PIRC ALERT!: A Complete Defense Against 1.e4
Authors: Lev Alburt & Alex Chernin
2001
446 pages

Reviewed by Randy Bauer

Randy’s Rating: 7.5

If ever a book were like a long, meandering river, with bends and turns that take much time to traverse, PIRC ALERT! would be that book. This hefty offering serves as a sort of battle manual deluxe for the Pirc protagonist. Beyond the necessary theoretical coverage, it provides extensive discussion of key structures, piece placement, black strategies, and a variety of summaries, tests, and diagrams representing key points. While there is lots of good stuff here, sometimes the book takes its own sweet time (and yours!) in delivering its message.

To its credit, this book is written by two world-class players. Lev Alburt is a many-time U.S. Champion, and Alex Chernin is probably the highest rated player in the world who at present makes the Pirc his primary defense against 1.e4. This gives the book credibility that was lacking, for example, in the book by Chernin and Jan Cartier, THE PIRC DEFENSE. There were few indications in that book that it was the work of grandmasters, but there are plenty of those same indications here.

This is essentially two books combined into one. The first 208 pages discuss themes, structures, piece placement, and various other topics that should help the Pirc player understand the why of the opening struggle. The next 230 pages deal with the theory of the opening. The book closes with some final words as well as an index of games and table of included lines.

The early part of the book contains everything from very basic material that best serves the beginning Pirc player to some very deep concepts that got me thinking about an opening that I’ve played for 25 years against grandmasters and woodpushers alike. It will definitely prove useful for players seeking to better understand this defense.

While these early chapters include lots of useful material, they are at times tedious and difficult to navigate. It is difficult to divorce discussions of themes and structures from the moves that actually lead to them. In many cases, the reader doesn’t really understand the relevance of the distinctions that the author makes because the theoretical foundation has not yet been laid. I wonder if a player might be better served (at least one fairly new to the opening) by playing through some of the theory first and then going to the thematic chapters. Some of the discussions of thematic choices might make more of an impression in this order.

Regardless of one’s knowledge of the opening, I think that these chapters could have used tighter editing. My guess is that 50 pages could have been cut from these early chapters without materially affecting content. A conversational writing style can be nice, but other times you just want the author to get to the point.

When the authors get to the theory, they generally deliver a very polished product. This is to be expected, as co-author Chernin is a cutting edge practitioner of the defense. There are a variety of suggested improvements on existing theory, and after looking through a fair share of it, I can’t find any glaring errors. I would contrast this with the Chernin-Cartier Pirc book (which I assume was mostly the work of USCF expert Cartier rather than FIDE grandmaster Chernin), where there was lots of questionable analysis.

While the material covered is generally first rate, I do have some general concerns about the theoretical side of the book. First, this is a repertoire book, but there are key parts of the repertoire that are drawish at best and a downright forced draw at worst. One of the variations that Chernin specializes in is the sharp Austrian variation 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5. While this is a critical test against this variation, the fly in the ointment is that 6.Bb5+ Bd7 7.e5 Ng4 8.e6 fxe6 9.Ng5 Bxb5 10.Nxe6 Bxd4 11.Nxd8 12.Bf2+12.Kd2 Be3+ is a draw by perpetual check. Unfortunately, the only alternative presented is analyzed to an advantage for white after 8...Bxb5 9.exf7+ Kd7 10.Nxb5 Qa5+ 11.Nc3 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Nc6 14.Qc4 Qb6 15.Qe2 h5 16.Bd2 Nd4 17.Qd3 Nf5 18.Ne4 Rac8 19.0-0-0 Nge3 20.Bxe3 Nxe3 21.c3! (Hellers-Ivanchuck, 1984).  Nunn and McNab, in THE ULTIMATE PIRC, suggest that black does better with 18...Nage3 19.Bxe3 Qxe3+ 20.Qxe3 Nxe3 21.Kd2 Nxg2 22.Rhf1 Rhf8 23.Ng5 Nh4 24.Rae1 Nf5 25.Re4 with a slight advantage for white (Hellers-Wessman, 1984). I’ll come back to this issue later.

The other major repertoire problem is in the Classical Variation. After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 Bg4 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 e5 9.dxe5 dxe5 10.Rad1 Qc8 11.Qc1 Rd8 12.Rxd8+ Nxd8 the position is symmetrical and very drawish. Unfortunately, there are no real alternatives provided for the black player. Some may suggest that there are drawish variations in every opening, but there are very playable lines for black in both of these variations that do not lead to these forced draws or sterile positions. Given that these are two of white’s more popular tries, black players may find themselves in this situation more often than they would like.

In my opinion, repertoire book authors owe it to their readers to provide a basic set of lines or alternatives that can be used in any situation – including needing to win with the black pieces. Other repertoire authors, such as John Watson in his French books, have recognized this and provided alternate lines when necessary. I think a repertoire book fails if it cannot prove useful to players in all situations, and this book has a big defect in this area.

