Best Pirc and Modern Defense Courses

If you play the Pirc, the best-documented course is Fabien Libiszewski's "Master the Pirc Defence!" on ChessBase (€49.90, 8h 14m, April 2025), which lists White's main fourth-move set-ups plus the early escapes. For the Modern Defense (1...g6 without committing ...Nf6), Daniel Fernandez's course (€39.90, August 2025) is the one with a full chapter list, including several ...a6 and ...b5 lines. The "Attacking" and "Beating" courses from ChessMood and Modern Chess are aimed at White (ChessMood's pages name no side), and two of ChessMood's three say more sections are still to come.

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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken these courses. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports read on 8 November 2026. How we review explains the limits.

How we picked

The Pirc (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6) and the Modern (1...g6 first, often with ...d6 later) overlap, and courses usually cover one or the other. We kept courses for Black that give a dated price, a running time and a list of White's set-ups. Research found 16 distinct paid courses across Chessable, ChessBase, ChessMood and TheChessWorld (8 read on the seller's page; 2 are ChessBase "60 Minutes" micro-courses), and a Modern Chess course for White adds one more. Counts are lower bounds. Chessable refused our request for a course page on 8 November 2026 and we did not retry, so its six titles come from search results only. Courses for White against the Pirc have their own section below.

First: which of these openings do you want?

The names blur together, so choose the structure before the seller. The descriptions are standard opening classification; the "who it suits" views are coaching opinion.

Bologan's page calls his system "a mixture of the Caro-Kann and the Pirc", which is why a buyer expecting the classical Pirc should read its chapter list first.

Do you need a course at your level?

Probably not at first. These openings let White build a big centre and then attack it, as Libiszewski's page puts it, temporarily allowing "the opponent to control the centre, only to challenge it later". Coaches commonly suggest that below about 1500 you can pick up the typical structures from your own games (received wisdom, not a measured result).

The case for a course is the aggressive White set-ups: the Austrian Attack (4.f4) and the Be3 and Qd2 set-ups are the ones that reward specific preparation. Free studies and the opening explorer on Lichess (Lichess studies and practice) show what White actually plays at your level, so check that before paying for a set-up you may rarely meet.

Theory load

Moderate, and concentrated in a few places. The Austrian Attack and the Be3 set-ups have concrete lines that must be known, where a small slip can leave Black's king under fire. The rest are more about plans. That is a coaching judgement rather than a measured load. The Modern can move into Pirc or King's Indian positions, or ...c6 and ...d5 structures, so it trades some memorisation for having to understand what you are transposing into.

Move orders that change what you are buying

A buyer can pay for a Pirc course and find the first problem is the move order. These are the ones to check on any chapter list.

• White can avoid 3.Nc3. After 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6, White can play 3.f3, 3.Nd2 or 3.Bd3. Libiszewski's contents list all three plus "Miscellaneous 2nd moves".
• Why the Pirc and Modern differ. 2...Nf6 attacks e4, so White must defend it and cannot play c2-c4 right away. In the Modern, with the knight still on g8, White can play c4 and reach King's Indian-style positions. Fernandez has a "King's Indian Links" section with 3.Nf3 d6 4.c4 e5, and Bologan has a 3.c4 chapter. Libiszewski's contents have no c4 section.
• The Modern can transpose back. If you play ...Nf6 early in a Modern, you are often in a Pirc. Fernandez's own "Austrian Pirc Setup" and "Pirc Links" sections show this, and a Modern course may send you into lines you assumed you had avoided.
• What about 1.d4? The three courses here with chapter lists all start from 1.e4. Against 1.d4 you need something else, and the King's Indian is the closest family if you like the fianchetto.
• Set-up names differ between sellers. Libiszewski's "Saemisch Attack" covers 4.Be3 a6 5.Qd2 or 5.f3, and his "150 Attack" is 4.Be3 a6 5.h3!?. Fernandez uses "150 attack" for 4.Be3 a6 5.Qd2. The two pages apply the name to different moves, so compare the moves and not the labels.

