Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo
9/9
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.d3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo4.4M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
28%1.2M46%
19%850k47%
2%88k43%
1.7%74k51%
1.1%49k48%
0.6%27k40%
0.3%13k49%
Famous games in this line15k master games
Caruana, Fabiano (2835) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Kramnik, V. (2808) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2773) – Carlsen, M. (2865)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2782) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Caruana, F. (2823) – Kramnik, Vladimir (2809)Carlsen, M.. (2862) – So, W.. (2770)Duda, Jan Krzysztof (2758) – Carlsen, Magnus (2872)Carlsen, M. (2847) – Aronian, L. (2782)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, Magnus · Kramnik, V.
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C54
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Classical Variation, with d55…d5Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a65…a6Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, Albin Variation5…d6 6.b4Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a4 a55…d6 6.O-O O-O 7.a4 a5
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