Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Murrey Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 Nc6
The Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Murrey Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C43, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 Nc6. 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 58 times by this move order. White won 34%, 13% were drawn and Black won 53%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bxe4 (34% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.21 (Stockfish, depth 43; best line 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. dxe5 Nc5 7. Bc4 d6)
- ECO
- C43
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/3Pn3/3B1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 12 | |
| 2000+ | 44 | |
| All | 58 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Bxe4 | 20 (34%) | |
| 5. d5 | 16 (28%) | |
| 5. Nxe5 | 8 (14%) | |
| 5. dxe5 | 8 (14%) | |
| 5. O-O | 6 (10%) |
Master games
589 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 31%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM So, W. (2770) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 1/2-1/2 · Clutch Chess Showdown Int · 2020-06-11
- GM Anish Giri (2777) – GM Levon Aronian (2782) 0-1 · Meltwater Tour Final 2021 · 2021-09-28
- GM So, W. (2760) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-14
- GM So, W. (2760) – GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2736) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-12-14
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2753) – GM Hao Wang (2744) 1/2-1/2 · 10th Norway Chess 2022 · 2022-06-09
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Murrey Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- johnsam1 (2741) – velyvzer (2661) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- tsnylsw (2754) – pop-up (2561) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Humfrey_Hardyng (2654) – IM denis6917 (2626) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3
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.