +2.75 or more. So the position was roughly level two moves before the famous rook sacrifice 24.Rxd4. Our check stops at move 22, so we give no number for what followed. What the game shows about the Pirc is not a refutation: White's best attacking setup still left Black a sound position, and the result came later.
Fischer against Korchnoi, Curaçao 1962, was an Austrian Attack that Black won. It went 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.O-O Qxc5+ 9.Kh1 Nc6 10.Nd2 a5 11.Nb3 Qb6 12.a4 Nb4 13.g4 Bxg4 14.Bxg4 Nxg4 15.Qxg4 Nxc2. After 15...Nxc2 our check gives -2.21 for White, so Black was winning, because the knight on c2 is about to take the rook on a1. It shows both sides of the Austrian: White's attack can be refuted when it goes too fast. Ten years later Fischer took the Black side of the Pirc himself, against Spassky in game 17 at Reykjavik in 1972, which was a draw. Those are the games the sources agree on, and we have left out others we could not confirm.
Is it worse than the mainstream defences?
A little, and the numbers say so. The Pirc is +0.75 for White after 3...g6, the Classical system is +0.62, and the Austrian with 6...Na6 is +0.72. Chess.com's pros and cons agree: Black has freedom and a tricky, active defense, but White has many ways to fight it, from a raging attack to quiet restriction. One forum poster said they were not sure it is as sound as the French and the Sicilian, but it is worth a go. We have no data on those openings, so we do not rank them, but the sizes above fit a sound opening that concedes a small edge.
Who should play the Pirc, by rating
Our data does not include results by rating for the Pirc, so we can only say what the model and the sources suggest.
- Around 1000 to 1400. You will meet a mix of White setups, and the model says you will find the fianchetto reliably. Learn the Classical plan with ...c5 or ...e5, and the Austrian 6.Bb5+ perpetual. Do not worry about the engine's 3...e5.
- Around 1600 to 1800. This is where the 150 Attack matters, because it is aimed at your rating. Learn 6.f3 b5 and the ...c5 break against Be3 and Qd2.
- 2000 and above. The model gives 3...e5 15.2 percent at 2200, so the engine's choice is becoming a real option, and 3...Nbd7 reaches 11.0 to 11.7 percent.
Whatever your level, plans matter more than move lists, the argument in why you should stop memorizing openings and learn plans. In the Pirc, Black's plan is to fianchetto, castle, wait for White to commit and strike with ...c5 or ...e5. For how this fits with other openings by strength, see chess openings by rating.
Where other resources are better
This page is narrow on purpose. The dataset holds two positions, and Maia3 5m is a small model of human choice, so its percentages are predictions and can be wrong at the margins. The line checks are quick local runs, not a substitute for an opening database or a repertoire course. Wikipedia is the best reference for the full list of named variations, history and games. As of October 2026, chess.com has a clear list of pros and cons, and 365chess has game counts for each third move, though its result columns are not labelled. Chessiverse publishes rating banded results, though its page says blitz and rapid while the data table includes bullet, and it has nothing on the 150 Attack. We have no game results by rating, so we cannot say how Black scores at your level, and the Lichess explorer, which we did not open, is the place for real game counts. None of the pages we opened compares the engine's best move with the likeliest human move at each rating, which is the gap this one fills.
What to take from it
The Pirc's real decision is move three. Stockfish prefers 3...e5 at +0.53, a move that walks out of the Pirc into a Philidor type structure, but Maia3 predicts 3...g6 as the likeliest move at every band, at 57.5 to 64.9 percent, against +0.75 for the Pirc move. After 4.Nf3, Bg7 is found 90.6 to 94.5 percent of the time, so the setup plays itself and the work is in knowing White's systems. The lines are real: the Austrian 6.Bb5+ line is a perpetual at 0.00, the 6.e5 push gives White -0.04, and the 150 Attack reply 6...b5 holds the edge to +0.34. Maia3 is a model of human choice trained on online games, not a count of real games, and every percentage above should be read that way.
Frequently asked
- Is the Pirc Defense any good?
- It is sound and a little worse than the most mainstream defences. In our Stockfish data the position after 3.Nc3 is +0.75 for White if Black plays the Pirc move 3...g6, and the main system positions we checked sit between +0.34 and +0.72, with one sharp Austrian line level at -0.04. Chess.com calls it a tricky, active defense. The price is that White has many ways to attack it, so you must know your plan against each.
- Is the Pirc Defense still reliable?
- Yes, as a practical choice. Chess.com says it peaked in popularity in the 1970s and is still seen in elite games, and as of October 2026 it names Vladimir Kramnik and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov as players who use it to fight for a win. The engine does not refute any main line we checked. The Austrian 6.e5 try gives White -0.04 in our check, so Black is fine there.
- Is the Pirc Defense good for beginners?
- It can be played at any level, but chess.com warns beginners to be careful, and forum players say it is easy to get squashed if you make a few early inaccuracies. The setup is easy to enter: after 4.Nf3, Maia3 predicts 3...g6 followed by Bg7 at 90.6 to 94.5 percent. The hard part is knowing what to do when White builds a big centre and attacks.
- What is the difference between the Pirc and the Modern Defense?
- The Modern starts 1.e4 g6, and Black delays ...Nf6. The Pirc plays 1...d6 and 2...Nf6 first, committing the knight before the bishop. The Pirc main line resembles a King's Indian where White has not played c4. If Black plays 1...g6 first and 3...d6 after 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3, the position is the Pirc Defence Deferred.
- What is the 150 Attack in the Pirc?
- It is White's setup of 4.Be3 and 5.Qd2, usually followed by f3 and sometimes Bh6. The name comes from an ECF grade of 150, about 1800 Elo, because British analysts judged that a club player of that strength could get a good game with it against a grandmaster. Chess.com calls it very straightforward. In our check, 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.f3 b5 is only +0.34 for White.
- Is the Pirc Defence the same as the Pirc Opening?
- Yes. Pirc Defence is the British spelling and Pirc Opening is a loose name for the same 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 setup. It is also called the Pirc-Ufimtsev, the Ufimtsev Defence in Russian sources, and the Yugoslav Defence. Its ECO codes run from B07 to B09.
Want to play the Pirc against a model that answers like your rating?
Chessdrive runs the real maia3-5m checkpoint on-device as your opponent at any rating you set from 600 to 2600, so you can play the Pirc from either side against a model that picks its moves the way your band does, then see where the game turned with a separate Stockfish review. Available now on iOS.
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