This variation of the kings pawn game by black seems to give me some trouble, I was wondering what whites best move is? Also how many of you play it... is this better than 2... Nc6?
Petroff's Defence, or the Russian Game, often leads to draws. 3.Nxe5 is very common here for white, and if 3...Nxe4 you can catch black with the famous trap 4.Qe2! when white wins at least a pawn. There are other lines, but I don't know them.
I should mention, if you're playing against someone that knows what they are doing with a Petroff they will obvously never fall for that trap. So, just make sure that you aren't expecting all of your opponents to fall for that.
Originally posted by cmsMaster I should mention, if you're playing against someone that knows what they are doing with a Petroff they will obvously never fall for that trap. So, just make sure that you aren't expecting all of your opponents to fall for that.
Yeah, I meant that its good to know from blacks perspective! I see that black would usually play 3... d6 and push the knight away before 4... Nxe4 in order to avoid the trap.
Originally posted by ChessJester Yeah, I meant that its good to know from blacks perspective! I see that black would usually play 3... d6 and push the knight away before 4... Nxe4 in order to avoid the trap.
As black, you have to play d6. That's the whole point of the opening. I forgot it once and lost ambarassingly.
I like the Petrov because it leads to nice lines for the black bishops. Forget about what people saying that it's drawish. At our level, it's not.
Shinidoki: thanks for the tips, those traps look dubious (ominous laughter)...
Siskin: I've read about 3.d4 before... I'm looking at it now... doesn't seem too amazing...
Hey! I kinda figured it out, this move 2... Nf6 is a blunder!! it does nothing! white can simply transpose into something like the kings indian by 3.g3 and simply leave the e4 pawn undefended, tempting black to attack it, and when black does then white plays d3 and then Nxe5