Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. c4

Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. c4 87654321abcdefgh

The Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation 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. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. c4. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. Black is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: −0.26 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 10… Bh4 11. g3 Bf6 12. cxd5 Nxd4 13. Bxe4)

ECO
C42
Moves
19 plies
FEN
r2qk2r/ppp1b1pp/2n5/3p1p2/2PPn1b1/3B1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQR1K1 b kq - 0 10
PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. c4

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Master games

1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:

Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation and its sub-variations

Comes from

Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason-Showalter Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6

More Petrov's Defense lines (all)

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.