Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. c3
The Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. 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 16 times by this move order. White won 56%, 6% were drawn and Black won 38%. The most popular continuation is 5… b5 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.35 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 5… Ngf6 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 O-O 8. Bd3)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pp1n1ppp/2pp4/4p3/2BPP3/2P2N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. c3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 8 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 16 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… b5 | 7 (44%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 5 (31%) | |
| 5… h6 | 2 (13%) | |
| 5… Qc7 | 2 (13%) |
Master games
11 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 73%, draw 27%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Miodrag R Savic (2531) – IM Milos T Popovic (2383) 1-0 · TCh-SRB Prem 2012 · 2012-09-26
- GM Vasyl Ivanchuk (2625) – IM Mikhailo Shinkarev (2121) 1-0 · Titled Tue 26th Dec Early · 2023-12-26
- Aleksandr Rudakov (2144) – IM Valerian Adam (2407) 1-0 · ZANOS 2013 · 2013-05-27
- CM Roy Vagman (2031) – IM Mikhailo Shinkarev (2327) 1-0 · Petah Tikva Autumn 2 2019 · 2019-11-17
- Glaucio Dalla Cortt Cella (1919) – FM Cristian-Clement Daianu (2171) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 30th Nov · 2021-11-30
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Delmar Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Benko1928 (2432) – ELAPRENDIZ17 (2249) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 3s
- Plejku (2347) – zivansusulic (2294) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- Khonekte (2187) – ubay_bsk (2188) 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, 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.