Punish the Petrov Defence

You've seen all the top players do it. Deployed by Caruana twice in the 2018 World Championship to get two important draws and by Nepomniachtchi three times in his attempt to steal Magnus' crown, the Petrov has a rock-solid reputation at the highest levels of chess.

Wake up and smell the coffee, Mrs. Bueller. You're not at 'the highest levels of chess'. You play a game or two on lichess when your lecture gets boring. You play once a week at your local club with a pint in hand. Maybe you play a tournament or two every year. That's okay.

I'm here to help you crush that pesky Petrov that your friend plays when you just want to go into the The Evans Gambit. So get out your notebook, pull up a fresh lichess study, and make that cup of coffee, because class is in session.

The line starts as follows:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4

Now, of the three main moves in this position, d4, Nc3 and Qe2, our move has the best win percentage for white in both the lichess Masters database and the Lichess database for 2000+ rapid games.

That move is 5. Nc3. Now, I'll let you figure out all the small side-lines and deviations for yourself - it's more fun that way. However, please don't spend too much time on these as the vast majority of games go down the main line.

The main line continues 5... Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 and here I recommend 7. Bf4, although 7. Be3 is also played regularly. Don't panic if they don't play 6... Be7, lines with 6... Nc6, for instance, often transpose (as in the game of mine below).

So, what are the ideas for white? Very simple: create an attack. Bd3, h4, h5, g4, Ng5 - those kind of moves. The more you play the opening, the better you'll know which ones to play in which order. Sometimes black will play Bg4, pinning your f3 knight and you can allow Bxf3 gxf3 as it opens the g-file for your rook. Get creative - that's the point of this line and it's what the main lines of the Petrov don't allow.

If you want to learn the ideas and gain some inspiration, I've collected a few model games that you can look at below, but don't go learning too much theory as you're not Fabiano Caruana and for players like us it's a waste of time and not very fun! Study some endgames instead. Or perhaps the Art of Attack to compliment this opening.

Sample games (not all play the line I recommend but I urge you to exercise your freedom and study it yourself - you don't have to play 7. Bf4, it's just my favourite option):

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1161325
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1567776
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1578590
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1386779
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1493932

A quieter masterclass from Svidler:

And one of my own from a few months ago:

Happy hunting!