Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Forcing Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Bxf7+ Rxf7 8. Ne6
The Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Forcing Line 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. Ng5 O-O 7. Bxf7+ Rxf7 8. Ne6. It is a line of the Philidor Defense. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 8… Qe8 9. Nxc7 Qd8 10. Nxa8 b6 11. Nb5)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bq2k1/pppnbrpp/3pNn2/4p3/3PP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R b KQ - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Bxf7+ Rxf7 8. Ne6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 25%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- Ignat Bogdanov (2051) – IM Emil Mirzoev (2511) 0-1 · 19th Raciborz Open 2019 · 2019-02-10
- WFM Yuliya Vinokur (2022) – FM Yi Ren Daniel Chan (2316) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 26th May · 2020-05-26
- Maisa Nejanky (2023) – WIM Marisa Zuriel (2237) 1/2-1/2 · 67th ch-ARG w 2014 · 2014-05-05
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Forcing Line and its sub-variations
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Nimzowitsch, Larobok Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Bc4 Be7 6. Ng5 O-O 7. Bxf7+
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.