Pirc Defense:150 Attack

The name is a joke: the plan of Be3, Qd2 and Bh6 was said to be simple enough for a club player graded 150 on the old British scale.

It is reached after 9 moves: 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2. It is a line of the Pirc Defense.

Black is to move and has 32 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,541,169 different games. Those games reach 491,606 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.1 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 1 further line after this position, such as Inner Doll Defense (5... Bg4).

The same moves can be played in 240 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. d4 d6 2. e4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 c6 5. Qd2, which starts as the Queen's Pawn Game.