C23

Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation

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Statistics from Lichess

311,269 games: White 50.1% / Draw 3.8% / Black 46.1%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	96,75597K
	77,24377K
	54,45354K
	22,01922K
	14,22214K
	10,38510K
	9,5439,543
	8,7088,708

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

−0.05 The position is about equal

Best play: 3... d5 4. Bxd5 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Bd2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	187K
1400–1799	371K
1800–2199	125K
2200 and up	1,476
Masters, over the board	5

Master games

Vorobiov, E. E. – Sepman, Y. ½–½, 2001
Tokovic, S. – Arbutina, S. ½–½, 2007
Petukhov, V. S. – Markovich, M. Z. ½–½, 2012
Remizov, J. – Jaracz, B. ½–½, 1998
Jamrich, G. – Kiss, G. 1–0, 1995

Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 27, 2026

Overview

Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation (ECO C23, Open Games) is a variation of the Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. c3 (3 moves).

In 311,269 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 50.1%, Black 46.1% and 3.8% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 3…Nf6, in 31% of those games.

It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit and Bishop's Opening: del Rio Variation. In all, 5 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation

3…Nc6 scores best for Black: 49.1%, with Black winning 47.2% and White 49.0% of 54K games. The most played, 3…Nf6, scores 48.5% in 97K games, and 3…d6 scores lowest: 46.2%. Stockfish's first choice is 3…d5.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Popularity by year

The Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation has lost ground since 2016: 0.012% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.015%.

0.015%0.012%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.015%	5,445
2017	0.013%	7,139
2018	0.011%	8,529
2019	0.011%	13,578
2020	0.011%	32,823
2021	0.013%	50,390
2022	0.012%	46,439
2023	0.012%	45,356
2024	0.012%	42,752
2025	0.012%	40,868
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.011%	11,769

Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling

Variations (3)

All 5 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Bishop's Opening: Philidor Variation (C23)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/bishops-opening-philidor-variation