Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Steinitz Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qe2
The Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Steinitz Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C43, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qe2. It is a line of the Petrov's Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 9 times by this move order. White won 33%, 0% were drawn and Black won 67%. The most popular continuation is 5… d5 (56% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 5… Bb4+ 6. Nbd2 Bxd2+ 7. Bxd2 Nxd2 8. Qxd2)
- ECO
- C43
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/8/4P3/3pn3/5N2/PPP1QPPP/RNB1KB1R b KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qe2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 4 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 9 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… d5 | 5 (56%) | |
| 5… Nc5 | 3 (33%) | |
| 5… Bb4+ | 1 (11%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- Hongchi Peng (2364) – GM Duc Hoa Nguyen (2432) 1-0 · 17th Penang Open 2025 · 2025-12-22
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Steinitz Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gardener69 (2104) – xcit (2059) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- A-Spark (1921) – Bullet_Tooth_Tony (1941) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- ArisAtat_JRC (1591) – Malcolm183 (1587) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack (3. d4 exd4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4
Continuations
- Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Bardeleben Variation C43 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. e5 Ne4 5. Qe2 Nc5 6. Nxd4 Nc6
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.