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Black's idea is to break up the central pawn phalanx. Black gained the advantage in Dahl (2030) - Bauer (2155), 1987, after:

10.d5 e4! (the key idea, which prevents white from  creating a dark square pawn wedge) 11.hxg4 exf3 12.Qxf3 Qa5+ 13.Nc3 Bxc3+ 14.bxc3  Nd7 15.0-0 0-0-0 16.Rb1 Nb6.

Imagine my surprise when, in New in Chess 11 (1989), I found the citation of Coleman - Pein, Blackpool 1988, which continued 10.Qe2 e4 11.hxg4 exf3 12.Qxf3 Qa5 13.Nc3 cxd4 14.Qxb7 dxc3 15.b3 Qa6 16.Qxa8 Qe6 17.Kf2 Bd4 18.Kf3! 0-0 19. Qe4! with a clear advantage to white.

I didn't really trust this line however, and went to work to find a refutation: 12...Qd7! gives black, rather than white the advantage. I eventually submitted this question to GM Wolff in his Ask the Masters Chess Life column, and he replied that yes, indeed, black had the advantage after 12...Qd7.

STEP SIX: Optimize Use Of The Fruits Of Your Labor

One of the benefits of truly mastering an opening is that you may be able to use the knowledge gained on the opposite side of the board. This would be possible, for example, for a player that plays the Sicilian as black and 1.c4 as white. It also may be possible when a player is crazy enough to play "your" variation against you.

An example was Bauer (2250) - Carroll Schmidt (2150), 1990:

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Be3 Bg7 5.Qd2 c6 6.Bh6 Bxh6 7.Qxh6 Qa5 8.Bd3

This is an irritating system for a Pirc player bent on destruction to play against. White reserves the option of castling on either side, and, if black just blindly pushes his queenside pawns, he may find that they're more weakness than strength. Meanwhile, the white queen's placement is a bit irritating.

8...Be6?!

This isn't a very effective counter, as black does little to contest the center. White quickly gets a big advantage after:

9.Nf3 Qh5 10.Qe3 0-0 11.0-0 Bg4 12.Nd2!

Black's queen and bishop are all dressed up with no place to go. Now white threatens to just advance his kingside pawns, and the black queen is uncomfortably placed.

Black's next move intends to retreat the queen to h6 if necessary, seeking to relieve some pressure through a queen trade. Unfortunately for black, he has no active play, and white can effortlessly improve his position.

12... Kg7 13.h3 Bc8 14.g4 Qa5 15.f4 Nbd7 16.Nc4 Qc7 17.g5 Ne8

Needless to say, white has a big edge and black lasted just ten more moves:

18.Qf2 b5 19.Ne3 Nb6 20.f5 b4 21.Ne2 c5 22.c3 Bb7 23.Nf4 Qc8 24.Qh4 Ba6 25.Bxa6 Qxa6 26.fxg6 hxg6 27.Qh6+ Kg8 28.Nxg6, 1-0.

STEP SEVEN: Practice Regular Maintenance.

Just as with your car or home, once you've invested the time and effort into your variation, don't forget to regularly "check under the hood" so to speak. Check later publications (Informants, magazines, Trends in the ... series, etc.) for new developments. Continue to seek out strong players that are playing "your": defense and study their games. And don't forget to learn typical endgames that arise from your defense. Shereshevsky and Slutsky have an excellent two volume set, Mastering the Endgame, that looks at endgames on the basis of the opening that they come from. In this way, you see how pawn structures and the middlegame plans for both sides shape the typical endgame. This would be a good starting point.

CONCLUSION: Play With Confidence.

As a conclusion, I would offer an example of how "my" defense allowed me to play with confidence against a superior player.

White: FM (now IM) Martin Olesen
1993 Iowa State Closed Championship
Black: Randy Bauer
1.e4

In 4 previous games, Martin had played 1.d4 against me. I was fairly satisfied with the results of those games (1 loss and 3 draws). Here he surprised me and screwed up my pre-tournament preparation. I was playing the Sicilian in this tournament, but I went with "my" defense, even though I knew that my well-booked opponent would be prepared.

