Tree path 6 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Philidor Defense › Philidor Defense › Exchange Variation › Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Philidor Defense C41
- Philidor Defense C41
- Exchange Variation C41
- Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit C41 you are here
Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit
Overview
Philidor Defense: Morphy Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO C41, 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 Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4, after 7 plies of opening development.
The line refines Philidor Defense: Exchange Variation, 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
- C41
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 7
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
1,036,857 games · White 53.4% / Draw 4.1% / Black 42.5%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Be7 | 299,246 | |
| h6 | 173,544 | |
| Nf6 | 142,724 | |
| c5 | 132,561 | |
| Nc6 | 91,779 | |
| Bg4 | 76,586 | |
| Be6 | 69,953 | |
| Bd7 | 10,013 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:38:45
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Submissions are reviewed before publishing.