Tree path 8 levels King's Pawn Game › Pirc Defense › Pirc Defense › Pirc Defense › Lion Defense › Anti-Philidor › Lion's Cave › Lion Claw Gambit

B07

Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit

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Overview

Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, Lion Claw Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO B07, Semi-Open Games). It trades material for attacking chances — a classic trade-off that has fascinated players from the Romantic era to modern correspondence chess.

The Semi-Open Games group covers semi-open games — replies to 1.e4 where Black declines the symmetrical 1…e5 in favour of an asymmetric pawn structure.

It is reached after 14 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. f4 e5 5. Nf3 exd4 6. Qxd4 c6 7. Bc4 d5.

The line refines Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave, which traces back to the root opening King's Pawn Game.

Explore the position on the interactive board, study its real-world results from Lichess, and challenge the engine when you are ready.

ECO code: B07
Group: Semi-Open Games (B)
Plies: 14
Parent: Lion Defense: Anti-Philidor, Lion's Cave

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Statistics from Lichess

5,958 games · White 39.8% / Draw 4.3% / Black 55.9%

Moves	Games	W / D / B
exd5	5,674
Bb3	222
e5	35
Bd3	20
Be2	3
Qd3	2
Be3	1
Qxd5	1

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:55:03

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