Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7
The Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C42, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7. 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 2,181 times by this move order. White won 53%, 7% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 5. Qxe4 (81% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 dxe5 7. dxe5 Nc6)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnb1kb1r/ppppqppp/8/4N3/4n3/8/PPPPQPPP/RNB1KB1R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,028 | |
| 1500-1999 | 786 | |
| 2000+ | 367 | |
| All | 2,181 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Qxe4 | 1,768 (81%) | |
| 5. d4 | 151 (7%) | |
| 5. Nf3 | 107 (5%) | |
| 5. d3 | 70 (3%) | |
| 5. f3 | 16 (1%) | |
| 5. Nc4 | 14 (1%) | |
| 5. Nd3 | 14 (1%) | |
| 5. f4 | 10 (0%) |
Master games
948 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 22%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) 1/2-1/2 · TechM GCL 2025 · 2025-12-14
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2783) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 1/2-1/2 · Champions Showdown Kings · 2025-03-04
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2831) – GM So, W. (2747) 1-0 · Tata Steel India Rapid · 2024-11-14
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2734) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) 0-1 · TechM GCL 2025 · 2025-12-15
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2723) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) 1-0 · Chess.com Classic Losers · 2025-05-22
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- smihir6 (2713) – IM unknown-maestro_2450 (2653) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- JelenaZ (2587) – SavitarTheGodOfSpeed (2767) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- NM markb0716 (2634) – Batman412 (2600) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4
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, Chigorin Variation, Main Line C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Closed Variation C42
- Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Jaenisch 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.