Tree path 7 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Petrov's Defense C42 you are here
Petrov's Defense
Overview
Petrov's Defense is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C42.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
The line arises from 8 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4.
It is a variation of Petrov's Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It is the root of 6 named variations, with Classical Attack, Cozio Attack, French Attack, and others among the most studied.
Together the deeper variations number 21 across the full subtree.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- C42
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 8
- Parent
- Petrov's Defense
- Direct variations
- 6
- Total in subtree
- 21
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
4,232,445 games · White 48.9% / Draw 7.0% / Black 44.2%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| d4 | 1,307,014 | |
| Nc3 | 960,720 | |
| Qe2 | 943,092 | |
| d3 | 457,442 | |
| Bc4 | 267,379 | |
| Be2 | 106,640 | |
| Bd3 | 101,582 | |
| c4 | 41,318 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:51:31
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Variations (6)
Show all 21 sub-variations (full subtree)
- C42 Classical Attack 9-ply
- C42 Cozio Attack 9-ply
- C42 French Attack 9-ply
- C42 Kaufmann Attack 9-ply
- C42 Millennium Attack 9-ply
- C42 Nimzowitsch Attack 9-ply
- C42 Chigorin Variation 15-ply
- C42 Closed Variation 10-ply
- C42 Marshall Variation 12-ply
- C42 Mason Variation 14-ply
- C42 Mason-Showalter Variation 12-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Berger Variation 19-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Jaenisch Variation 15-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation 19-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Maróczy Variation 20-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Staunton Variation 16-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Tarrasch Variation 16-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Browne Attack 17-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Main Line 17-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Trap 20-ply
- C42 Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Variation, Chinese Gambit 18-ply