Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6
The Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall 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 Bd6. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 722 times by this move order. White won 49%, 7% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (77% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.36 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6 9. Re1 Bf5)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
rnbqk2r/ppp2ppp/3b4/3p4/3Pn3/3B1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 18 | |
| 1500-1999 | 335 | |
| 2000+ | 369 | |
| All | 722 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 558 (77%) | |
| 7. c4 | 86 (12%) | |
| 7. h3 | 28 (4%) | |
| 7. Nbd2 | 17 (2%) | |
| 7. Nc3 | 14 (2%) | |
| 7. Qe2 | 10 (1%) | |
| 7. c3 | 3 (0%) | |
| 7. Bxe4 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
469 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 29%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) – GM Erigaisi Arjun (2778) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2024 · 2024-08-08
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2768) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2822) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Rapid 2018 · 2018-08-13
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2776) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2792) 1/2-1/2 · Saint Louis Blitz 2022 · 2022-08-29
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2731) – GM So, W. (2792) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2017 · 2017-09-15
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2732) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2770) 1/2-1/2 · Superbet ROM Classic 2024 · 2024-06-26
Highest-rated Lichess games
- BoneCrusher2020 (2750) – GM Pon4ik2006 (2990) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- IM Kostik_Mostik (2912) – kuhmft (2799) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Sunrise34 (2861) – IM ManiacalZerker (2788) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4
Continuations
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Staunton Variation C42 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 c6
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Tarrasch Variation C42 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. c4 Bg4
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, 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, Chigorin Variation, Main Line C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Closed Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Jaenisch Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Krause Variation 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.