Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense › Petrov's Defense
C42

Petrov's Defense

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Overview

Petrov's Defense is a named branch in the Open Games group of chess theory, classified under ECO C42.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

It begins with 6 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 to reach the canonical position.

In the opening tree, this line branches off from Petrov's Defense, part of the broader King's Pawn Game system.

4 named variations grow from this line, including Petrov's Defense, Cochrane Gambit, Karklins-Martinovsky Variation, and others.

Together the deeper variations number 28 across the full subtree.

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ECO code
C42
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
6
Parent
Petrov's Defense
Direct variations
4
Total in subtree
28

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. A more detailed, human-written description is on the way — and you can speed it up by suggesting one yourself.

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Variations (4)

Show all 28 sub-variations (full subtree)