Current position
Bishop's Opening: Philidor Counterattack
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
The Bishop's Opening starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 and is catalogued under ECO C23, in the open games & french half of the book. The catalog indexes 41 lines inside it, grouped into 40 named variations, and the position after those moves has 1 playable continuation to walk from here.
Root edges show how often each move is played around your Elo. Use the arrow on a position to reveal the next replies.
Current setup
Move ideas
Claims the center with a pawn and opens lines for the queen and king’s bishop.
Idea: Build quick development and make early castling possible.
Meets White’s center directly and opens lines for Black’s queen and bishop.
Idea: Fight for equal central space in a balanced, open position.
Develops the bishop to c4, bringing it into the game.
Idea: Improve piece coordination and clear the back rank for castling and the rooks.
Advances the c-pawn to gain queenside space and control new squares.
Idea: Create useful wing space while keeping the central structure flexible.
Advances to d4 to claim central space and control nearby key squares.
Idea: Give the pieces room to develop behind a durable central foothold.
Advances to d5 to claim central space and control nearby key squares.
Idea: Give the pieces room to develop behind a durable central foothold.
Captures the pawn on d5 and changes the local pawn or piece balance.
Idea: Open lines in the center and reshape the center for the next phase.
Waiting for Lichess game popularity.
Each line below is an indexed entry under Bishop's Opening. Open one to load it on the board and keep exploring from that position.
16 more named lines sit inside this family — the tree above walks all of them.
ECO groups openings by the structures they lead to, so these families tend to share plans with the Bishop's Opening.