Tree path 7 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Cochrane Gambit › Bishop Check Line
C42

Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit, Bishop Check Line

Open in Lichess
Share: X Reddit Telegram Facebook
Play from here → Click pieces to play, or use ← / → arrows.

Overview

Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit, Bishop Check Line is a gambit, classified under ECO code C42 within the Open Games family. As with all gambits, one side sacrifices material early — usually a pawn — in exchange for development, open lines, or initiative.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

It begins with 9 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. Bc4+ to reach the canonical position.

It is a variation of Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.

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
9
Parent
Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit

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

153,599 games · White 46.8% / Draw 4.0% / Black 49.2%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Be685,716
d542,935
Ke823,378
Ke71,154
Kg6400
Nd516

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:04:10

Write a description

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.