Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Bishop Sacrifice
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Bxf7+
The Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Bishop Sacrifice is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Bxf7+. 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 2 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 6… Kxf7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: −1.22 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 6… Kxf7 7. Ng5+ Kg8 8. Ne6 Qe8 9. Nxc7)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 11 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/pppnbBpp/3p1n2/4p3/3PP3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Bxf7+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 2 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6… Kxf7 | 2 (100%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 100%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- IM Vladimir Demin (2430) – FM Charles Adelman (2268) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 22nd June · 2021-06-22
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Bishop Sacrifice and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- makvol (2431) – terrorboy (2411) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- Shahs7 (1758) – thguyot92 (1707) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Lion Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7
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.