Petrov Defense
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Is the Petrov defense a good opening? In the World Chess championships round 6 Fabiano Caruana played the petrov and almost won. Also, I see that this opening isn't only been used by Fabi. Kramnik, Karpov, and Smyslov haw also played this opening pretty often.
Judograndmaster wrote:
Is the Petrov defense a good opening? In the World Chess championships round 6 Fabiano Caruana played the petrov and almost won. Also, I see that this opening isn't only been used by Fabi. Kramnik, Karpov, and Smyslov haw also played this opening pretty often.
List of players who play it speaks for itself lol. However, at amateur level it's tricky to win with the Petroff if white plays for a draw against you - if you are a strong positional player you can still outplay your opponent however, as Caruana did in the game.
Also the Exchange French transposition is annoying, but a book on the French Defense will also help with this.
I´m sure is good, but you can´t force your opponent to play it if he doesn´t want
Judograndmaster wrote:
Is the Petrov defense a good opening? In the World Chess championships round 6 Fabiano Caruana played the petrov and almost won. Also, I see that this opening isn't only been used by Fabi. Kramnik, Karpov, and Smyslov haw also played this opening pretty often.
Fabi's Petroff is well known as a dangerous weapon. He won some games in the Candidate's tournament and games in some tournaments afterwards with it. Carlsen had been avoiding it until round 6.
Yes, it's a good opening. It has a drawish reputation. These days the Berlin makes players not want to play 1.e4 at the top level. 20 years ago it was the petrov.
congrandolor wrote:
I´m sure is good, but you can´t force your opponent to play it if he doesn´t want
This is irrelevant, as white can play the same against 2...Nc6.
He's pointing out that white can go for a 4 knights instead of a petroff.
The 4 knights is super classical and drawish too, so I don't know why an amateur petroff player would be afraid of it, shrug*
In response to post 4, being one that has the Petroff in my secondary list of openings (my primary response to e4 is the French Defense, but the other thing I play is 1...e5, and either the Petroff or Marshall/Anti-Marshall, the former far more frequently)
There are many ways for the Petroff to be avoided, just like there are avoiding the Ruy Lopez or avoiding the Open Sicilian. They are by no means scary, but you need to know them:
King's Gambit - 1.e4 e5 2.f4?!
Danish Gambit/Goring Gambit - 1.e4 e5 2.d4?! exd4 3.c3 (3.Nf3, trying to transpose to the Scotch, should be answered by 3...Bb4+!) dxc3 4.Bc4 (4.Nxc3 is the Goring Gambit) cxb2 5.Bxb2 d5! 6.Bxd5 Nf6 is equal.
Bishop's Opening: 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4
Vienna Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3
Four Knights Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 (as shown in message 4) Nc6
Exchange French: YES! White can get an Exchange French out of it, which I don't fear at all! 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d3 (instead of 5.d4 or 5.Nc3) Nf6 6.d4 d5 and you have the same position as 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 Nf6.
I attempted to play the Petroff 5 times in the 2014 US Open as Black (I was rated 1993 at the time). Every game started 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6, but not a single game ended up a Petroff:
Round 1 - Exchange French - Black won (White was 1300)
Round 3 - Four Knights Game - Black won (White was 1700)
Round 5 - Exchange French - Black won (White was 2150)
Round 7 - Four Knights Game - Black won (White was 2270)
Round 9 - Four Knights Game - Draw (White was 2320)
So I'd say the Petroff (or whatever else White throws at you) is pretty sound!
stiggling wrote:
He's pointing out that white can go for a 4 knights instead of a petroff.
The 4 knights is super classical and drawish too, so I don't know why an amateur petroff player would be afraid of it, shrug*
I think a lot of people play openings like the Petroff and Berlin with the intention of getting white to transpose to the Four Knight's Game - it's not dangerous, and all lines available to black are equal basically.
my137thaccount wrote:
stiggling wrote:
He's pointing out that white can go for a 4 knights instead of a petroff.
The 4 knights is super classical and drawish too, so I don't know why an amateur petroff player would be afraid of it, shrug*
I think a lot of people play openings like the Petroff and Berlin with the intention of getting white to transpose to the Four Knight's Game - it's not dangerous, and all lines available to black are equal basically.
At least this is what I do - if I want to practice against the Four Knights I play the Petroff (I play the Berlin anyway).