Coverage matrix

A cell reads "Listed" when the seller's page names the set-up. "Not in contents" means the page has a chapter list and the set-up is not on it. "Not stated" means no chapter detail was visible; we have not inferred coverage from a title. Where Bologan's cell says "via ...c6", the moves appear only inside his ...c6 system, so it is not the same position as the named Pirc set-up.

Marin's Vol. 1 is described as covering positional lines, which are not itemised; its page says the concrete lines "should be rather easy to memorize", a seller's claim. Vol. 2 (attacking lines, €29.90) was not opened, so the aggressive set-ups in a full Marin purchase would cost €59.80 for both volumes (our sum).

Best-documented courses for Black

Prices as shown on 8 November 2026; ChessBase prices are euros as displayed. Per-hour figures are our arithmetic from those prices and running times.

ChessBase's 60-minute "Meeting the Pirc Defence, the classical way!" (Dejan Bojkov, €9.90) covers one idea. TheChessWorld lists a Pirc title in a bundle (search listing only). If you prefer a book, Viktor Moskalenko's "The Perfect Pirc-Modern" from New In Chess pairs the two in its title (we could not open the publisher's page, so we say nothing further about it).

Facing the Pirc: the White courses, and which are unfinished

The courses titled "Attacking" or "Beating" appear to be for White (ChessMood's pages name no side, but their sections are White's set-ups or keyed to Black's replies). Buy them only if you are the player facing these openings.

ChessMood has three Pirc-related courses, all rated 1800 to 2600 by the seller (the rating system is not named). "Attacking the Pirc Defense" is 2h 27m, 50 episodes and $150 standalone (about $61.22 per listed hour), with sections on the Grand Prix set-up and 4.Bf4 and 8 unlocked lessons. "Attacking the Modern Pirc (with 2 setups)" is 2h 53m, 69 episodes and $200 standalone (about $69.36 per hour), with sections on Grand Prix versus Modern Pirc, the Pasini Variation and more, 8 unlocked lessons. "Counter the Czech Pirc" is 50 minutes and $50 standalone, with 4 unlocked lessons; its sections are keyed to Black's 6...Bf5, 6...f5 and 6...d5, and although an early episode is titled "Black's idea", the page does not state which side it is for.

Both the Modern Pirc and Czech Pirc pages say "The other sections are coming soon". Paying $200 for a course whose page says that is a risk to weigh, and neither page says when. ChessMood's pricing page lists an Essential plan at $79 a month billed yearly, $948 a year, as shown on 8 November 2026; we did not confirm which courses each plan includes. See ChessMood pricing for how plans and refunds work.

Beating the Pirc by GMs Michael Roiz and Petar G. Arnaudov (Modern Chess, 27 April 2026, €79.00, 1h 15m, about €63.20 per listed hour; read earlier on 8 November 2026 and not re-confirmed after the site returned HTTP 429) gives White one plan, 3.Nc3 and 4.Be3 with Qd2 and queenside castling. Modern Chess's terms, updated 29 December 2025, say all sales are final once access is given, so use the free preview first.

Who should skip a Pirc or Modern course

Skip it if you want a reply to 1.e4 with the fewest surprises (the Caro-Kann and the Scandinavian are other ways to answer 1.e4), or if you dislike giving White space and defending for a while. Under about 1200 we would also leave it, since these openings depend on knowing when to strike at the centre (our judgement). Free sources such as the Lichess explorer show the first moves; see also Black repertoire courses.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• "Modern" and "Pirc" mean different move orders across sellers: Libiszewski's course is built on 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6, Fernandez's and Bologan's start 1.e4 g6, and ChessMood uses "Modern Pirc" as its own course label.
• Only Libiszewski's and Fernandez's pages list White's set-ups clearly by name. Bologan's lists moves but not names, and Marin's Vol. 1 lists only a theme.
• Fernandez's page gives no exact running time, only "approx. 4-8 hrs", which is too wide to compare with other courses.
• Two of ChessMood's three Pirc-related pages state that further sections are still to come, and none of the three shows an update date.
• The ChessBase levels shown ("Advanced, Tournament player, Professional", and "Tournament player, Professional" for Marin) do not help a club player choose.
• Chessable has the most Pirc and Modern titles (six found) and none of those pages was opened.