Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6
The Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6. 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 1,083 times by this move order. White won 50%, 5% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nc3 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.71 (Stockfish, depth 41; best line 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bf4 Bg7)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2p1p/3p2p1/8/3NP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 g6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 309 | |
| 1500-1999 | 676 | |
| 2000+ | 98 | |
| All | 1,083 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nc3 | 501 (46%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 213 (20%) | |
| 5. Be3 | 81 (7%) | |
| 5. Bd3 | 63 (6%) | |
| 5. c4 | 45 (4%) | |
| 5. c3 | 39 (4%) | |
| 5. Be2 | 25 (2%) | |
| 5. b3 | 22 (2%) |
Master games
166 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 19%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2711) – GM Vladislav V Vorotnikov (2464) 1/2-1/2 · Hilton Master Open 2013 · 2013-01-02
- GM B. Adhiban (2603) – GM Sandipan Chanda (2474) 1/2-1/2 · 19th Asian Continental · 2022-10-28
- GM Dmitrij Kollars (2534) – FM Niels Ondersteijn (2376) 1-0 · GRENKE Chess Open 2018 · 2018-04-02
- FM Igor Kowalski (2378) – GM Jacek Gdanski (2493) 1-0 · PGNiG POL Bydgoszcz Blitz · 2021-09-19
- IM Thomas Beerdsen (2445) – IM Manuel Bosboom (2403) 1-0 · 10th dMP Batavia GM 2018 · 2018-03-03
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Larsen Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NewLifeAndRestart (2463) – Tintyn (2406) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- elenmascarado (2414) – Tintyn (2422) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- NFear (2427) – elanur_bela (2408) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3… exd4 4. Nxd4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4
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 (4. Nxd4 Nf6) C41
- Philidor Defense: Hanham Variation 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.