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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

1.6k64%

46955%

3100%

20%

10%

150%

Famous games in this line28 master games

Sax, Gyula (2510) – Smyslov, Vassily (2605)1975½–½ Rozenberg, Dov (2579) – Raimbert, Ronald (2426)20061–0 Adorjan, Andras (2510) – Webb, Simon (2415)19761–0 Sriram, Jha (2325) – Sasikiran, Krishnan (2525)19990–1 Felgaer, Ruben (2561) – Pereira, Silvio Cunha (2261)20091–0 Mekhitarian, K. (2529) – Pereira, Si (2291)20181–0 Hauchard, Arnaud (2485) – Renaze, Luc (2331)20061–0 Mestel, A Jonathan (2485) – Henao, Raul Fernando (2325)19801–0

Heroes of this opening Rozenberg, Dov · Adorjan, Andras · Sasikiran, Krishnan · Felgaer, Ruben

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

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Nearby lines in the family

Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Slow Variation4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Nakhmanson Gambit3…Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Nxe4 6.Nc3 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack3…Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5 6.d4

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

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