Today, the Philidor is known as a solid but passive choice for Black, and is seldom seen in top-level play except as an alternative to the heavily analysed openings that can ensue after the normal 2...Nc6.

The Philidor Defence subsequently became a popular opening, though 2...Nc6 remained the most common reply.

The Philidor occurred in one of the most famous games ever played, "The Opera Game" played in 1858 between the American chess master Paul Morphy and two strong amateurs, the German noble Duke Karl of Brunswick and the French aristocrat Count Isouard.

The Philidor Defence declined in popularity as positional play became more developed, and it had almost completely vanished from top-tier chess by World War I.

As of 2017[update], there are no top players who employ the Philidor with regularity, although Étienne Bacrot and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu have occasionally experimented with it in classical play.

The other main option for Black is to maintain the central tension and adopt a setup with ...Nd7, ...Be7, and ...c6.

A common line is: 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0-0 (6.Ng5 is an interesting alternative: after 6...0-0 7.Bxf7+ Rxf7 8.Ne6 Qe8 9.Nxc7 Qd8 10.Nxa8, White is up material, but Black can develop a strong initiative after, for example, 10...b5 11.Nxb5 Qa5+) 6...0-0 7.a4 (to prevent ...b5) c6 (see diagram).

Grandmaster (GM) Larry Kaufman notes that the Hanham Variation aims to maintain Black's pawn on e5, analogously to closed lines of the Ruy Lopez, and opines that "it would be quite popular and on a par with the major defences to 1.e4, except for the annoying detail that Black can't actually reach the Hanham position by force.

"[5] As an alternative to 4.Nc3 in response to Black's 3...Nf6, according to both Kaufman and GM Christian Bauer, White retains some advantage with: 4.dxe5!

[11] In recent years, Black has experimented with other move orders in an attempt to reach the Hanham Variation while avoiding 3...Nf6 4.dxe5!

GM Tony Kosten considers the move respectable in his monograph on the opening.

Some continuations: Against the alternative 3.c3, Black can try 3...f5 (3...Nc6 4.d4 Nf6 transposes to the Ponziani Opening) 4.exf5 Bxf5 5.Qb3 Nf6 6.Ng5 d5 7.Qxb7 Nbd7 8.Qc6 Bd6 with compensation and initiative.