I was also surprised by some of the reasonable lines that received no mention in the book. For example, in the Classical, 7.Bg5 has some points and poison, but it is not covered.  Likewise, for example, is 4.Be3 c6 5.a4. In the Austrian Attack, after 6.dxc5 Qa5 the book only covers 7.Bd3. While this is white’s critical choice, I’ve had games with 7.Qd3, 7.Bb5+ and 7.Qd4, and they at least deserve some mention.

There also is a curious discussion of theory in the line with a white fianchetto (4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 0-0 6.Nge2 e5 7.h3 Nc6 8.Be3 Re8 9. 0-0 a6 10.a4 exd4 11.Nxd4 Bd7 12.Re1).  The authors suggest that the line is not properly evaluated. They suggest that 12...Na5 13.Qd3 c5 14.Nde2 Bc6 15.Rad1 Qc7 16.b3 is good for white, but they do not analyze Nunn and McNab’s suggestion of 15...b5. In the same line, they also argue that 12...Nb4 13.Qd2 c5 14.Nb3 Cb6 15.Bf4 Nh5 16.Bg5 Bf6 17.Bxf6 leads to a slight advantage to white because black’s pressure on e4 is insufficient, so his position is strategically weak.  However, Nunn and McNab say that 17...Qxf6 18.Rad1 Rad8 19.Na5 Ng7 20.Nc4 Qd4 is unclear after either 21.Ne3 Qxd2 22.Rxd2 f5 and 21.Qe2 Qf6 22.Ne3 Ne6.

While it is not unusual for theoreticians to disagree about specific lines, I find it odd that Alburt and Chernin do not mention the Nunn and McNab analysis or evaluations in this line. They certainly note Nunn and McNab’s analysis in other parts, and as the most recent previous book on the defense, you would expect that they would, as much as possible, build upon those earlier conclusions. This is not the only example of this oversight. After 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.f4 h6 6.Bh4 c5 7.dxc5 Qa5 8.Bd3 Qxc5 9.Qd2 Nc6 10.Nge2 0-0 11.0-0-0 the authors suggest that 11...b5 is a very promising theoretical novelty.  However, Beliavsky, who is an expert on both sides of this defense, had already analyzed this try in a New in Chess Yearbook article. He suggested 12.Bxf6! Bxf6 13.Nd5 intending 14.b4! The authors should have known of this earlier analysis and considered it in their recommendation.

I also found some lines where the theoretical discussion ended awfully early for some very important variations. In the variation 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Qd2 h6 6.Bf4 g5 7.Bg3 Nh5 8.0-0-0 Nd7 9.e5 Nb6 is given an exclam, a “TN” and a comment that “This move leads to unclear and unbalanced play in which Black’s chances are no worse.”  This may very well be the case, but isn’t this still a position that an analyst should be offering some judgment upon? What’s happening, for example, after something normal like 10.exd6 cxd6 11.Be2? What about 10.f4? I think the authors should have carried some of this analysis out a little further.

There is also, at the end of each section, a discussion of the Pirc versus Modern (1...g6) move orders, and the authors assess the advantages and disadvantages of each in the particular lines covered in the chapter. I don’t think they give the Modern its due in the few paragraphs they devote to this alternative move order. I think a player wishing to better judge black’s prospects with 1...g6 should check out Speelman and McDonald’s recent book on the Modern.

There are some excellent theoretical chapters in the book. In particular, Chernin has been at the forefront of the theory in the Austrian Attack with ...c5, and this is a strong point of the book. I also found much original analysis in the chapter on the Bg5 variation. The chapters on lesser white tries, such as lines with an early h4 or an early Bc4 are also well done.

In the end, I find this a dichotomous book. There is some really strong thematic stuff that probably occupies too many pages. There are also some fluffy pages with bios of the authors and other Pirc players. On the other hand, there is a repertoire that doesn’t provide enough coverage to arm a player for all the situations he might face as a Pirc proponent, both in the key lines the repertoire recommends and in some of the material it glosses over.

There will be lots of players who will get a lot of benefit from this book, but it is not a universally great book. If you are already a Pirc player, you will probably find some useful theoretical updates and some good insider information. If you are seeking to become a Pirc player, you will learn some good stuff from the introductory chapters, but I would caution you that you may need some other Pirc books to be properly armed. If you are looking for this to be your only book on the black side of the defense, I think you will be disappointed. Finally, if you are looking for a fast and furious way to grasp the defense, think again. This book will require some time and effort. While there is nothing wrong with that, I believe that with a little tighter focus, the authors could have made it a bit more user friendly.

Click to read WATSON'S REVIEW OF PIRC ALERT!

And if you’re interesting in adding to your Pirc Defense library, click on the following links to see information of three excellent Pirc books:

BUY PIRC ALERT!

BUY ULTIMATE PIRC

BUY STARTING OUT: THE PIRC/MODERN