Joe Gallagher has a deserved reputation as a theorist and author, particularly in openings he plays in practice (King's Indian, Sicilian, King's Gambit), and he expands that reputation with a balanced, fresh look at the Pirc and Modern Defenses. While Gallagher is quick to note that he has taken up the Pirc/Modern as a second choice (to the Sicilian Najdorf and King's Indian) against both 1.e4 and 1.d4, he also admits that most of his experience with the opening is from the White side. In some respects, that is not all bad.

In fact, this book provides several examples of the author taking an objective view of "accepted" theory in this defense and calling it into question. This is much more stimulating than other Pirc authors, who sometimes provide standard, routine examples of the state of the defense. The author is also candid in his assessment of lines where the theory may work out to equality for black, but the path to a satisfactory result is more difficult to attain.

For example, the author wades right into the theory-laden Austrian Attack and provides much food for thought. After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.Bb5+, Gallagher's assessment is that "White has scored an impressive 60% from over 1,000 games, and whilst this may include a whole host of hopeless lines for Black White scores just as well in the main lines. For example after [6.Bd7 7.e5 Ng4] 8.Bxd7+ White has a score of 64% from 220 while even 8.h3 scores 65%. Black has to play accurately here and with so much to know in the main lines it seems that many Black players have neglected the lines in this section. They are paying the price."

This is practical insight that generally does not appear in opening books. Gallagher also excels in pointing out neglected lines that deserve more attention. In the same line, after 6.dxc5 Qa5, the author spends one of his 56 illustrative games on 7.Qd4!?, a move that gets short shrift in other Pirc books. For example, Nunn's THE ULTIMATE PIRC (click to see Watson's review of this book) suggests that 7.0-0 is unclear and 7.dxc5 8.Bb5+ Qxb5 9.Qxf6 Bxf6 10.Nxb5 Na6 equal. Videki simply repeats this same line. However, Gallagher argues that after 11.e5 Bg7 12.Be3 should be a little better for White. While it may be a minor difference of opinion, Gallagher also analyzes several other black options, including 7.0-0, that are not covered elsewhere. His conclusion is that black has not demonstrated a clear path to equality. 

Lest you think this is an isolated example, in this very same section, Gallagher makes a case that the "innocuous" 7.Qd3 may also be worth a second look. This is generally dismissed with an off-hand line like 7.Qxc5 8.Be3 Qa5 9.Qb5+ Qxb5 10.Nxb5 Na6 11.e5 dxe5 12.Nxe5 Nd5 13.Bd2 0-0 14.0-0-0 Nac7 15.Nxc7 Nxc7 with equality.  Gallagher suggests that white should prefer 12.fxe5, the point being that after 12.Nd5 the f-pawn is no longer hanging, and white may simply grab a pawn with 13.Bxa7. If 12.Ng4 13.Bd4, intending h3, should give white a bit of a pull. Gallagher continues his analysis with 11.Nd5 12.Bxa7 Nxf4 13.exd6 Bxb2 14.Rd1 and suggests that he prefers White. I would agree.

There are plenty of other examples where Gallagher challenges the current wisdom. For example, in the Austrian Attack (see above) after 5.0-0 6.Bd3 Na6 (the new main line after 5.0-0) 7.0-0 c5 8.d5 Rb8 the author makes a strong case for the immediate 9.f5!?  While other Pirc authors have suggested that 9.gxf5 is the antidote, Gallagher, in his typically blunt manner, suggests that "it's easier to suggest moves like 9.gxf5 sitting at home, and in someone else's game, rather than play it yourself in a tense over the board encounter." Gallagher goes on to analyze this line, but his comments tell as much as his analysis - this is a difficult line to defend, and Black needs to realize this.

Gallagher offers refreshing insights that add much to the book. For example, after discussing a poor bit of analysis found in the ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHESS OPENINGS (ECO), Gallagher warns (in bold type) that "be very careful with ECO as the quality of this previously excellent encyclopedia has plummeted since the 'in house' team took responsibility for the work, that was previously attributed to the world's best players (click to see Silman talking about this very thing). They are now, in many variations, producing gibberish." Even better authors are put under the microscope. GM Chernin is perhaps the foremost proponent of the defense at the moment, but Gallagher provides a frank assessment when he writes that "[Alexander Chernin] is a very strong grandmaster who has made a living out of the Pirc and published a lot of his views and analysis in a book he co-authored with Lev Alburt called PIRC ALERT! (interesting, expensive, messy but intriguing is my four word review of this book - click to see Watson's review of this book.)."

