Petrov's Defense

In Petrov's Defense, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6, Black answers the attack on e5 with an attack on e4. The main line is 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4, a symmetrical and very solid position that strong players use to make a draw with Black. At club level the opening is anything but quiet: the copying move 3...Nxe4, the Stafford Gambit with 3...Nc6, the Cochrane Gambit with 4.Nxf7 and the Steinitz line with 3.d4 all lead to sharp tactics.

The most frequent mistake in our data comes from the 3.d4 line. After 3...exd4 4.e5 Ng4 5.h3, Black jumps 5...Nxf2?, hoping for a fork, but after 6.Kxf2 the knight is simply gone. The same move looks tempting in many Petrov positions, and it almost never works without a second piece attacking f2.

The Cochrane Gambit, 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7 Kxf7, gives White two pawns and an attack for the knight. After 5.Bc4+ Ke8 6.O-O Be7, the push 7.e5? gives away one of those pawns: 7...dxe5, and White's attack is running out of pieces.

Black's copying move 3...Nxe4 produces its own mistakes. After 4.Bd3 d5 5.O-O, developing with 5...Bc5? allows 6.Bxe4 dxe4 7.Nxf7, winning material on f7. After 4.Bc4 d5 5.Qf3, defending with 5...Qe7? runs into 6.Bxd5 Qxe5 7.Qxe4 Qxe4+ 8.Bxe4, and White comes out a clean pawn up.

The Stafford Gambit is the source of the most spectacular puzzle: after 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bc5 6.c3 h5, the pin 7.Bg5?? is answered by 7...Nxe4!, sacrificing the queen for mate. The Stafford Gambit Trap and the Petrov Defense Trap have their own pages, and the Petrov's Defense study covers the main lines.