Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined
8/8
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4Bb6
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined498k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
41%206k47%
15%74k52%
14%71k49%
1.5%7.5k46%
1.1%5.6k48%
0.5%2.7k45%
0.4%1.8k47%
0.3%1.6k40%
Famous games in this line220 master games
Grischuk, A. (2750) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Grischuk, A. (2750) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Morozevich, Alexander (2788) – Kamsky, Gata (2723)Kasparov, Garry (2805) – Piket, Jeroen (2670)Wang, Hao (2736) – Ponomariov, Ruslan (2723)Morozevich, Alexander (2723) – Adams, Michael (2716)Ganguly, S. (2619) – Aronian, L. (2815)Jobava, Baadur (2696) – Grischuk, Alexander (2736)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · Grischuk, A. · Kamsky, Gata · Kasparov, Garry
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C51
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Cordel Variation5.Bb2Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Showalter Variation5.a4 a6 6.Nc3Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Lange Variation5.b5 Na5 6.Nxe5 Nh6 · 1 deeper lineItalian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation5.b5 Na5 6.Nxe5 Qg5 · 2 deeper lines
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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