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
81%8.0k54%
8.2%80954%
2.6%25745%
2.6%25639%
1.3%12852%
1.3%12842%
0.7%7249%
0.6%5758%
0.4%4345%
0.4%4049%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Schandorff, Lars (2420) – Sahl, Bjarke (2445)- 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
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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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