Philidor Defense: Hanham, Kmoch Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. Ng5
The Philidor Defense: Hanham, Kmoch Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. Ng5. 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 28 times by this move order. White won 39%, 7% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 5… Nh6 (89% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.68 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 5… Nh6 6. O-O exd4 7. Qxd4 Qf6 8. Qxf6)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pp1n1ppp/2pp4/4p1N1/2BPP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. Ng5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 11 | |
| 2000+ | 16 | |
| All | 28 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Nh6 | 25 (89%) | |
| 5… d5 | 3 (11%) |
Master games
18 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 17%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- IM Evgenij Kalegin (2424) – FM Gabor Glatt (2224) 1/2-1/2 · 19th ch-Euro Seniors +65 · 2019-04-08
- FM Paulo Bersamina (2326) – WGM Thi Bao Tram Hoang (2269) 1-0 · 4th HD Bank Cup 2014 · 2014-03-15
- FM Filip Barglowski (2310) – Rafal Kowalczyk (2180) 1-0 · ch-POL Academic Men 2015 · 2015-01-10
- IM Subhayan Kundu (2334) – FM Joan Canal Oliveras (2133) 0-1 · 25th Sant Marti Open 2025 · 2025-07-14
- Koivula, J. (2126) – Henri Pohjala (2279) 1/2-1/2 · 22nd HOF Open 2012 · 2012-07-09
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Hanham, Kmoch Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MagiqueRoger (2455) – Karolg2020 (2409) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
- Ngandung (2296) – ZEWS (2258) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- raulov51 (2253) – sebastinepius (2241) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7
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: Boden Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3. d4 exd4) C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3… exd4 4. Nxd4) C41
- Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (4. Nxd4 Nf6) C41
- Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar 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.