1...d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5

This is the sharpest line. Unfortunately, the best play for black in one key variation is a draw, so it can't be used in some situations. I knew Martin wouldn't be interested in that, however.

6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Bd3 Qxc5 8.Qe2 0-0 9.Be3 Qa5 10.0-0 Bg4 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 Nc6 13.a3 Nd7 14.Bd2 Qb6+ 15.Kh1 Nc5 16.Rab1 Nxd3 17.cxd3 f5 18.g4

Black's 17th is the move that makes the variation playable for him. Previously, black had tried other moves, but white gets a clear edge in every variation by playing f4-f5. White's reply is the most combative response. This was the accepted main line in 1993 – indeed, we each used about 5 minutes on our clock to reach this. Now, however, I had a decision to make...

18...e6!?

The key resource on the Pirc at the time was Nunn's THE COMPLETE PIRC published in 1989. In that book, he recommends 18...fxg4 19.hxg4 e6 20.f5 d5!?. However, 20.Qg3 was scoring pretty well for white at this time, and I assumed that Martin was prepared for that line. Black's move seeks to hold up the white attack a bit by continuing to strong point f5.

19.gxf5 exf5 20.Nd5 Qd8!

In Nunn's 1993 follow-up to his first book, NEW IDEAS IN THE PIRC, he gives this move an exclam. Unfortunately, the book had not been released when I played this game.

21.Bc3 Qd7?!

This is inferior to Nunn's recommended line, from Glek-Chernin 1991, 21...Ne7 22.e5!? (or 22.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.Ne3 Qd7 with equality) dxe5  23.Nxe7+ Qxe7 24.Bb4 Qf7 25.Bxf8 Rxf8 26.fxe5 Bxe5. Black has sufficient compensation, based on his strong bishop and white's exposed king. Indeed, Chernin (a great expert on the Pirc) obtained a draw without any real difficulty in the game. I didn't know this game  (I should have...) and was on my own.

22.Rbe1 Rae8 23.Kg2?

As it turns out, this is an inaccuracy that gives away white's advantage. The problem is that the king becomes exposed on the long diagonal, and in some lines there are annoying knight check possibilities. 23.Kh2 keeps an edge for white.

23...Ne7 24.Bxg7 Kxg7 25.Nc3 Qc6

Black's counterplay arrives in time. The pressure on the center helps keep white at bay.

26.Qf2 b6 27.Qd4+ Kg8 28.Rc1 fxe4! 29.dxe4

The point is that if 29.Nxe4 Qd5! 30.Qxd5+ Nxd5 starts those knight check problems for white.

29...Nf5 30.Qd3 Ng7

This may look like an abject retreat, but the knight can emerge on h5, where it attacks the weak f4 pawn.

31.Nd5 Qd7 32.Qd4

Or 32.Rc7 Qe6. The black position is remarkably resilient.

32...Qe6 33.Rce1

The black central pressure forced white to cede the c-file, which black happily grabs. White cannot play 33.Nc7? because 33...Qxe4! wins a pawn. An alternative was 33.Rfe1, but the thematic 33...Nh5 gives black sufficient counterplay.

33...Rc8 34.Nc3 Nh5!

Black has assumed the initiative, and white bails out into a drawish ending.

35.f5 Qe5 36.Qxe5 dxe5 37.fxg6 Nf4+

It's useful for black to toss in this move. For one thing, white is encouraged to play a not very good-looking exchange sacrifice. Of course, I wasn't really expecting that, but the knight is better situated on f4 than h5.

38.Kg3

38.Rxf4? Rxf4 39.gxh7+ Kxh7 is better for black, who can attempt to utilize the f-file with his rooks.

38...hxg6, Draw Agreed.

The position is perhaps slightly better for black who, temporarily at least, has the more active pieces, but white shouldn't be in any real danger.

So, that's "my" defense. Are you ready to get started on "yours?"

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