Crushing the Philidor Defense in 8 moves

I have recently learnt a famous game of Paul Morphy called "A night in the Opera" 

In that game Morphy crushed the Philidor Defense. He started his attack on the Philidor Defense with the move 3.d4 (known as the central attack). His opponent, Duke Karl, played the move 3.Bg4, which is considered a weak move.

As soon as Duke Karl played Bg4, Morphy launched a beautiful attack on his opponent and crushed his Philidor Defense after several moves: 

Today, during a blitz game, I faced a similar situation - My opponent played the same moves like Duke Karl did in "A night in the Opera". I remembered "A night in the Opera", so I decided to step into Paul Morphy's shoes and play his moves. My opponent did many mistakes and I crushed his Philidor Defense after 8 moves. Take a look:

I am not an expert in chess, but I think it's the fastest way to win against the Philidor. I hope you enjoyed 

Legal's mate is a simple trap that works fine against beginners, but not against experienced players

I didn't say my opponent was an experienced player. I said that morphy's trap works better against experienced players. Therefore, it works better against new players as well. Is it difficult to understand?

I still run into this line from time to time

people play bg4 for fun I think

matancs92 wrote: I have recently learnt a famous game of Paul Morphy called "A night in the Opera" In that game Morphy crushed the Philidor Defense. He started his attack on the Philidor Defense with the move 3.d4 (known as the central attack). His opponent, Duke Karl, played the move 3.Bg4, which is considered a weak move.As soon as Duke Karl played Bg4, Morphy launched a beautiful attack on his opponent and crushed his Philidor Defense after several moves: Today, during a blitz game, I faced a similar situation - My opponent played the same moves like Duke Karl did in "A night in the Opera". I remembered "A night in the Opera", so I decided to step into Paul Morphy's shoes and play his moves. My opponent did many mistakes and I crushed his Philidor Defense after 8 moves. Take a look:I am not an expert in chess, but I think it's the fastest way to win against the Philidor. I hope you enjoyed 

Levon31 wrote:

You said "I think it's the fastest way to win against the Philidor." It isn't. Is that difficult to understand? 

And experience players won't play 3...Bg4 in that position.

God damn, you're arrogant. IM Greg Shahade had a master play Bg4 against him on his youtube channel. Greg responded something to the effect of "really isn't this the Morphy game?!" He then went on to lose the game. Bg4 isn't *so* bad; Bxf3 is the bad move.

An inexperienced player learned a new move order trick and used it against another inexperienced player. Good for him.

I don't understand why people play Philidor whatsoever. It's passive but popular.

I play it to avoid learning the theory of the Spanish, Italian, Scotch etc. :)

I think it's ok if you study it thoroughly. But many people who play it don't study it at all(because they don't like studying theory) and get in trouble very quickly.

The Philidor is one of those openings that is played badly by beginners and well by masters. Almost nobody in between plays it in tournament chess because it is a passive opening that requires good defensive skills. There are a BUNCH of traps the Philidor player must navigate in order to get a playable game. Here's one classic mistake:

Bg4 is a horrendous move. It accomplishes nothing: after 4.dxe5 black has nothing better than to trade away the LS bishop and give his opponent the bishop pair in an open position. If he does not trade he simply loses a pawn with no compensation. Furthermore: if the trade is not made than what was the point of Bg4 anyway? It's simply a lost tempo in an already passive position. That someone won a game in a blitz game means absolutely nothing. And if you don't mind me asking: can you provide the link to the game, as I am interested in how an IM manages to screw up such a position.

Here's a recent game of me getting completely smashed playing the Philidor!

I have very good score against this defence. I like when it's played against me. Look at my recent games.

@Ruben72d: I can't find it right now. My only internet is my phone and I'm throttled for another week.

His opponent played the d3 gambit. In the postmotem Shahade said he shouldn't have taken taken on d3 and just developed.

And masters screw up way better positions in every tournament. Bg4 is not losing. It is weak, but no, it is not a blunder.

Players of different strengths have different ideas of what a blunder is. 3...Bg4 gives Black a clearly inferior game with best play. In my book, that's a blunder. It was known to be a blunder long before Fischer said anything about it, but Fischer wasn't wrong.

In an open position, Black can not ignore opening principles with 3 .....B-g4.   He is just asking to be punished.    If you don't think that's a blunder, I don't know what to tell you.

As far as Philidor being passive, I suggest people look at 3......f5, the Philidor Counter Gambit.   In New Jersey, USA, Life Master James R West ( he's also on chess.com ) has won hundreds of games with it and published a book on it 20 years ago.

West also has a daily chess blog http://jimwestonchess.blogspot.com/

So gambiting your e or f pawn is not a blunder but gambiting your d pawn is a horrible blunder, HorsesGalore. That's pretty odd.

One of those youtube GMs says the Philador counter gambit is about the worst openings ever. That video should be really easy to find. Not many vids on that opening

Today I sent my game to computer analysis, to find out how bad is the move 3...bg4. Computer said that bg4 was not a blunder. I guess it's just a weak move that puts white in a better position and gives white the initiative, but it is not a blunder.