Philidor Defense (3. Bc4 Be7)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Be7

The Philidor Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Be7. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 19,891 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 4. d4 (24% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.26 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 O-O)

ECO: C41
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqk1nr/ppp1bppp/3p4/4p3/2B1P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 4
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Be7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	5,105	47%49%
1500-1999	13,303	47%48%
2000+	1,483	49%45%
All	19,891	47%48%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. d4	4,810 (24%)	49%46%
4. O-O	3,836 (19%)	47%48%
4. d3	3,529 (18%)	46%50%
4. Nc3	3,100 (16%)	46%49%
4. c3 Steinitz Variation	2,824 (14%)	47%49%
4. h3	1,392 (7%)	49%47%
4. a3	110 (1%)	48%50%
4. Bxf7+	78 (0%)	45%49%

Master games

539 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 17%, Black 39%). The strongest:

rofChade 2.321 (3467) – LCZero 0.29-dev+_781561 (3586) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-13
LCZero 0.29-dev+_781561 (3586) – rofChade 2.321 (3467) 1-0 · TCEC 22 Premier 2022 · 2022-03-11
rofChade 2.309 (3423) – KomodoDragon 2647.00 (3522) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-03
KomodoDragon 2647.00 (3522) – rofChade 2.309 (3423) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-12-31
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15

Search all games of the Philidor Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

eugmind (2556) – ChessGodSlayerKing (2645) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Nenidon_Andriy (2548) – Zalameroo (2648) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Iluzionisti (2583) – Zalameroo (2599) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Philidor Defense (2… d6 3. Bc4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4

Continuations

Philidor Defense: Steinitz Variation C41 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 Be7 4. c3

More Philidor Defense lines (all)

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.