user24511: Today I have been playing some new lines I haven't tried before. I am quite fond of the Petrov (Russian) Defense and I found some interesting lines particularly the Stafford Gambit seemed to peak my interest.
I had 2 games today with this line and in both instances white did 6. Qe2. This I found interesting as the expected continuation in this position is for move 6 for white is d4. I found that countering with Bc5 seemed to work ok but I was curious as to some thoughts about what the best move following Qe2 would be and potential development ideas.
[FEN ""]
[Date "2020.08.24"]
[White "Him"]
[Black "Me"]
[ECO "C42"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qe2 Bc5 7. Qxe4 *


user2494: Rats. I thought I had a 5. Qe2 somewhere... Crap, that colllection of Stafford  games was on the stolen laptop.
...Bf5 was a suggestion earlier, right? Then if d3 kicks you back to c5, and d4 hits you again, you can drop back to e6 without blocking the bishop, or go in for ...Ne4 f3 Qh4+ Qf2 (what a mess) .

user19861: The Stafford is getting popular because of the Youtube videos I guess. I saw it earlier today and just played 5.Be2 to take it out of book and won easily.
It's a trappy opening and you're going to have to accept the fact that not every white move gives you a mate in 2.
The best move is probably Bf5. The downside to Qe2 is that 1) white hinders his own development and 2) the c2 pawn isn't defended. Bf5 takes advantage of both of those facts while protecting the knight Qd4 might be another option. 6...f5 and 6...Qh5 are just bad. The only other options would be moving the knight to c5 or g5.

24511: <p>Today I have been playing some new lines I haven't tried before. I am quite fond of the Petrov (Russian) Defense and I found some interesting lines particularly the Stafford Gambit seemed to peak my interest.</p>
<p>I had 2 games today with this line and in both instances white did <strong>6. Qe2</strong>. This I found interesting as the expected continuation in this position is for move 6 for white is d4. I found that countering with Bc5 seemed to work ok but I was curious as to some thoughts about what the best move following Qe2 would be and potential development ideas.</p>
<pre><code>[FEN &quot;&quot;]
[Date &quot;2020.08.24&quot;]
[White &quot;Him&quot;]
[Black &quot;Me&quot;]
[ECO &quot;C42&quot;]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qe2 Bc5 7. Qxe4 *
</code></pre>
 2494: <p>Rats. I thought I had a 5. Qe2 somewhere... Crap, that colllection of Stafford  games was on the stolen laptop.</p>
<p>...Bf5 was a suggestion earlier, right? Then if d3 kicks you back to c5, and d4 hits you again, you can drop back to e6 without blocking the bishop, or go in for ...Ne4 f3 Qh4+ Qf2 (what a mess) .</p>
 19861: <p>The Stafford is getting popular because of the Youtube videos I guess. I saw it earlier today and just played 5.Be2 to take it out of book and won easily.</p>
<p>It's a trappy opening and you're going to have to accept the fact that not every white move gives you a mate in 2.</p>
<p>The best move is probably Bf5. The downside to Qe2 is that 1) white hinders his own development and 2) the c2 pawn isn't defended. Bf5 takes advantage of both of those facts while protecting the knight Qd4 might be another option. 6...f5 and 6...Qh5 are just bad. The only other options would be moving the knight to c5 or g5.</p>
