C51 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Pavlov Variation
23/23
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bb65.b5Na56.Nxe5Nh67.d4d68.Bxh6dxe59.Bxg7Rg810.Bxf7+Kxf711.Bxe5Qg512.Nd2
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Pavlov Variation9 games · Black to move
Only 9 games reach this position at this level — read it loosely.
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
Qxg289%838%
Bg411%1100%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Kurnosov, Igor (2538) – Gyimesi, Zoltan (2602)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. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nh6 7. d4 d6 8. Bxh6 dxe5 9. Bxg7 Rg8 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Bxe5 Qg5 12. Nd2
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere