C53 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Mestel Variation
11/11
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.c3Qe75.d4Bb66.Bg5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Mestel Variation2.1k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
Nf677%1.6k64%
f623%46955%
Qd60.1%3100%
d60.1%20%
Qf60%10%
Qf80%150%
Famous games in this line28 master games
Sax, Gyula (2510) – Smyslov, Vassily (2605)Rozenberg, Dov (2579) – Raimbert, Ronald (2426)Adorjan, Andras (2510) – Webb, Simon (2415)Sriram, Jha (2325) – Sasikiran, Krishnan (2525)Felgaer, Ruben (2561) – Pereira, Silvio Cunha (2261)Mekhitarian, K. (2529) – Pereira, Si (2291)Hauchard, Arnaud (2485) – Renaze, Luc (2331)Mestel, A Jonathan (2485) – Henao, Raul Fernando (2325)Heroes of this opening Rozenberg, Dov · Adorjan, Andras · Sasikiran, Krishnan · Felgaer, Ruben
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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
- C53
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Qe7 5. d4 Bb6 6. Bg5
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere