Petrov's Defense
Black declines the fight over e5 and counterattacks e4 instead, using symmetry as a weapon.
After 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3, almost everyone defends the e5 pawn with 2...Nc6. The Petrov player doesn't. Black attacks White's e4 pawn with 2...Nf6 and says: if you take mine, I take yours. The opening carries the name of Alexander Petrov, the strongest Russian player of the first half of the 19th century. It is also called the Russian Game.
The symmetry needs one piece of care. After 3. Nxe5, Black must not copy immediately with 3...Nxe4. The correct order is 3...d6 first. This kicks the knight, and then Black plays 4...Nxe4. Get that move right and Black's position is famously hard to crack: sound structure, quick development, and an early argument over the open e-file.
Its reputation at the top is a fortress. Fabiano Caruana made it his main defense in the 2018 world championship match against Carlsen, and Kramnik leaned on it through the 2000s. At club level the drawish reputation mostly evaporates. Both kings castle into the same half-open e-file, and the tactics come whether you asked or not.
White wants to prove the extra tempo means something. The main plan after 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 is 5. d4 and Bd3, castle, then push the knight on e4 around with moves like Re1 and c4. This fights for the e-file. 3. Nc3 keeps more pieces on the board and avoids the heaviest theory, while 3. d4, the Modern Attack, opens the center at once and asks Black to know the details rather than the ideas.
Black's plan is almost a checklist: ...d6 to kick the knight, ...Nxe4, then ...d5 to anchor it, develop the bishop to e7 or d6, castle, and contest the e-file with a rook. Black isn't playing for tricks. The point is that every trade drags White closer to a position where the first-move advantage has quietly disappeared, and any overpress hands Black the initiative.
At club level (1600-2000 on Lichess) the Petrov is a minority taste: after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3, only 10.9% of players choose 2...Nf6, against 65.7% for 2...Nc6. Yet the position still appears over 35 million times in our database. White's three main replies all score 52%: 3. Nxe5 (33.3% of games), 3. Nc3 (32.8%) and 3. Bc4 (17.6%). The number worth remembering: 3. d4, the Modern Attack, shows up in just 7.5% of games but scores 55%. The most testing reply is the one club players see least.
Alexander Petrov — The strongest Russian player of the early 19th century; the defense bears his name, and it's also called the Russian Game after him.
Fabiano Caruana — Made the Petrov his main defense against 1. e4, most visibly in the 2018 world championship match against Magnus Carlsen.
Vladimir Kramnik — A pillar of his black repertoire in the 2000s, alongside the Berlin. The same philosophy of solidity first.
The copycat trap, and it catches Petrov players constantly. After 3. Nxe5, copying with 3...Nxe4 is the mistake. 4. Qe2 attacks the knight along the e-file, and the natural retreat 4...Nf6 walks into 5. Nc6+: the knight move uncovers check from the queen on e2 while the knight itself attacks Black's queen on d8. Black must answer the check and loses the queen for a knight. The right order for Black is 3...d6 first, and only then take on e4.
- Family
- Petrov's Defense
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C42
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6
Named for the 19th-century Russian master Alexander Petrov, the Petrov spent a century labeled 'drawish' — then Fabiano Caruana brought it to the 2018 World Championship, where it answered both of Magnus Carlsen's 1.e4 games and drew both. All twelve classical games were drawn and the title went to a rapid tiebreak. Symmetry, it turns out, is a weapon too.