C54 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Traditional Line
11/11
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Nf65.d4exd46.cxd4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Traditional Line2.7M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
Bb4+88%2.4M47%
Bb610%279k41%
Be70.9%24k38%
Nxd40.5%15k29%
d50.2%6.2k39%
Bxd40.2%4.8k17%
Nxe40.1%4.0k28%
Nb40.1%3.0k19%
O-O0.1%1.7k25%
Na50.1%1.4k28%
Famous games in this line1.2k master games
Nakamura, Hi (2799) – Giri, A. (2776)Radjabov, Teimour (2788) – Karjakin, Sergey (2779)Aronian, L. (2782) – Mamedyarov, S. (2782)So, W. (2772) – Aronian, L. (2782)Caruana, F. (2792) – Nakamura, Hi (2736)Harikrishna, P. (2706) – Aronian, L. (2812)Mamedyarov, S. (2767) – Karjakin, Sergey (2743)Harikrishna, P. (2753) – Tomashevsky, E. (2728)Heroes of this opening Karjakin, Sergey · So, W. · Caruana, F. · Tomashevsky, E.
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Greco's AttackC54 6…Bb4 7.Nc3 · 8 deeper linesItalian Game: Giuoco Piano, Cracow VariationC54 6…Bb4 7.Kf1Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Main LineC54 6…Bb4 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.O-O Bxc3 · 4 deeper linesItalian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Greco VariationC54 6…Bb4 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.O-O Nxc3 · 2 deeper lines
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
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere