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Lesson 29 will help you learn the Petroff Defense chess opening. It includes 3 chess videos: Video 1 Petroff Defense General Information, Video 2 Petroff Defense How to Play, and Video 3 Petroff Defense Trap. Video 1 is located on this page, Videos 2-3 on separated pages (their links below). The lesson also holds the PGN file to download, replay and learn how the Petroff Defense games are played in real.
• Latest Chess Opening Information and New Links
I. Petroff Defense: Data and Variations
Opening Name: Petroff Defense
Type: Open Game opening (begins with 1.e4 e5)
Moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6
ECO Codes: C42-C43
Petroff Defense: General Description
This chess opening is named after the first recognized Russian chess master Alexander Petroff (Petrov). Alexander Petroff (1794-1867) is also a famous world chess composer. In Russia, this opening is called the Russian Game. The opening may be also spelled as Petrov, Petrov's, Petroff, or Petroff's Defense.
The Petroff Defense opening is recognizable, respected, and a popular Open Game at the chess master level. It is being played at the top level chess. The main feature of Petroff Defense is the the following: Instead of defending the e5 pawn, Black counter-attacks at the very beginning to take the initiative.
The Petroff Defense may transpose into the Four Knights Game, Bishop's Opening, and into some other openings. For chess beginners, it is important to learn one trap which is possible at the very beginning of this opening (see video 2). The best White moves to answer Petroff Defense are the following 3:
(1) 3.Nxe5 (common today appr. for 60%), (2) 3.d4 (common today appr. for 20%), and (3) 3.Nc3 (common today appr. for 15%). Officially, Petroff Defense has 28 variations. As today, the most common 6-8 variations are being played for appr. 90% of all games on Petroff Defense. 3 most common variations of the Petroff Defense are:
1. Cozio (Lasker) Attack. 2. Modern (Steinitz) Attack. 3. Petroff Three Knights Game.
II. Petroff Defense: Learn 3 Videos (1 Trap)
To get a picture on this chess opening, you are recommended to see Video 1: Petroff Defense General Information. The video runs for 2 min. 26 sec.. It will give you general information, show some statistics, 3 common variations and more... To learn the Petroff Defense chess opening in a visible way, click the Play button below:
• If the opening video hasn't shown up, please wait a little.
• If the video stops, drag a little right the player's handle.
To see Video 2: Petroff Defense - How to Play, click this link:
• See Video 2: Petroff Defense - How to Play
Note: You can find Video 2 at the bottom of the page open.
To see Video 3: Petroff Defense Trap, click this link:
• See Video 3: Petroff Defense Trap
Note: You can find Video 3 at the bottom of the page open.
III. Petroff Defense: Download PGN File
Find below the Petroff-Defense.pgn file to download and see how it works in real games at the chess master level. To read the file, you will need a PGN Viewer Program. See Lesson 16, which explains you how to download a decent freeware PGN Viewer Program.
The Petroff-Defense.pgn file was compiled in the following way:
• The file includes 3 main variations and displays how to correctly play them.
• Also, the file includes 16 chess games played on Petroff Defense in 2009.
• The chess games were selected randomly, all FIDE players rated 2389-2751.
• All the names of the chess players were removed.
• The game results and tournament names were removed as well.
• The games are shown from the beginning to the end of the opening phase.
• At this point, the positions were analyzed by a computer program.
• You will see the result of the program's analysis, like this...
• "If White finds a best line ..., White will be better at 0.24 pawns."
• The computer program's analysis will help you:
• To analyze who was better at playing the opening.
• To understand how to correctly enter the middle game...
To see how Petroff Defense works in real games at the chess master level, click the following link:
• Download the Petroff-Defense.pgn File, 9 KB
Note 1. The above file is to be downloaded from Google Drive. First click the above link to open, then click the download icon to download.
Note 2. To read the above PGN File and see the chess games inside it, you will need a PGN Viewer software. See Lesson 16, which explains how to download a decent freeware PGN Viewer.
• Chess Openings for Beginners - See All Lessons
The next one to study on this website is the Ponziani Opening (Lesson 30). And on this page you've learned the Petroff Defense chess opening, C42-C43, which starts with the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6... The Petroff Defense is a representative of open game chess openings because it starts with 1.e4 e5.
