How To Punish The Copycat Opening in Chess [Petrov’s Defense]

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♛ Find the Petrov’s Defense variations shown in the video in this blog-post –

If you play 1.e4 as White, you must be prepared to face the Petrov’s Defense. It arises after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6, with Black responding symmetrically and counter-attacking your pawn on e4.

2…Nf6 is the third most popular choice by Black after 2…Nc6 and 2…d6. More than 100 million chess games have been played with this opening, so it’s crucial to be ready to play against it.

After 3.Nxe5, Black could either play the symmetric 3…Nxe4, known as the Damiano Variation, or play 3…Nc6, which is known as the Stafford Gambit, a more common choice at the beginner and intermediate levels.

In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov will show you the best way to counter the Petrov’s Defense as White. Instead of playing 3.Nxe5, which could lead to Black gaining a better position with the Stafford Gambit, you can opt for the aggressive Modern Attack with 3.d4.

Playing the Modern Attack gives you a great head start in the opening stage and allows you to surprise your opponents, dragging them into unfamiliar territory.

Watch the full video lesson to learn all common variations, key ideas for White, and some powerful middlegame attacking plans that open doors for beautiful queen sacrifice checkmates!

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► Chapters

00:00 How to counter the Petrov’s Defense as White
00:40 3.d4 Modern Attack
01:15 1) If Black plays 3…Nxe4
02:46 Beautiful Queen sacrifice checkmate
03:45 If Black plays Nxf2 instead of Bxf2+
06:33 If Black plays 4…d5 (instead of 4…Bc5)
08:31 Unstoppable Kingside Attack
09:16 2) If Black plays 3…exd4

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