Petrov's Defense: Italian Variation – Nxe4

After 4.d3, the pawn on e4 is hanging but White's real idea is simple: develop with tempo and fight for the centre. The engine's top line — Nc5 Nxe5 d5 Bb3 — shows Black giving back the extra pawn to free their position. Notice how White's light-squared bishop retreats to b3, keeping pressure on the f7 square and pointing at Black's kingside. Your queen can later come to e2 or d2, and the knight from f3 can reposition. The position is rich and playable despite the small minus evaluation. You're not defending a lost cause — you're steering the game toward practical imbalances where your opponent can easily go wrong.

Black's best move according to Stockfish is 4...Nc5. This knight hop threatens nothing directly but prepares a solid setup. The engine's suggested continuation goes 5.Nxe5 d5 6.Bb3, where Black has surrendered the e4-pawn's partner and is fighting for central space with d5. From here, White's pieces are active: the knight on e5 is a nuisance, the bishop on b3 eyes f7, and White can castle quickly. You're still slightly worse according to the engine, but in practice this is a perfectly sound position to play. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority of club players do not choose Nc5 — they pick something worse.

The Lichess database from 536,601 games reveals that Black's most popular move is 4...Nd6, played over 215,000 times. The engine calls this an inaccuracy — Black loses about half a pawn compared to the best move. White scores 47.7% from here, so the position is near-equal. Even more punishable is 4...d5, played nearly 59,000 times, which the engine marks as an inaccuracy costing ~0.8 pawns. Black's worst offender is 4...Nxf2 (28,694 games), a mistake that drops about 2.3 pawns. If your opponent grabs the rook with Nxf2, White is much better — just don't panic, develop with tempo, and enjoy the extra material you'll recover. Interestingly, 4...Ng5 appears in only 8,847 games but White scores a whopping 75.3% — Black's knight is badly misplaced there.

The overall stats at this position (White 48.7%, Draws 3.5%, Black 47.8%) show this opening is razor-sharp and nearly a coin flip. That's remarkable given the engine says Black has a small edge. What does this mean for you? Practical chances matter more than computer evaluations at club level. Black has to navigate accurately to hold that -0.67 edge. When they play Nd6 (the most popular move), the game stays close. When they play d5, they've already slipped. And when they try Nxf2 or Ng5, you should be licking your chops. Your job as White is to know the critical moment — right here after 4.d3 — and let your opponent make the first mistake.