General Remarks
The Pirc Defence is a relatively new opening; while it was seen on occasion in the late nineteenth century, it was considered irregular, thus remained a sideline. The opening only began gaining some popularity after World War II, and by the 1960s it was regarded as playable, owing in large part to the efforts of Canadian Grandmaster Duncan Suttles. Black, in hypermodern fashion, does not immediately stake a claim in the centre with pawns; rather, he/she works to undermine White's centre from the flanks. Its first appearance in a World Championship match was in 1972, when it was played by Bobby Fischer against Boris Spassky at Reykjavik (game 17); the game wound up drawn.
The most common opening sequence is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6. A distinction is usually drawn between the Pirc and lines where Black delays the development of his knight to f6, or omits it altogether; this is known as the Modern or Robatsch Defence. The tenth edition of Modern Chess Openings (1965) grouped the Pirc and Robatsch together as the "Pirc-Robatsch Defense".
The oldest game with the Pirc Defence in the Chessgames.com database is between Josef Noa and Amos Burn in Frankfurt 1887.
Read more about this topic: Pirc Defence
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