Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Philidor Defense › Philidor Defense › Philidor Countergambit
C41

Philidor Defense: Philidor Countergambit

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Overview

Philidor Defense: Philidor Countergambit 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.

It begins with 6 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f5 to reach the canonical position.

The line refines Philidor Defense, which traces back to the root opening King's Pawn Game.

The line splits into 3 documented sub-systems: Philidor Defense: Lopez Countergambit, Jaenisch Variation, del Rio Attack, Zukertort Variation.

Together the deeper variations number 4 across the full subtree.

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
6
Parent
Philidor Defense
Direct variations
3
Total in subtree
4

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. A more detailed, human-written description is on the way — and you can speed it up by suggesting one yourself.

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Variations (3)

Show all 4 sub-variations (full subtree)