Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit 4. Nxc6 dxc6
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Statistics from Lichess
3,842,736 games: White 46.4% / Draw 3.7% / Black 50.0%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 1,855,3171.9M | ||
| 1,027,9811M | ||
| 525,251525K | ||
| 104,448104K | ||
| 97,64198K | ||
| 53,76254K | ||
| 42,52243K | ||
| 33,18433K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 22, 2026
Engine evaluation
+2.01 White is clearly better
Even so, Black scores 51.8% here in practice: wins plus half the draws in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500.
Best play: 5. d3 Be6 6. Be2 Qe7 7. Be3 h5 8. h3 O-O-O 9. Nd2 Kb8
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
The stronger the players, the worse this line does for Black: Black scores 55% under 1400, 49% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 2.6M | |
| 1400–1799 | 4.3M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.7M | |
| 2200 and up | 104K | |
| Masters, over the board | 10 |
Master games
- Zarubitski, V. – Van Foreest, L.
- Nestorovic, N. – Nikolic, M.
- Suta, A. – Srebrnic, M.
- Hinks Edwards, T. R. – Pletanek, J.
- Van Dael, S. – Radeva, V.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Overview
Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit (ECO C42, Open Games) is a gambit in Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 (4 moves).
In 3,842,736 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 46.4%, Black 50.0% and 3.7% were drawn. White's most played move here is 5. d3, in 48% of those games.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
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How to answer 4…dxc6
5. e5 scores best for White: 51.8%, with White winning 50.0% and Black 46.5% of 525K games. The most played, 5. d3, scores 49.1% in 1.9M games, and 5. Nc3 scores lowest: 44.7%. Stockfish's first choice is 5. d3.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
This line is played more than 19 times as often as in 2016: 0.12% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.0064% (its peak: 0.25% in 2021).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.0064% | 2,285 |
| 2017 | 0.0074% | 4,063 |
| 2018 | 0.015% | 11,770 |
| 2019 | 0.029% | 35,978 |
| 2020 | 0.11% | 334,158 |
| 2021 | 0.25% | 991,004 |
| 2022 | 0.2% | 758,012 |
| 2023 | 0.17% | 630,028 |
| 2024 | 0.14% | 493,218 |
| 2025 | 0.12% | 422,075 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.12% | 126,978 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit (C42)”. Lichess data as of 22 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/petrovs-defense-stafford-gambit-2