Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4
The Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C41, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4. 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 3,594 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4… Be7 (23% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4… Nf6 5. Nxd4 Be7 6. Nc3 O-O 7. O-O)
- ECO
- C41
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/3p4/8/2BpP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,160 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,217 | |
| 2000+ | 217 | |
| All | 3,594 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Be7 | 841 (23%) | |
| 4… h6 | 770 (21%) | |
| 4… c5 | 557 (15%) | |
| 4… Nf6 | 393 (11%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 297 (8%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 254 (7%) | |
| 4… Be6 | 237 (7%) | |
| 4… Qf6 | 37 (1%) |
Master games
42 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 26%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- GM Andres Rodriguez Vila (2477) – GM Darcy Lima (2522) 1/2-1/2 · Aloas Cup Magistral 2015 · 2015-11-04
- FM Viacheslav Rozhkov (2248) – GM Daniil Dubov (2714) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tuesday 6th July · 2021-07-06
- IM Semen Mitusov (2484) – FM Jeevan Karamsetty (2280) 1/2-1/2 · Monsaraz Open 2023 · 2023-11-27
- FM David Haszon (2291) – Konstantin L. Kodinets (2409) 0-1 · Titled Tue 1st Nov Late · 2022-11-01
- FM Giorgio Belli (2205) – IM Loic Travadon (2414) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Jan Late · 2025-01-21
Search all games of the Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- A5Z (2476) – Zalameroo (2601) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- StavChess (2364) – Tintyn (2409) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Tobu1997 (2263) – PROchessperson (2440) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation (3. d4 exd4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4
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… exd4 4. Nxd4) 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.