C51 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Cordel Variation
9/9
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bb65.Bb2
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Cordel Variation9.9k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
d681%8.0k54%
Nf68.2%80954%
Nxb42.6%25745%
a62.6%25639%
Qf61.3%12852%
f61.3%12842%
Qe70.7%7249%
Nd40.6%5758%
a50.4%4345%
Nge70.4%4049%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Schandorff, Lars (2420) – Sahl, Bjarke (2445)Keep exploring
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
- C51
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. Bb2
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere