Philidor Defense: Berger Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Re1
The Philidor Defense: Berger Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Re1. It is a line of the Philidor Defense. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 41; best line 10… h6 11. Bf4 Re8 12. a4 Nh5 13. Bd2)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 19 plies
- FEN
r2q1rk1/pp2bppp/2npbn2/2p3B1/4P3/2N2N2/PPP1BPPP/R2QR1K1 b - - 5 10- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O c5 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. Bg5 Be6 10. Re1
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (4. Nxd4 Nf6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
More Philidor Defense lines (all)
- Philidor Defense (2. Nf3 d6) C41
- Philidor Defense (2… d6 3. d4) C41
- Philidor Defense (2… d6 3. Bc4) C41
- Philidor Defense (3. Bc4 Be7) C41
- Philidor Defense: Albin-Blackburne Gambit C41
- Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit C41
- Philidor Defense: Boden Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3. d4 exd4) C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3… exd4 4. Nxd4) C41
- Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Krause Variation C41
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.