Best Petroff Defense Courses

If you play the Petroff as Black, the best-documented single purchase is GM Ivan Cheparinov's course at Modern Chess (€79, 6h 41m, April 2025) for depth, or Fabien Libiszewski's "Fight for More Than Equality" on ChessBase (€39.90, 5h 39m, July 2026) for price and breadth, as of 8 November 2026. Their lesson lists show they cover 3.Nxe5 and 3.d4, and Libiszewski also names 3.Nc3. Not every Petroff course is for Black (ChessMood's appears to be for White), so check which side you are buying.

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Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken these courses. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports read on 8 November 2026. How we review explains the limits.

How we picked

We kept courses for Black with a dated price, a running time and a visible list of White's tries. Research counted 15 paid Petroff courses, and reading Modern Chess's author pages added Baadur Jobava's two-part course, making 16. We read 8 of those on the seller's own page: four from ChessBase, three from Modern Chess and the ChessMood course. The seven Chessable titles are known by name only, because their product pages could not be read, and TheChessWorld's listing is search-level. One ChessBase item is a 60-minute micro-course on the Stafford Gambit (3...Nc6), a dubious sideline with traps, and it is left out of the tables. The same opening is sold as "Petroff", "Petrov" and "Russian", so search all three.

Do you need a course at your level?

Possibly, though we would not suggest one before about 1300 (a judgement, not a measured threshold). The early moves are more forcing than the Petroff's calm reputation suggests. Black must not copy White blindly: after 3.Nxe5 Nxe4? 4.Qe2, the natural 4...Nf6?? loses the queen to 5.Nc6+. A course adds most when it is organised by White's choices rather than one main line. If you mostly want to avoid theory against 1.e4 and will not study these concrete positions, a free source and a simpler defence may serve you better.

What the Petroff saves you, and what it does not

The Petroff's practical attraction is a smaller map. Playing 2...Nf6 avoids the Ruy Lopez, the Italian and the Scotch, as Wikipedia's Petrov article notes, and those are three large bodies of theory you would otherwise have to meet after 1...e5.

It does not spare you everything else. White can leave the Petroff's path before 2...Nf6 with 2.Nc3 (the Vienna), 2.Bc4 or 2.d4, and a Petroff course may or may not cover those. Libiszewski's list has a "2nd Move Alternatives" chapter; the Modern Chess lists we read start at White's third move.

Theory load

Moderate, and concentrated in two places. Wikipedia gives White's two main choices as 3.Nxe5 and 3.d4, adding that they often lead to similar positions. After 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 you need to know White's fifth moves, especially 5.d4 and 5.Nc3. Coaches commonly say the symmetrical structures reward understanding over memorisation. That is a convention, and it stops being true in the main lines: Fernandez's page says those lines need "a high degree of concrete knowledge", and Cheparinov's course gives 18 of its 23 lessons to 3.Nxe5.

Move orders and repertoire choices to check

White's order of moves and Black's move six both change what you need.

• 3.d4 is a main line, not a sideline. Black usually replies 3...Nxe4. Then 4.Bd3 and 4.dxe5 are the branches every course should name. Fernandez answers 4.Bd3 with 4...Nc6; Libiszewski, Cheparinov and Roiz list 4...d5.
• 3.Nc3 can become a Four Knights after 3...Nc6. Fernandez's page gives 3...Bb4 instead, which keeps the game Petroff-like. If you do not want to learn the Four Knights, look for that reply.
• 3.Bc4 can transpose. Wikipedia notes it may lead to the Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit (3...Nxe4 4.Nc3) or to Two Knights positions.
• The main line splits at move six. After 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3, Libiszewski and Roiz play 6...Bf5, while Fernandez lists 6...Be7 7.0-0 Nd6 and an "Old Main Line" group keyed to 10.a3 and 10.Nc3. Cheparinov and Jobava list a main line with 9.Re1 Bf5 and 10.Qb3 or 10.Qc2. Pick the course whose main line you intend to play, and do not assume that lessons from two courses combine.

Coverage matrix

"Listed" means the seller's page names the line. "Not listed" means we read a contents list and it is not there. "Not stated" means we saw no contents.

Modern Chess's Jobava course is a separate case. Part 1 lists 5.Nc3, 5.d3, 5.Qe2, 5.c4, 5.Bd3 and main lines without 8.c4 and with 9.cxd5, 9.Qc2, 9.Re1 and 9.Nc3. We did not read Part 2, and Part 1 alone does not list 3.d4.

Best-documented courses for Black

Prices as shown on 8 November 2026. ChessBase prices are euros as displayed, and cost per hour is our calculation from the listed price and running time.

Before buying from Modern Chess, read its terms (updated 29 December 2025): sales are final once access is provided, and its pages offer a free preview to judge the teaching first. See also our Modern Chess review. Andrew Martin's "Evans & Friends" bundle on ChessBase (€59.90, August 2026) is a White repertoire against 1...e5 with one Petroff chapter in Vol. 2, so it is not a Petroff course for Black.

ChessMood's Petroff course appears to be for White

ChessMood's "Fight the Petroff Defense" is a course against the opening. Its page lists 4h 53m, 108 episodes, a $250 standalone price (also included in the Essential plan, shown on 8 November 2026 as $79 a month billed yearly at $948), a rating range of 1800 to 2600 with no rating system named, and 14 unlocked lessons. The page does not state which side it is for, but the title, a lesson called "5.Nc3!" and sections keyed to Black's replies point to a course for White; that is our inference. At $250 over 4h 53m the standalone price is about $51.19 per listed hour (our calculation). See our ChessMood pricing page for plan terms.

The free route

You can learn the first moves and the trap at no cost. Lichess studies and its opening explorer are free (Lichess studies and practice). Our free Chessable courses list shows which Chessable titles were free on 8 November 2026. No Petroff course is confirmed free there, and Chessable's Short & Sweet abridgements became PRO-only from 2 January 2025, so older mentions of a free Short & Sweet Petroff should not be relied on.

Who should skip a Petroff course

Skip it if you are under about 1200, if you want early attacking chances as Black, or if you already have a reply to 1.e4 that suits you. Skip the Roiz parts if listed video time is your main measure of value. To compare other Black replies, see Black repertoire courses and low-theory repertoire courses. For White's 1.e4 e5 options, including the Scotch, see Ruy Lopez courses and Italian Game courses.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• Eight of the 16 courses could not be read on the seller's own page, so we cannot say what they cover.
• Buying the Roiz Part 1 alone leaves you without 3.d4, which is in Part 2; the titles do not make that obvious.
• Lesson counts mislead: Cheparinov's 23 lessons are 18 on 3.Nxe5 and 5 on 3.d4, with no chapter named for 3.Nc3.
• Libiszewski is new (July 2026), while Fernandez (2018) and Kritz (2012) do not say whether their theory has been updated.
• ChessBase's levels are generic ("Advanced, Tournament player, Professional"; "Tournament player, Professional" for Kritz) and do not separate a 1200 from a 2000 player.