Hi, i wanna know if someone know what is the main idea behind the Petroff defense for the black? I search it in many books but i never find...
Please help me ;)
To bore your opponent and all of the Chess World thus getting a draw and an early bus ride home. All at minimum effort
Totally not the case.
How dissapointing, the post is about Chess
The Petroff was created as a dynamic equalizer. Black playing Nf6 says to White you can attack my e5 pawn but I can just attack your e4 pawn. So show me why you are better here.
If you look at the positions after 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 we reach a positions which is just basically an exchange french with the knight on e4. If the Knight was on f6 then the position would be completly equal. So the main battle in the middlegame then usually revolves around the battle for white to prove that the Knight on e4 is a weakness and if it can be driven away whist gaining time then white will be better. Black tries to prove that the knight is a strength.
The Petroff was created as a dynamic equalizer. Black playing Nf6 says to White you can attack my e5 pawn but I can just attack your e4 pawn. So show me why you are better here.
If you look at the positions after 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 we reach a positions which is just basically an exchange french with the knight on e4. If the Knight was on f6 then the position would be completly equal. So the main battle in the middlegame then usually revolves around the battle for white to prove that the Knight on e4 is a weakness and if it can be driven away whist gaining time then white will be better. Black tries to prove that the knight is a strength.
THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENT Sceadungen! :D
The petroff is powerfull at higher level* because it poses an immediate problem for white:
Are you going for a symmetrical position with just 1 move ahead in a four knight game or with an exchange of e-pawns - both very drawish - or are you going to prove something with my powerful knight fixed on e5? (If this knight was a weakness, the petroff defense wouldn't exist)
*At low level the beginners will not complain with symmetrical or drawish positions.
The main idea of the Petroff is to aggressively respond to White's attack on the king pawn by a counterattack on his rather than by passively defending one's own.
"Aggressively" is a fuzzy term. 2. ... Nf6 might on the face of (from looking at the move alone and without anticipating what might follow) seem more aggressive than 2. ... Nc6, but it tends to lead to near-symmetrical positions and invites early opening of lines and exchanges of major pieces. Because 2. ... Nc6 breaks the symmetry and avoids an early release of tension in the center, it will in fact tend to lead to a sharper and, in my view, more interesting game. Of course this is not to dismiss the Petroff but to be honest I much prefer 2. ... Nc6.