Philidor Defense (7), a dynamic defense

A complex endgame is below today’s game. Take the FEN and paste it into your favorite engine and try to repeat the win. It only took a couple of tries to win today’s endgame, mainly because I wanted to find a reasonably efficient method. My opponent was Shredder set at full strength.

Today’s game is an online tournament game. I was able to make the standard opening moves despite White’s variation from the normal Philidor setup, so no improvements or supplements are necessary for my opening repertoire notes. In the middle game, I was able to open a file and gain control of it. My advanced Knight posting was unchallenged. Being up on material, I traded some back to open White’s King protection.

The variations and move symbols are Critter’s (1.6 32-bit), diagnosed with ‘Scid vs PC’ at 20 seconds per ply. The verbal comments are my thoughts during the game and my interpretations of the analysis provided by Critter. The score chart is at the bottom of this entry.

Chernev said “The best openings to play are those you are most at home in.” Thus, I am relegating the BDG to secondary status for white and bringing back Philidor’s Defense for black. The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is too complex for me and does not seem to have a common theme, other than tactical opportunities. The Philidor/Old Indian has worked well for me in the past and is a solid, almost universal defense.

FEN "8/4k3/8/1p2Pp2/p7/P1K1P3/1P6/8 w - -"