What is the difference between the King's Indian and the Pirc Defense?

The positions look the same except that the Pirc starts with e4 instead of d4. But is that it?

Usually white plays c4 in the King's Indian and not in the Pirc.

King's Indian Defense

Pirc Defense

and this is King's Indian Attack, because black is the attacker

Probably not, since the c4 pawn is wasted down in the usual Kings Indian, and the c pawn is vital for the Beoni. And even if you could, would you want a weak queenside and an unstable center?

After looking at the KID, Pirc, and Modern over the past few weeks, it seems the latter two have quite a lot in common with KID but not always. Cross-transpositions are common between KID/Pirc but less so with the Modern Defense, because by keeping the King's knight away from f6 (at least for awhile) there's more flexibility and so often more frequent variation in the pawn structure. But it gets even more complicated, becuase the c5-chain of a KID/Pirc, though seen less often than the usual e5 counterpart, is also somewhat similar to a Sicilian Dragon!

There is 1 difference between the Pirc and King's Indian, plain and simple!

White's c-pawn!

If White plays the Knight to c3 without c2-c4 (i.e. 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6), you have  Pirc

If White does play the pawn to c4 before developing the Knight, it's a King's Indian (i.e. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O)

And that c-pawn changes the way the entire game is played. Most KID games are White's queenside attack vs Black's kingside attack. The Pirc is pretty much a Dragon without the ... cxd4 trade. Probably better for White than the Dragon.

Hi i am playing king's indian for ages now. As a kings indian player you have to know both pirc and benoni since if your white opponent is anti- kings indian and played Nc3 instead of c4 you will most probably find yourself playing pirc . There are also averbach and samisch variations in which its recommended to play ...c5 instead of ...e5 i.e you will be playing benoni system .

Pls see joe gallagher " beating the anti king's indians" 

The KID usually features c4 but if Black omits Nf6 ist can also be modern defense (Bg7 and Nc6)

The Pirc (one speaks "Pirts" btw)

-"Old" Modern Defense:
g6, Bg7, d6, c6, b5

-Sniper:
g6, Bg7, c5

-Tiger:
g6, Bg7, d6, a6, b5

-Hippo:
g6, Bg7, d6, e6, b6, Bb7

-Gurgenidze:
g6, c6, d5

Oh! That means that I play the Pirc defense for e4 by pushing c6, and the king Indian when black play's d4 ,

it may seem that the only difference is the c pawn but that actually makes a huge difference in the resulting positions.

although black sometimes plays c5, the thematic pawn break in the king's indian is e5, and usually white will play d4-d5 and thus begins and exciting battle of opposite winged pawn storms. In the pirc, e5 is often not possible or not advisable and black has a number of ways of trying to develop counterplay on the queenside, usually, c5, or c6-b5. the c4 pawn is crucial to white's storm as he will make sure to prepare the c4-c5 eventually and cause the d6 pawn to be weak

interestingly, they are variations with some conceptual overlap. take the following position that comes from the nimzowitsch defense. 1.e4 nc6 2.nf3 d6 3.d4 nf6 4.nc3 g6 and you get the rare case where e5 is desirable from a pirc like position because the move order forced both sides to make concessions nc6 may limit the c pawn but nf3 eliminates the two most dangerous lines of the pirc (The austrian attack and the 150 attack)

No

If your opponent plays e4 and you respond with c6. You are playing the Caro Kan like below:

If you play d6, Than your playing a Pirc

However, Sometimes lines can transpose into other lines.

BUT if it doesn’t transpose that is what your playing

There is also the Czech Pirc which resembles more the Philidor Defense. The computer gives a huge plus for White but even in Giri vs. Firouzja rapid the experts had no clue, I commented on it in the course. Completely underrated and all those refutations are hard to handle without an engine. A diamond in the rough on amateur level. I had countless wins <10 moves

A English version is in the making, 600-700 variants. The German ones for the time being:

https://www.chessable.com/short-sweet-tschechische-verteidigung/course/252041/

https://www.chessable.com/die-tschechische-verteidigung-rattenscharf-modernisiert/course/235452/

Classically-speaking the Pirc is essentially an inferior King's Indian Defence, because a main point of playing 1... Nf6 is to prevent 2. e4 and a perfect centre. Also if you give white the option of playing into a king's indian defence like the diagram below - only 4% of white choose to play the move c4 followed by Nc3. The move appears to just block the light-squared bishop, which could be amazing on c4 or b3.

Unexpectedly the computer appears to like c4 and Nf3 for white almost as much as the mainline Be3, but a part of that is it doesn't understand some of white's potential against fianchetto defences with an open centre and possibility of Bc4, at least from a human perspective. Chess is all about giving your opponent problems and taking care of your own weak points, no point playing what the computer likes if it's more likely to end in your defeat.

Kasparov has said the Pirc is "hardly worth using in the tournaments of the highest category as it gives White too many opportunities for anybody's liking", yet used the King's Indian Defence many times at the top level, including his world championship final against Kramnik and there are many other from the classical thinking of chess who love the King's Indian defence but wouldn't be caught dead using the Pirc. But it's not without its plusses I guess, otherwise many people wouldn't be using it.

The KID cannot be tamed. It is very much alive.

By the way, Kasparov did NOT use it against Kramnik in the wch 2000. The world could be different today had he refrained from using the GID instead…

V