Bishop's Opening: Philidor Counterattack: d4 — Play It as Black

The Philidor Counterattack challenges White's centre immediately after they've committed the bishop to c4. By playing 2...c6 and then 3...d5, you attack the e4 pawn while also opening lines for your own pieces. The trade-off: you'll temporarily lose the centre if White captures on d5, but you gain time by driving the light-squared bishop back with ...cxd5 and then ...Bd7. In the main line — exd5 cxd5 Bb5+ Bd7 — Black is solid. The engine evaluation of +0.31 confirms this is a small edge for your opponent, not a refutation. You are slightly worse but far from lost, and the practical statistics show Black wins almost as often as White.

White's strongest move according to Stockfish is exd5, which has been played in over fifty-one thousand games. After you recapture cxd5, White plays Bb5+ — a check that forces you to block with Bd7. From there, the position remains tense with both sides having active possibilities. Your job is simple: don't panic under the check, develop your pieces naturally, and remember that the bishop on b5 isn't threatening much. The board opens up, and your pair of central pawns can become a strength in the middlegame.

White has several tempting alternatives to exd5 — and almost all of them are bad for them. Here are the three you should watch for: - dxe5: This is a blunder that loses roughly 3.1 pawns worth of advantage. In the 695 games where White played this, their score dropped to just 35.4%. - Bd3: A mistake costing about 1.6 pawns. White's score with this move is only 42.4% across 509 games. - Nf3: Another mistake, losing around 3.0 pawns. White's winning percentage plummets to 31.4% here. When White plays any of these, the position swings your way fast. The drill below will train you to recognise and exploit these errors.

Across 56,386 games from this exact position, the results are remarkably balanced: White wins 50.0%, Black wins 46.1%, and draws make up 3.8%. This is not a risky, losing sideline — it's a practical opening that gives you full winning chances. Even White's most popular move exd5 only scores 50.5% for them, barely above parity. The Philidor Counterattack is the kind of opening that rewards understanding over memorisation. Learn the key ideas, spot White's mistakes, and you'll outperform those stats quickly.