Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Main Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2
The Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C42, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 9… O-O (71% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 9… O-O 10. Nc3 Bf5 11. a3 Nxc3 12. bxc3)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp1bppp/8/3p4/1nPPn3/5N2/PP2BPPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 2 9- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4 Nb4 9. Be2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 21 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9… O-O | 15 (71%) | |
| 9… Be6 | 2 (10%) | |
| 9… dxc4 | 2 (10%) | |
| 9… Nf6 | 1 (5%) | |
| 9… c5 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
261 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 40%, draw 43%, Black 17%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2852) – GM Yangyi Yu (2729) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Feb Late · 2023-02-28
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2760) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2766) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates 2022 · 2022-06-22
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2760) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2754) 1-0 · SuperUnited Blitz 2022 · 2022-07-24
- GM Ruslan Ponomariov (2756) – GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2757) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE GP Paris · 2013-09-28
- GM Leinier Dominguez Perez (2753) – GM Peter Leko (2732) 1/2-1/2 · 29th ECC Open 2013 · 2013-10-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- NM PowerSpeedMetalIV (2433) – Adham_eminov1 (2351) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- tapdatash (2374) – KnightlyWhiz (2407) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Fighter1978 (2317) – FM Oncegood (2377) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Jaenisch Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. c4
More Petrov's Defense lines (all)
- Petrov's Defense (2. Nf3 Nf6) C42
- Petrov's Defense (2… Nf6 3. Nxe5) C42
- Petrov's Defense (3. Nxe5 d6) C42
- Petrov's Defense (3… d6 4. Nf3) C42
- Petrov's Defense (4. Nf3 Nxe4) C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Berger Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Browne Attack C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Closed Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Trap C42
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.