Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Laroche Variation
12/12
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bxb45.c3Ba56.d4Nf6
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Laroche Variation12k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
48%5.8k68%
26%3.2k46%
6.8%82542%
6.4%77341%
4.6%55640%
4.6%55352%
1.9%22658%
0.8%9733%
0.4%5146%
0.2%2020%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Golubev, M. (2489) – Yurkovskiy, I. (2303)- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C52
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 Nf6
GambitClassical
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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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