Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Delayed Bishop Sacrifice
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bc4 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf7+
The Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Delayed Bishop Sacrifice is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bc4 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. 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 3 times by this move order. White won 100%, 0% were drawn and Black won 0%. The most popular continuation is 7… Kxf7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.17 (Stockfish, depth 33; best line 7… Kxf7 8. Ng5+ Kg6 9. f4 exf4 10. Ne6)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/pppnbBpp/5n2/4p3/4P3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 5. Bc4 Be7 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Bxf7+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 3 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Kxf7 | 3 (100%) |
Master games
7 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 14%, draw 0%, Black 86%). The strongest:
- FM Havard Haug (2422) – GM V Pranav (2657) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 23rd Apr 2026 · 2026-04-23
- IM Serguei Vesselovsky (2316) – IM Toni Lazov (2405) 0-1 · Euro Online Blitz Quali · 2020-12-18
- WIM Chardine Cheradee Camacho (2170) – IM Denis Kadric (2481) 0-1 · UT Dallas Fall FIDE Open 2014 · 2014-11-21
- FM Gleb Kaganskiy (2205) – FM Stefan Eilers (2300) 0-1 · Titled Tue 30th May Early · 2023-05-30
- FM Maksym Pankiv (2312) – Tyrell Harriott (1933) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Apr 2026 · 2026-04-21
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Chela07ngat (2025) – sharif_moustafa (2050) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
- hakiless (1913) – bewtyholez (1920) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Azaamiq31 (1764) – bouzian (1768) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Lion Defense 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. 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.