Petrov's Defense: French Attack
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3
The Petrov's Defense: French Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C42, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,307 times by this move order. White won 48%, 6% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 5… Nf6 (89% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.17 (Stockfish, depth 39; best line 5… Nf6 6. d4 d5 7. Bd3 c5 8. c3)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/3p4/8/4n3/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 373 | |
| 1500-1999 | 678 | |
| 2000+ | 256 | |
| All | 1,307 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Nf6 | 1,168 (89%) | |
| 5… Nc5 | 101 (8%) | |
| 5… Nxf2 | 12 (1%) | |
| 5… Qe7 | 10 (1%) | |
| 5… Ng5 | 6 (0%) | |
| 5… d5 | 5 (0%) | |
| 5… Bg4 | 3 (0%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1,216 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 39%, Black 24%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2838) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2817) 1/2-1/2 · 4th GRENKE Chess Classic · 2017-04-19
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) 0-1 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) 1/2-1/2 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2023 · 2023-09-15
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: French Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- SackOnTheKing930 (2691) – Washington91 (2603) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- SackOnTheKing930 (2708) – pop-up (2558) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- atsaynm (2630) – pop-up (2539) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense (4. Nf3 Nxe4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 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: 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.