Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation
12/12
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bb65.b5Na56.Nxe5Qg5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation214 games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
58%12541%
19%4048%
11%2350%
9.8%2145%
1.4%333%
0.5%10%
0.5%10%
- 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. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5
GambitClassical
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Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Vasquez Variation7.Bxf7 Ke7 8.Qh5Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hicken Variation7.Qf3 Qxe5 8.Qxf7 Kd8 9.Bb2
Nearby lines in the family
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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