Opening Leak Lab

Petrov's Defense: Italian Variation

C42 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4

Black scores 47.8% here across 738 club games — but the 11.4% who answer d6 score 39.9%, 8 points worse.

What Black actually plays here

Across 738 games from a Lichess-derived book of club play, Black scores 47.8% in this position. These are the replies people choose, and how each one works out.

ReplyGamesShare Black scoresVerdict
Nc6 208 28.2% 51.7% holds up
Nxe4 194 26.3% 51.8% holds up
d6 84 11.4% 39.9% below the line
Bc5 77 10.4% 53.2% holds up
h6 57 7.7% 37.7% below the line
d5 53 7.2% 41.5% below the line
c6 29 3.9% 46.6% holds up

"Below the line" means the reply scores at least three points worse than the position does overall. Replies played fewer than 25 times are left out: the sample is too small to read.

Is this costing you anything?

A table of averages cannot tell you whether you go wrong here — only your own games can. Opening Leak Lab reads your Chess.com or Lichess archive, finds the decisions you repeat, and checks each one against this book and a bundled Stockfish.

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