C54 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Greco Variation
16/16
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.d4exd46.cxd4Bb4+7.Nc3Nxe48.O-ONxc3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Greco Variation272k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
bxc392%250k65%
Re1+4.3%12k52%
Qe1+1.9%5.2k53%
Qb30.9%2.4k46%
Bxf7+0.5%1.4k47%
d50.2%66413%
b30.1%2536%
Qd30%3639%
Bg50%2638%
Qc20%2043%
Famous games in this line4 master games
Shumiakina, Tatiana (2375) – Litinskaya, Marta I (2335)Fabrega, Enrique (2275) – De Souza, Mauro Guimaraes (2355)Boricsev, O. (2343) – Sevostianov, P. (2248)Schlesinger, Omri (2275) – Roeberg, Frank (2310)Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Aitken VariationC54 9.bxc3 Bxc3 10.Ba3Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Bernstein VariationC54 9.bxc3 Bxc3 10.Qb3 d5
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
- C54
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nxe4 8. O-O Nxc3
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere