Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3
The Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C23, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,613 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3… Nf6 (29% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.08 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3… d5 4. Bxd5 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4)
- ECO
- C23
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/pppp1ppp/8/2b1p3/2B1P3/2P5/PP1P1PPP/RNBQK1NR b KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 778 | |
| 1500-1999 | 809 | |
| 2000+ | 26 | |
| All | 1,613 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Nf6 | 461 (29%) | |
| 3… d6 | 424 (26%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 227 (14%) | |
| 3… Qf6 | 162 (10%) | |
| 3… Qh4 | 90 (6%) | |
| 3… Bxf2+ | 62 (4%) | |
| 3… c6 | 49 (3%) | |
| 3… a6 | 42 (3%) |
Master games
11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 82%, draw 18%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Yi Wei (2748) – GM Javokhir Sindarov (2722) 1-0 · Esports World Cup C 2025 · 2025-07-30
- Nils Vonhoff (1777) – Ruediger von Saldern (1999) 1-0 · 38th Guernsey Open · 2012-10-23
- Milorad Obradovic (1922) – Djoko Curkovic (1852) 1/2-1/2 · Serbian Open 2016 · 2016-11-12
- Konstantinos Emmanouilidis (1946) – Eirini Fragiadaki (1505) 1-0 · 9th Gazi 2013 · 2013-07-29
- Nedzad Dedic (1932) – Tarik Gazija (1494) 1-0 · 49th Bosna Open 2019 · 2019-04-28
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- hp6789 (2253) – melojp (2198) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Nineteenseventyfour (2211) – Raja_jin (2196) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Hans9i (2218) – FungaiZim (2085) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5
Continuations
- Bishop's Opening: del Rio Variation C23 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Qg5
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (3. c3 d5) C23 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 d5
- Bishop's Opening: Pratt Variation C23 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 d5 6. exf6 dxc4 7. Qh5 O-O
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening C23
- Bishop's Opening: Anderssen Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit, Jaenisch Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Four Pawns Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Khan Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (4. Bxd5 Nf6) C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit, Walker Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lisitsyn Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation C23
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.