Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit Accepted (5. d3 Bc5)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5
The Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit Accepted is a chess opening classified as ECO C42, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5. 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 5,466 times by this move order. White won 45%, 4% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 6. Be2 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: +2.03 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 6. Be2 Ng4 7. Bxg4 Qh4 8. Qf3 Qxg4)
- ECO
- C42
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2p2n2/2b5/4P3/3P4/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,552 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,391 | |
| 2000+ | 523 | |
| All | 5,466 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Be2 | 2,575 (47%) | |
| 6. h3 | 843 (15%) | |
| 6. Be3 | 700 (13%) | |
| 6. Bg5 | 571 (10%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 319 (6%) | |
| 6. c3 | 194 (4%) | |
| 6. f3 | 59 (1%) | |
| 6. Qe2 | 57 (1%) |
Master games
324 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 10%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Gata Kamsky (2657) – IM V Pranav (2486) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 1st Feb A · 2022-02-01
- GM S.P. Sethuraman (2613) – GM Lucas Van Foreest (2530) 0-1 · 8th Sunway Sitges TB 5-8 · 2021-12-23
- GM David Paravyan (2620) – IM Aksel Bu Kvaloy (2482) 1-0 · Titled Tue 1st Oct Early · 2024-10-01
- GM Dmitrij Kollars (2607) – FM Moritz Weishaeutel (2438) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Apr Early · 2023-04-04
- GM Pavel V. Tregubov (2539) – IM V Pranav (2481) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 12th Apr Late · 2022-04-12
Search all games of the Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit Accepted and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- hyo_lee (2676) – Nimrod66 (2450) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- ffl0 (2584) – Nimrod66 (2496) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Gustav-Baecker (2437) – AMBMCM (2513) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit Accepted (4. Nxc6 dxc6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6
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.