Philidor Defense: Boden Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7
The Philidor Defense: Boden Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7. It is a line of the Philidor Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 227 times by this move order. White won 51%, 3% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nc3 (41% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.75 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 5. Be3 Nc6 6. Qd2 Nf6 7. Nc3 Be7)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pppb1ppp/3p4/8/3QP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNB1KB1R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Qxd4 Bd7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 78 | |
| 1500-1999 | 136 | |
| 2000+ | 13 | |
| All | 227 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nc3 | 93 (41%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 44 (19%) | |
| 5. e5 | 33 (15%) | |
| 5. c4 | 11 (5%) | |
| 5. Ng5 | 9 (4%) | |
| 5. Bg5 | 9 (4%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 5 (2%) | |
| 5. Be3 | 4 (2%) |
Master games
13 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 62%, draw 7%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) – LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-27
- LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1-0 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-26
- PlentyChess6.0.14 (3588) – Obsidiandev-16.14 (3645) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- Obsidiandev-16.14 (3645) – PlentyChess6.0.14 (3588) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- IM Justin Sarkar (2290) – FM Jonathan Pein (2261) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th Sep Early · 2023-09-12
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Boden Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ex-champion (2480) – lepenci2 (2302) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Gros-Canard (2238) – kolbox68 (2159) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Thepostie (2141) – Emmaosobase (2074) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 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: Bird Gambit 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.