Petroff Defence
Instead of defending your e-pawn you attack theirs, and the game becomes symmetrical, solid and hard to lose. There is one trap to learn and one habit to build, and after that most 1.e4 players under 1200 simply run out of ideas against you.
Spar this openingYour setup
- Knightf6 / e4 / d6
- Bishope7 / d6
- Knightc6 / d7
- Bishopf5 / g4 / e6
- Rooke8
- Pawnsd5 c6
- CastleO-O
d6 or exd4 before Nxe4. Never take on e4 while a white knight stands on e5. 3.Nxe5 Nxe4? 4.Qe2 pins your knight to the king, and 4...Nf6?? 5.Nc6+ uncovers check and takes the queen. Kick the knight with ...d6 first, then take. (After 3.d4 exd4 there is no knight on e5 and the capture is safe.)
Nxe4 or Ne4 before d5. Regain the pawn before you push the d-pawn. 4.Nf3 d5? 5.exd5 and you are simply a pawn down for nothing. ...Nxe4 first; then ...d5 supports the knight and it has a job.
Ideas
White attacks e5. You attack e4. Whoever takes first has to think about taking back.
The Petroff idea is that symmetry is fine for Black when nothing is weak. 2...Nf6 does not defend e5 at all; it says that if White grabs a pawn you will grab one too. The result is an open e-file, equal material and a position with no holes for White to aim at.
After 3.Nxe5, play ...d6 first. Only then ...Nxe4.
3...Nxe4? looks natural and loses to 4.Qe2. The knight is pinned to your king along the e-file, and if you retreat it with 4...Nf6 the e5-knight jumps to c6 with check and takes your queen. 3...d6 sends the knight home first; then 4...Nxe4 is safe because there is nothing on e5 to uncover.
When something hits the knight on e4, trade it or step back. Never prop it up with ...f5.
Your knight on e4 is well placed but it is not a fortress. When White plays Re1, c4, Nc3 or Nbd2 against it, trade (...Nxc3, ...Nxd2) or retreat (...Nf6, ...Nd6) and carry on developing. Defending it with ...f5 opens your king and gives White a target for the rest of the game.
Both e-pawns are gone. Put a rook on e8 before White puts one on e1.
The Petroff opens the e-file on move four. In the middlegame it belongs to whoever gets a rook there first with the squares in front of it covered. ...Bf5 to hold the knight, ...Re8, and the symmetry starts to favour you: White's rook on e1 is staring at your rook, not at your king.
4.Nxf7 is a real gambit. Take it, walk the king back, and be a piece up for two pawns.
The Cochrane Gambit gives a knight for two pawns and an exposed king. It looks terrifying and it is not sound. Take with the king, then ...g6 and ...Kg7 or ...Be7 and ...Rf8 tuck it away. Develop everything, avoid opening lines near your king, and the extra piece decides.
3.d4 exd4 4.e5 Ne4. The knight goes forward, not back, and ...d5 hits the centre.
White can skip Nxe5 and hit the centre with d4. Take the pawn; if e5 kicks your knight, do not retreat to g8 or g4, jump to e4. After Qxd4 the knight is attacked but ...d5 defends it and challenges the centre. When exd6 comes, take back with the knight, not the bishop or the c-pawn, because those leave e4 hanging to the queen.
Develop to natural squares, castle, rook to e8. Patience wins Petroff games.
There is no attack to launch. Bishops to e7 and f5, knights to c6 or d7, king to g8, rook to e8. Keep the d5-pawn supported with ...c6. Trade the e4-knight when it is challenged. White's first-move edge fades a little every move you do not blunder, and under 1200 that is how these games are won.
The structure
Traps
The tell: White has a knight on e5 and you are itching to take back on e4.
3...Nxe4 puts your knight on the e-file with your king behind it. 4.Qe2 pins it, and if it retreats the e5-knight jumps to c6 with a discovered check and takes your queen. Even the best defence, 4...Qe7 5.Qxe4 d6, leaves you a pawn down. Kick the knight with ...d6 first and none of this exists.
The tell: You did everything right and then White plays Qe2 anyway. The knight is pinned again, and ...d5 looks like it defends it.
A pinned piece cannot be defended by a pawn: d3 attacks it and it cannot move. Only 5...Qe7 works, mirroring the queen so the knight is protected and can retreat to f6 next move. Then Bg5 Qxe2+ Bxe2 and the position is level and quiet.
The tell: You kick the knight with ...d6 and White defends it with d4 or f4 instead of moving it.
Attacked knights have to move; propping them up with a pawn does not help. ...dxe5 takes the knight, dxe5 takes the pawn back, and ...Nxe4 picks up the other pawn. You are a knight up for a pawn on move five.
Model games
The whole plan: ...d6 before ...Nxe4, then ...d5, ...Be7, castle. When the rook hits the knight, ...Bf5 holds it; when Nc3 challenges it, trade. Level material, no weaknesses, and ...Re8 is next.
The pin is answered with ...Qe7, the knight steps back when d3 arrives, and the queens come off. Nothing is weak on either side and Black is fully equal.
Take on d4, jump to e4, hit back with ...d5, recapture with the knight. Then ...Nc6 kicks the queen, you develop and castle, and the rook takes the e-file.
How the coach grades a move
Every move you play gets one of six grades, from the engine’s view of the position, with the book’s verdict taking over when it is harsher. The sentence beside it is always the reason. Tap it for what the move did, why this opening wants it, and whether anything was better.
- Best
- Nothing better was available.
- Good
- Within a few percent of best. Noise at this depth.
- Playable
- A small real gap. The better move is named, play goes on.
- Inaccuracy
- Seven to twelve points of winning chances. The game stops to show you.
- Mistake
- Twelve or more, or a move the book warns against, or a broken order rule.
- Blunder
- Twenty-five or more. Usually material.
Catalogued as C42–C43 in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, the reference index most databases sort by.