never never never never never play philidor defense

I play openings that give my opponent a +1.5 advantage as an expert rated player.

The old Philidor line is apparently unsound for reasons I don’t know, but the pirc Transposition via e4 d6 d4 Nf6 Nc3 e5! Is completely ok.

I don't care, I think it's a decent opening. Plus Morphy played It.

1) is done by every black opening

2) is done by half of every black opening

3) is done by every black opening

4) is useless, as computers are useless in openings

Are you talking about 2. - d6 (the Philidor) or 2. - d5 (the Elephant gambit)? Your second point suggests the former, but who knows.

The Philidor defence is a tool of old masters who were able to defend for tens of moves and calmly wait for a first chance when opponent did a mistake...
Its unsound these days because its mainly positional without much tactics and with resignation for some soon attack... honestly i dont really know why it should be worse than pirc.. it feels very similar to me...

using computer this way doesn't work

Sicilian defense has usually similar numbers and it's one of the most solid and respected openings ever.

Morphy played the Philidor with the intention of entering the old philidor countergambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5.

This gambit has officially been completely refuted by modern theory. White is winning.

Morphy was a brilliant tactician but I wouldn't trust him on opening theory.

e4 e5 Nf3 d6.

Agree with OP , Philidor is very passive

I don’t even consider it as an opening. I don’t even understand why people even play it! It is so trash!

thats why Morphy won the opera Game as his opponent played the trash opening, Philidor’s Defence. It is so trash I don’t even consider is it as an opening.

1. LEGALS MATE TRAP IN THE PHILIDOR DEFENCE

In my experience only two types of players play it... strong players who have prepared it well, and weak players who are playing random moves and played it accidentally. Basically no one in between.

its not unsound its just the normal move order forces black to play the Antoshin or larsen variation  (actually if white plays 3.bc4 before d4 he is practically almost forced into the Antoshin or transpose to the 3...d6 italian) whereas most philidor players hope for the hanham variation.



as to why? its because if you ever try to get nd7 going, they are always tactical reasons why its a terrible idea, either dxe5  dxe5 qd5! or nxe5 nxe5 bxf7, or lines where black has no good reply vs ng5 and in some lines, even qh5 as well. The least dubious try if i remember correctly is a line where despite be7, white goes ng5 bxg5 qh5! grabbing a clean bishop pair. I believe ivanchuk has dared play it like this once or twice but its not a good idea. The pirc move order is an attempt to bait nc3 which is never among the critical lines of the philidor and is basically a free development tempi  for your kingside so the tricks dont work

The line i was referring to https://lichess.org/dqlRtJgD#0

we are talking about the philidor defense, not your play.

It's solid and annoying for white. I still don't have good prep against it, even though it's been that annoying little itch for over a year at this point. Simple development and you are usually okay as black, as the passivity is hard to punish.

For that reason, I think the Philidor is playable at all levels and time controls. I'd rather start learning how to punish, not play it, though. 

dark doing his best Pfren impersonation... it's pretty good!

Mhmm~

interesting...