Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Center Holding Variation
10/10
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Qe75.d4Bb6
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Center Holding Variation43k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
49%21k42%
34%15k39%
6%2.6k36%
2.4%1.0k39%
1.2%53035%
0.5%23036%
0.3%14733%
0.3%14246%
0.3%11339%
Famous games in this line105 master games
Hansen, Eric (2606) – Carlsen, M. (2847)Macieja, Bartlomiej (2653) – Sasikiran, Krishnan (2654)Sax, Gyula (2510) – Smyslov, Vassily (2605)Sax, Gyula (2510) – Olafsson, Fridrik (2535)Cicak, Slavko (2460) – Rogers, Ian (2570)Anand, Viswanathan (2770) – Sundararajan, Kidambi (2245)Torre, Eugenio (2565) – Ekstroem, Roland (2450)Sveshnikov, Vladimir (2414) – Romanov, Evgeny (2595)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · Macieja, Bartlomiej · Anand, Viswanathan · Romanov, Evgeny
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C53
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. d4 Bb6
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Mestel Variation6.Bg5Italian Game: Classical Variation, Eisinger Variation6.d5 Nb8 7.d6Italian Game: Classical Variation, Tarrasch Variation6.O-O d6 7.a4 a6 8.h3 Nf6 …
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.
Study this opening