Caissa Codex
C42

Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation

Chess diagram: Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation after 8. Re1

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

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Statistics from Lichess

40,796 games: White 44.4% / Draw 7.8% / Black 47.9%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
22,40622K
9,3759,375
3,5533,553
3,0813,081
2,0172,017
184184
134134
2323

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 21, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.06 The position is about equal

Best play: 8... Bg4 9. c4 Nf6 10. Nc3 Nxd4 11. cxd5 Bxf3 12. gxf3 c5 13. d6

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

Overview

Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation (ECO C42, Open Games) is a variation of Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Re1 (8 moves).

In 40,796 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 44.4%, Black 47.9% and 7.8% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 8…Bg4, in 55% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played are Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Berger Variation and Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Maróczy Variation.

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How to play against Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation

The most played answer, 8…Bg4, also scores best for Black: 54.9%, with Black winning 51.3% and White 41.5% of 22K games. Of the main answers, 8…Nf6 scores lowest: 44.5%. Stockfish's first choice is also 8…Bg4.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Variations (2)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 5…d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O Nc6 8. Re1, the position after Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation (C42)”. Lichess data as of 21 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/petrovs-defense-classical-attack-chigorin-variation

https://chesscodex.org/openings/petrovs-defense-classical-attack-chigorin-variation