Tree path 4 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Petrov's Defense › Three Knights Game
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Petrov's Defense C42
- Three Knights Game C42 you are here
Petrov's Defense: Three Knights Game
Overview
Petrov's Defense: Three Knights Game 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.
Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3, after 5 plies of opening development.
It is a variation of Petrov's Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It branches into 4 notable variations — Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Gunsberg Counterattack, Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Rubinstein Variation, Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Rubinstein Variation, Henneberger Variation, and others.
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
- 4
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
15,861,619 games · White 49.2% / Draw 5.0% / Black 45.8%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nc6 | 8,343,374 | |
| Bc5 | 2,913,162 | |
| Bb4 | 2,375,101 | |
| d6 | 1,509,016 | |
| d5 | 352,923 | |
| c6 | 140,953 | |
| Bd6 | 54,377 | |
| Be7 | 44,516 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:13:04
Write a description
Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links).
Submissions are reviewed before publishing.