Tree path 4 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Petrov's Defense › Italian Variation
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Italian Variation C42 you are here
Petrov's Defense: Italian Variation
Overview
Petrov's Defense: Italian Variation 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 5 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4.
It is a variation of Petrov's Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It continues primarily into one named line, Bishop's Opening: Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit.
Together the deeper variations number 2 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
- 5
- Parent
- Petrov's Defense
- Direct variations
- 1
- Total in subtree
- 2
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
10,079,562 games · White 50.3% / Draw 3.8% / Black 45.9%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nc6 | 3,342,496 | |
| Nxe4 | 2,568,284 | |
| Bc5 | 2,111,610 | |
| d6 | 747,848 | |
| d5 | 438,084 | |
| c6 | 240,410 | |
| h6 | 222,081 | |
| Bd6 | 178,790 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:13:01
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