Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4
The Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C42, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 13,277 times by this move order. White won 59%, 5% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 4. Qe2 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.52 (Stockfish, depth 49; best line 4. Qe2 Qe7 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 dxe5)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/8/4N3/4n3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 10,142 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,549 | |
| 2000+ | 586 | |
| All | 13,277 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Qe2 | 7,070 (53%) | |
| 4. Qf3 | 1,278 (10%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 1,218 (9%) | |
| 4. d3 | 891 (7%) | |
| 4. d4 | 630 (5%) | |
| 4. Nxf7 | 418 (3%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 396 (3%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 326 (2%) |
Master games
286 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 55%, draw 14%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2830) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2788) 1-0 · CCT Final Playoff 2023 · 2023-12-10
- GM Parham Maghsoodloo (2676) – GM Pavel Ponkratov (2631) 0-1 · PNWCC Bullet (1+1) 2020 · 2020-08-09
- GM Anton Korobov (2663) – GM Erwin L'Ami (2627) 1/2-1/2 · Tata Steel Challengers · 2024-01-19
- GM Mikhail Kobalia (2596) – GM Samuel Sevian (2684) 0-1 · Titled Tue 8th Feb Late · 2022-02-08
- GM Evgeny Alekseev (2575) – GM Nikita Afanasiev (2568) 1/2-1/2 · TOP 28 Rapid GP 2022 · 2022-12-01
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation 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 (2… Nf6 3. Nxe5) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5
Continuations
- Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit C42 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7
More Petrov's Defense lines (all)
- Petrov's Defense (2. Nf3 Nf6) 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
- 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.