Philidor Defence

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, Black defends the e5-pawn with 2...d6 instead of developing a knight. The move is solid but passive: it shuts in the dark-squared bishop and gives White a free hand in the centre, usually with an early d4. In return Black gets a compact position with no weaknesses and a clear choice between holding the e5-point and giving it up.

Two approaches appear here. In the first, Black keeps the pawn on e5. The Hanham Variation is reached through the 1...d6 move order, 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7, which avoids some of White's sharper options against 2...d6. The knight on d7 supports e5, and Black usually follows with ...Be7, ...O-O and ...c6, then plays for ...Re8, ...Bf8 or a queenside expansion with ...b5. If White exchanges at once with 4. dxe5 dxe5 5. Qxd8+ Kxd8, the queens are gone and the king stands on d8. Black loses the right to castle but keeps a symmetrical, level ending. In the second approach, Black gives up the centre with 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3. White gets free development and more space. The Antoshin Variation continues 5...Be7 6. Be2 O-O 7. O-O, with Black's pawn on d6 facing White's on e4. Black's counterplay comes from ...Re8 and ...Bf8 pressing on e4, and from the ...d5 or ...c6 breaks.

Start with “Philidor Defence: Hanham Variation — Part 1 of 2”, since the closed centre with ...Nbd7 is the structure the rest of the line builds on.