C53 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Bird's Attack
9/9
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.b4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Bird's Attack220k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
Bb681%177k53%
Be710%22k51%
Bd64.8%11k50%
Bxf2+3.4%7.5k52%
O-O0.2%53733%
Nxb40.2%47631%
Bxb40.1%31326%
d60.1%30625%
d50.1%23331%
Nxe40.1%19728%
Famous games in this line367 master games
Aronian, Levon (2825) – Kramnik, Vladimir (2801)Caruana, F. (2823) – Nakamura, Hi (2779)Jobava, Ba (2665) – Caruana, F. (2808)Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2760) – Eljanov, Pavel (2692)Jobava, Baadur (2707) – Eljanov, Pavel (2742)Jobava, Baadur (2710) – Fressinet, Laurent (2718)Areshchenko, Alexander (2664) – Jakovenko, Dmitrij (2736)Fedoseev, Vl3 (2687) – Artemiev, V.. (2709)Heroes of this opening Aronian, Levon · Nakamura, Hi · Jobava, Baadur · Jakovenko, Dmitrij
Keep exploring
Nearby lines in the family
From the archives
The Italian Game is in the Göttingen manuscript and Polerio's notebooks — chess players have been putting the bishop on c4 for more than four centuries. It fell out of top-level fashion for decades, then returned as a main weapon of Carlsen and Caruana, proving the oldest plans still bite.
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C53
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. b4
AggressiveClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere