Philidor defence

Philidor's defence, usually called the Philidor, is one of the basic chess openings. It was used often by the 18th century master François-André Danican Philidor, and he published analysis about it in his textbook L'Analyse du jeu des échecs (1849).

Philidor's defence:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Variations

Philidor's counter-gambit

1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 d6

3.d4 f5

Main line

1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 d6

3.d4 exd4

4.Nxd4 Nf6

5.Nc3 Be7 or 5...g6 followed by 6...Bg7

Transposition

Black can reach a line called the Hanham variation by transposing from the Pirc defence:

1.e4 d6

2.d4 Nf6

3.Nc3 Nbd7

4.Nf3 e5

• Kosten, Tony 1992. Winning with the Philidor. Batsford, London.
• List of chess openings