Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3
The Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3. It is a line of the Philidor Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,788 times by this move order. White won 54%, 5% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4… dxc3 (71% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.12 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4… Nf6 5. Qc2 dxc3 6. Nxc3 Nc6 7. Be3)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/3p4/8/3pP3/2P2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. c3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 473 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,163 | |
| 2000+ | 152 | |
| All | 1,788 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… dxc3 | 1,278 (71%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 167 (9%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 108 (6%) | |
| 4… c5 | 59 (3%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 54 (3%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 35 (2%) | |
| 4… d3 | 26 (1%) | |
| 4… Bd7 | 18 (1%) |
Master games
22 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 9%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Maksim Chigaev (2648) – GM Daniil Dubov (2701) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Jun Late · 2024-06-18
- CM Volen Dyulgerov (2200) – GM Alexandr Fier (2574) 1-0 · Titled Tue 3rd Oct Early · 2023-10-03
- Ian Ocampos (2290) – CM Cezary Kraczek (2228) 1-0 · 2nd 3-0 Thu 4th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-04
- Ian Ocampos (2290) – CM Cezary Kraczek (2228) 0-1 · 3rd 3-0 Thu 4th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-04
- Nitai Leve (2128) – FM Jens Hirneise (2316) 1-0 · Titled Tue 20th Sep Early · 2022-09-20
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Bird Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- elviejocomilon (2353) – e2e4e7e5nf3 (2398) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- aathos (2333) – e2e4e7e5nf3 (2357) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Olingiri00 (2246) – riface_11-7 (2418) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3. d4 exd4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4
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: Berger Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Boden Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3… exd4 4. Nxd4) C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (4. Nxd4 Nf6) 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.