What is wrong with pirc defence Queen swap var.

I'm wondering if this is a good opening as black e4 d6 d4 e5 dxe5 dxd5 Qxd8 Kxd8

Originally posted by jonzzzz
I'm wondering if this is a good opening as black e4 d6 d4 e5 dxe5 dxd5 Qxd8 Kxd8

A similar line scores very well for black. If anything it's probably riskier for white to play. TBH both sides are going to be forced to be very accurate in that line. (I think.)

as black i think that is bad because white can develope with 5.Nc3 (developing knight.) followed by. ext white plays eighter 6. Bg5+ with 7.0-0-0+ and white is easily ahead in devlopment. if instead black developed his knight to f6, then its pin plus check on the next move and white is still more developed due to the tempo gained from check

I thought the pirc had 2....nf6

so queen swap would go: 1.e4 d6, 2. d4 nf6, 3.e5 dxe5, 4. dxe5 QxQ, 5. KxQ

And now it's white who loses the ability to castle. I play the pirc and I'm pretty happy with an early queen swap as shown in this post but I wouldn't be comfortable with the variation presented in your post - just because I'd feel my king was too exposed stuck in the middle so early. My reckoning though is based on the "general principle" of it being better to castle rather than concrete experience with the variations. I know some players aren't to worried about losing the right to castle if the queens are off and the centres a bit blocked up.

not sure exactly whats wrong with the queen swap, i just know its pirculiar

You lose the right to castle, and are not really playing for a win in this line as black. On the other hand, white's edge will be hard to convert, because the pawn structure is symmetrical and the queens are gone. Therefore it's not a bad bet if a draw is the extent of your ambitions.

This isn't a Pirc, it is an Old Indian.

This line, IMO, is fine for black. Sure, you lose the right to castle, but c6 and Kc7 and the king is snug enough.

Originally posted by Redmike
This isn't a Pirc, it is an Old Indian.

This line, IMO, is fine for black. Sure, you lose the right to castle, but c6 and Kc7 and the king is snug enough.

Yeah, it's just super lame. You might has well play ..Kxd8 and shake hands.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
Yeah, it's just super lame. You might has well play ..Kxd8 and shake hands.

Yeah, it's not exactly an exciting line, but black does remain pretty strong. A draw would be likely having no queens with the same pawn structure though.

any how last time I checked a draw is better than a loss against a ruy lopez