Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Anderssen Defense

14/14
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bxb45.c3Ba56.O-ONf67.d4exd4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Anderssen Defense146k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
63%92k47%
22%33k46%
5.9%8.6k57%
5.2%7.7k42%
1.8%2.6k45%
0.8%1.2k39%
0.6%83242%
0.3%37541%
0.2%35546%
0%3944%
Famous games in this line45 master games
Umansky, Mikhail Markovich (2670) – Timmerman, Gert Jan (2706)2005½–½Sveshnikov, Evgeny (2580) – Graf, Alexander (2585)1995½–½Hoyos Millán, Luis Bernardo (2560) – Voiculescu, Costel (2573)2010½–½Sveshnikov, Evgeny (2595) – Scekic, Milos (2430)1998½–½Grosar, Aljosa (2495) – Scekic, Milos (2400)1997½–½Quevedo García, Vicente (2386) – Martín Molinero, Raúl (2426)2022½–½Kostin, Alexey (2387) – Rodin, Dmitrij (2421)20040–1Corbat, Philippe (2351) – Mathe, Iosif (2410)2006½–½
Category
Open
First move
1.e4
ECO
C52
Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 exd4
GambitClassical
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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.

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