Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Anderssen Variation

16/16
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.d4exd46.e5d57.Bb5Ne48.cxd4Bb4+
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Anderssen Variation160k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
66%105k55%
31%50k53%
1.7%2.7k35%
1%1.7k48%
0.3%54945%
0.1%931%
0%5254%
Famous games in this line166 master games
Leko, Peter (2741) – Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2742)20081–0Can, Emre (2600) – Wei, Yi (2732)20200–1Shevchenko, Kirill (2677) – Narayanan, SL. (2654)2023½–½Kryvoruchko, Yuriy (2678) – Negi, Parimarjan (2643)20130–1Volokitin, And (2627) – Howell, D. (2694)20191–0Macieja, Bartlomiej (2635) – Aleksandrov, Aleksej (2664)20031–0Mamedov, Rau (2709) – Lopez Martinez, Josep (2584)20180–1Huschenbeth, N. (2628) – Postny, E. (2615)2021½–½
Heroes of this opening Leko, Peter · Wei, Yi · Negi, Parimarjan · Volokitin, And
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. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb4+
GambitClassical
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Nearby lines in the family
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Colman Variation3…Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5 …Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Blackburne Variation3…Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5 …Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 …
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
Videos on YouTube ↗Wikipedia: Italian Game ↗