I have been an aficionado of offbeat openings since my childhood, and that has motivated me to explore a lot of such lines. The first time I learned about the d5 idea in Pirc was in 2007, and I recently noticed an uptick in the popularity of this variation, so I decided to write about this idea, so that more players take this line seriously.
With the increasing popularity of rapid and blitz tournaments in recent years, it has become essential for players to have offbeat tries that surprise opponents and take them out of their preparation. I believe this opening is perfect for such situations, and the added plus is that you need very little time to remember all the analysis in this system.
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d5
The first time, I came to know about this idea was in Secrets of Opening Surprises Volume 1. There are 836 games according to my database, which explains how much room there is to explore this line.
I think 13...Rb8 is a good try for black.
Instead, in the line with
4.Nf3 Nf6 5.e5 Ne4 6.Ne4 de4 7.Ng5 c5 I would recommend for white the move 8.f4 [instead of 8.Bc4].
