Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Steiner Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. O-O Be7 6. dxe5
The Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Steiner Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. O-O Be7 6. dxe5. 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%, 0% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 6… dxe5 (94% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.88 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 6… dxe5 7. Ng5 Bxg5 8. Qh5 Qe7 9. Qxg5)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pp1nbppp/2pp4/4P3/2B1P3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. O-O Be7 6. dxe5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 9 | |
| 2000+ | 7 | |
| All | 16 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… dxe5 | 15 (94%) | |
| 6… Nxe5 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
55 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 62%, draw 14%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- IM Jakub Kosakowski (2479) – GM Giovanni Vescovi (2584) 1-0 · World Rapid 2023 · 2023-12-28
- IM Sebastian Dario Iermito (2525) – IM Hector Mestre Bellido (2295) 1-0 · TCh-CAT Gp1 2023 · 2023-01-21
- FM Luis Marcos Medarde Santiago (2341) – IM Diego Suarez Pousa (2412) 1-0 · 1st Compostela Masters · 2018-09-12
- GM Evgeniy Solozhenkin (2472) – Henri Pohjala (2279) 0-1 · 22nd HOF Open 2012 · 2012-07-15
- GM Ilia Smirin (2614) – Jyri Lammi (2083) 1-0 · European Online CC GpF · 2021-03-27
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Steiner Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- CM sami82xp (2365) – IM kamblefy (2457) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- No_Need_To_Cry (2425) – taumen (2293) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- Lutho (2163) – manjo1914 (2059) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation, Krause Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nd7 4. Bc4 c6 5. O-O
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 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.