Rat Defense: Petruccioli Attack

1. e4 d6 2. h4

The Rat Defense: Petruccioli Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 d6 2. h4. It is a line of the Rat Defense. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 98 times by this move order. White won 51%, 9% were drawn and Black won 40%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nf6 (43% of games).

Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 2… c5 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e5 5. Bc4)

ECO: B00
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp1pppp/3p4/8/4P2P/8/PPPP1PP1/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. e4 d6 2. h4

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	58	47%47%
1500-1999	26	54%38%
2000+	14	64%22%14%
All	98	51%40%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nf6	42 (43%)	40%50%
2… g6	16 (16%)	50%44%
2… c6	9 (9%)	78%22%
2… e5	8 (8%)	38%12%50%
2… c5	4 (4%)	50%25%25%
2… Nd7	4 (4%)	100%
2… h5	3 (3%)	33%34%33%
2… e6	3 (3%)	67%33%

Master games

7 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 71%, draw 0%, Black 29%). The strongest:

GM Vladimir Dobrov (2478) – CM Maroun Tomb (2084) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 27th Apr · 2021-04-27
IM Mohamed Ezat (2299) – CM Filip Ochedzan (2138) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Jan Early · 2025-01-07
CM Zsombor Pasti (2113) – CM Suan Shiau Quek (2280) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-30
CM Tim Sauer (2235) – CM Cesar Gimenez Menchon (2144) 1-0 · Titled Tue 25th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-25
FM Alexandros Papasimakopoulos (2374) – Tyrell Harriott (1889) 1-0 · Titled Tue 25th Apr Early · 2023-04-25

Search all games of the Rat Defense: Petruccioli Attack and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Karlskoga (2520) – Recobachess (2535) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
your0wner (2295) – cardibungal (2345) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
your0wner (2274) – kmilan2000 (2286) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Pirc Defense (1. e4 d6) 1. e4 d6

More Rat Defense lines (all)

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.