Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Attack
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qxd4
The Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C43, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qxd4. 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 317 times by this move order. White won 48%, 5% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 5… d5 (79% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.46 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 5… d5 6. exd6 Nxd6 7. Qf4 Be7 8. Nc3)
- ECO
- C43
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/8/4P3/3Qn3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNB1KB1R b KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qxd4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 55 | |
| 1500-1999 | 150 | |
| 2000+ | 112 | |
| All | 317 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… d5 | 252 (79%) | |
| 5… Nc5 | 31 (10%) | |
| 5… f5 | 10 (3%) | |
| 5… Nxf2 | 9 (3%) | |
| 5… Ng5 | 4 (1%) | |
| 5… Nc6 | 3 (1%) | |
| 5… Nf6 | 3 (1%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 2 (1%) |
Master games
318 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 29%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Nikita Vitiugov (2732) – GM Yangyi Yu (2763) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2019 · 2019-09-25
- GM Xiangzhi Bu (2707) – GM Liren Ding (2730) 1/2-1/2 · 4th Chinese Rapid Masters · 2014-11-20
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2737) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2698) 1/2-1/2 · 13th Hainan Danzhou GM · 2022-12-14
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (2656) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Jun 2026 · 2026-06-23
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Nikolas Theodorou (2639) 0-1 · Titled Tue 10th Mar 2026 · 2026-03-10
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- EYCC_champion_2026 (2473) – UnwrittenFuture (2522) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
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Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack (3. d4 exd4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4
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.