Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O O-O
The Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason 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 Be7 7. O-O O-O. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 158 times by this move order. White won 42%, 9% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 8. Re1 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 8. c4 Nf6 9. Nc3 Nc6 10. h3 Nb4)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
rnbq1rk1/ppp1bppp/8/3p4/3Pn3/3B1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w - - 4 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. O-O O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5 | |
| 1500-1999 | 84 | |
| 2000+ | 69 | |
| All | 158 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Re1 | 67 (42%) | |
| 8. c4 | 54 (34%) | |
| 8. Nbd2 | 12 (8%) | |
| 8. h3 | 11 (7%) | |
| 8. c3 | 6 (4%) | |
| 8. Bf4 | 5 (3%) | |
| 8. Nc3 | 2 (1%) | |
| 8. Bxe4 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
300 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 28%, Black 18%). The strongest:
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2767) – GM Yangyi Yu (2738) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Norway Chess 2019 · 2019-06-10
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2827) – GM Julio E Granda Zuniga (2653) 1-0 · chess.com IoM Masters · 2017-09-27
- GM Yi Wei (2734) – GM Li Chao2 (2725) 1-0 · Yinzhou Cup 2018 · 2018-06-28
- GM Etienne Bacrot (2725) – GM Li Chao2 (2732) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-27
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2727) – GM Nihal Sarin (2694) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Velikii2003 (2637) – MichaelZemlyakov2011 (2425) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- tapkus (2593) – tm313 (2398) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- Makkarainen (2416) – Striving_for_Victory (2436) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4
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.