Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack, Main Line
21/21
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.d4exd45.O-ONxe46.Re1d57.Bxd5Qxd58.Nc3Qa59.Nxe4Be610.Bd2Qd511.Bg5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack, Main Line2.6k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
37%93941%
26%67049%
22%57160%
7.5%19246%
3.3%8449%
3%7825%
0.7%1738%
0.4%1010%
0.2%438%
0.1%3100%
Famous games in this line40 master games
Sveshnikov, Evgeny (2565) – Beliavsky, Alexander G (2615)Bronstein, David I (2555) – Tal, Mihail (2615)Carlstedt, Jonathan (2387) – Melkumyan, Hrant (2632)Alexakis, Dimitris (2450) – Vavulin, Maksim (2554)Karaklajic, Nikola (2490) – Hennings, Artur (2475)Inkiov, Ventzislav (2450) – Lengyel, Levente (2430)Ekstroem, Roland (2390) – Wiedenkeller, Michael (2460)Pourkashiyan, Atousa (2261) – Iuldachev, Saidali (2541)Heroes of this opening Melkumyan, Hrant · Alexakis, Dimitris · Iuldachev, Saidali
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C56
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Bd2 Qd5 11. Bg5
GambitAggressiveClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
The Italian Game appears in the Göttingen manuscript (c. 1500) and in Polerio's notebooks — chess players have been putting the bishop on c4 for more than five hundred years. It fell out of top-level fashion for decades, then came back as White players went looking for a way round the Berlin Defence; Carlsen used the quiet Giuoco Pianissimo in the 2016 world-championship match.
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