The Petrov - Important but forgotten

Hello everyone it has been a while since I had not post a blog. Today, I have seen Russia being eliminated in the Euro 2020 after a defeat to Denmark, and its supporters will now be heading home. Since Russia was one of the "famous" teams so far in the competition to have been eliminated, let's talk about a Russian opening! Yes, it is none other than the Petrov.

The Petrov's Defense is not a really common opening that you see in grandmaster games, or even in your own games. However, in my pool of live chess players that I have played with, some do play this opening, and you can't be saying to yourself, "What is this? How do I continue from here?" as your clock ticks very quickly in probably a 3 minute game(that is what I play now in lichess).

Therefore here are the few basic concepts. It starts off as 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6.

I have heard some streamers say that they can play all sorts of openings when playing with their viewers, but when it comes to the Petrov, they shut their mouths, and play what might be the best move for them despite not knowing the opening at all. So how to actually continue from this?

Of course one good reply is Nxe5, and the variation goes like this:

So that is the first main reply of the Petrov. The second, which I prefer the most, is d4. This is also preferred by my chess coach when countering the Petrov, and here are some of the reasons why

So here are some of the main replies to the Petrov, I do hope this helps you with understanding this forgotten Russian opening and have a nice day!