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Petrov's Defense

Moves

Black scores

48.0%

Loses more
Loses moreEvenWins more

46.1% won3.8% drawn50.1% lost

Theory 46.1% · Stockfish +0.4

Every level and clock · 43M games

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
h8
g
f
e
d
c
b
a
2...Nf6
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

Black’s score peaks in the middle, at 1800–1999.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
46.8%44.7%5.2M
46.8%45.2%6.0M
47.9%46.3%7.5M
48.6%46.9%8.3M
48.7%46.8%7.3M
48.8%46.5%4.9M
48.7%46.0%2.3M
48.2%44.8%1.0M
46.2%37.7%201K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does White play next?

White's most played reply is 3.Nc3, the Three Knights Game.

Is the Petrov's Defense good?

Not for Black, across every level and clock.

Everyone48.0
Stockfish46.1

Stockfish at depth 22 · +0.4 for White

Floor 48.0 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

35th of 65 families Black can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 55.1% · under 1000 ultrabulletWorst 41.7% · 2200–2499 classical

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.

Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More Petrov's Defense lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 40 Petrov's Defense lines, ranked

40 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Trap408 games
81.1%Floor 77.9%
2
Petrov's Defense: Stafford Gambit4.7M games
52.1%Floor 52.1%
3
Petrov's Defense: Moody Gambit14K games
52.8%Floor 52.1%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Berger Variation1.6K games
52.6%Floor 50.5%
Petrov's Defense: Paulsen Attack176K games
50.6%Floor 50.4%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation19K games
50.8%Floor 50.2%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Murrey Variation12K games
50.5%Floor 49.8%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Variation127K games
49.9%Floor 49.7%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Attack93K games
49.7%Floor 49.4%
Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation, Kholmov Gambit483K games
49.5%Floor 49.4%
Petrov's Defense: Millennium Attack75K games
49.6%Floor 49.3%
Petrov's Defense: Karklins-Martinovsky Variation89K games
49.4%Floor 49.1%
Petrov's Defense8.0M games
49.1%Floor 49.0%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason-Showalter Variation41K games
49.5%Floor 49.0%
Petrov's Defense: French Attack340K games
49.1%Floor 49.0%
Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit, Bishop Check Line149K games
49.0%Floor 48.8%
Petrov's Defense: Cozio Attack836K games
48.3%Floor 48.2%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Jaenisch Variation12K games
48.9%Floor 48.1%
Petrov's Defense: Three Knights Game11M games
47.9%Floor 47.9%
Petrov's Defense: Italian Variation9.4M games
47.5%Floor 47.5%
Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit68K games
47.5%Floor 47.2%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack3.2M games
46.8%Floor 46.8%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Trifunovic Variation4.2K games
47.9%Floor 46.6%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack417K games
46.6%Floor 46.5%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Browne Attack5.0K games
47.6%Floor 46.5%
Petrov's Defense: Cochrane Gambit, Center Variation75K games
46.6%Floor 46.3%
Petrov's Defense: Nimzowitsch Attack441K games
46.3%Floor 46.2%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Staunton Variation87K games
46.4%Floor 46.2%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Symmetrical Variation225K games
46.0%Floor 45.8%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Closed Variation72K games
46.1%Floor 45.8%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Chigorin Variation, Main Line7.8K games
46.6%Floor 45.7%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Mason Variation50K games
45.5%Floor 45.2%
Petrov's Defense: Kaufmann Attack22K games
45.7%Floor 45.2%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Center Variation230K games
44.1%Floor 43.9%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Bardeleben Variation240 games
47.5%Floor 42.3%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Marshall Variation, Chinese Gambit1.3K games
44.0%Floor 41.8%
Petrov's Defense: Damiano Variation2.1M games
39.6%Floor 39.5%
Petrov's Defense: Classical Attack, Tarrasch Variation845 games
40.4%Floor 37.7%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Steinitz Variation2.0K games
39.4%Floor 37.6%
Petrov's Defense: Modern Attack, Tal Gambit123 games
38.4%Floor 31.4%
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the Petrov's Defense family scores 48.0% for Black, from 43M rated Lichess games across 40 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
43M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.