The book is also useful because it updates important black lines that are often not found in other recent repertoire books. For example, black is doing reasonably well in the Classical lines after 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Be2 0-0 6.0-0 c6 (or, for that matter, 6.Nc6). Often this involves a slow expansion on the queenside (with a combination of .c6.a6.b6 and ultimately .b5 or .c5). However, repertoire books like the before mentioned PIRC ALERT do not cover these lines, even though they are much more interesting than the plan they espouse, with .Bg4.Nc6 and .e5. Here Gallagher also analyzes less popular (but perhaps under-estimated) plans where white plays for a quick e4-e5. These have probably been neglected because white's play is more committal, and this is a variation that generally attracts solid white players. 

While the Pirc coverage is strong, I am less happy with the portion dealing with Modern move orders (1.g6 against either 1.e4 or 1.d4). Of the book's 192 pages, only 30 are devoted to the 1.e4/d4 g6 lines that do not transpose into the Pirc. The coverage here is notably terse compared to the rest of the book.

Gallagher does a good job on the Averbakh lines after 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4 Nc6, and I agree that 5.d5 is critical. Gallagher suggests that 5.Be3 is the main line, but in my own practice I more often faced 5.d5.  Still, a player wishing to play these lines will find reasonable coverage.

In fact, 4.a6 is an acceptable try to keep the position unbalanced, and Speelman and McDonald, in MODERN DEFENSE (included in this book's bibliography - click  to see Donaldson's review of this book) suggest that black can keep white to just a slight advantage in this line. There are also interesting tries based on 4.c6 where black does not transpose in all cases to the Pirc; I think these deserved at least some explanation of the author's sweeping statement.

Given its limited pages, there are other interesting Modern tries that do not get a mention.  White has experimented, for example, with a variety of methods for playing an early h2-h4 attack, and these receive no mention. One of black's interesting ideas has been the move order 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 d5 when black gets a good version of the Gurgenidze (usually seen after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.f4 d5 5.e5 h5) because his bishop is actually better placed on f8 than on g7. This gets no mention either.

While the Pirc coverage is much better, there are at least a couple of lines where more discussion was warranted. For example, a key line in the Austrian Attack is 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 0-0 6.Be3, which the author covers via a well-known game where Judit Polgar destroyed Smirin after 6.b6 7.Qd2 c5 8.0-0-0 cxd4 9.Bxd4 Nc6 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.h4 Bg4 12.h5 Bxh5 13.Rxh5 gxh5 14.Qd5 Rc8 15.Qxh5 Bg7 16.e5! when the attack was strong and black lasted just 6 more moves. This is an important line, but from Gallagher's coverage one would think white was guaranteed a theoretical edge in this line. Given that black has not retreated from the Pirc in mass since this game from 2000, this certainly cannot be the case. Gallagher needs to at least offer some of the lines where black is continuing the discussion. In fact, I sometimes got the impression that this was a "white to play and win with 1.e4 book, because white wins outnumber black wins in the illustrative games on a two to one basis. One would think that the games would more closely resemble the actual score by both sides, which is certainly not the case here.

This book uses the typical Everyman Chess STARTING OUT format. This includes a single column layout, discussion of the theoretical nature of lines, statistics on how both sides score, plans for both sides, and illustrative games that form the bulk of the material.  Here there isn't as much discussion of plans and ideas as in, say, the STARTING OUT book on the English (click to see Randy's review of this book), but there is plenty of interesting commentary. The production values, as always from Everyman Chess, are solid, and at 192 pages there is plenty of content for the price.

In conclusion, this is another solid opening book effort from Joe Gallagher. He combines good research with a refreshing willingness to provide his own analysis and perspective on critical lines for both sides. While this series is primarily geared for the average player, Gallagher's contributions to this series seem well suited for advanced players as well. While this is an excellent discussion of the Pirc Defense, players who want to primarily play the Modern variants (with 1.g6 and 2.Bg7 and delaying/omitting .Nf6) may find the coverage of some lines lacking.

Click to see Donaldson's review of this book.