Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Lion's Claw, with Be2 and c6

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Be2 Be7 6. O-O c6

The Philidor Defense: Lion Variation, Lion's Claw, with Be2 and c6 is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Be2 Be7 6. O-O c6. It is a line of the Philidor Defense. White 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: +0.36 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7. a4 a5 8. h3 O-O 9. Be3 h6)

ECO

C41

Moves

12 plies

FEN

r1bqk2r/pp1nbppp/2pp1n2/4p3/3PP3/2N2N2/PPP1BPPP/R1BQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Nf6 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. Be2 Be7 6. O-O c6

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

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.