Petroff Defense [C42]By Abby MarshallTo my surprise I have never covered the Petroff Defense in any of my columns. The reputation of the Petroff as a boring, drawish opening is starting to change. In the positions I want to look at in this column, early on Black trades a knight for a bishop to create an interesting imbalance. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 White may be mentally rehearsing the Ruy Lopez or the Italian Game, but instead of 2...Nc6 comes... 2...Nf6 [FEN "rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 3"]Don't let the initial symmetry fool you. Regardless of how White plays, the position soon becomes unbalanced with different goals for each side. In the variation I am looking at … [Read more...]