Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Evans Gambit
7/7
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc54.b4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Evans Gambit3.6M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
4.2%151k41%
0.9%32k41%
0.7%25k25%
0.7%25k46%
0.7%24k26%
0.4%16k43%
0.2%6.3k34%
Famous games in this line1.7k master games
Caruana, Fabiano (2835) – So, Wesley (2770)Grischuk, A. (2750) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Grischuk, A. (2750) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Carlsen, M. (2830) – Anand, V. (2751)Nakamura, Hi (2775) – Anand, V. (2793)Vachier Lagrave, M. (2774) – So, W. (2767)Kasparov, Garry (2805) – Anand, Viswanathan (2715)Li Chao2 (2751) – Ding Liren (2766)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · So, Wesley · Grischuk, A. · Vachier Lagrave, M.
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C51
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted4…Bxb4 · 36 deeper linesItalian Game: Evans Gambit Declined4…Bb6 · 7 deeper linesItalian Game: Evans Gambit, Hein Countergambit4…d5Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Fontaine Countergambit4…b5
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.
Study this opening