Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano
6/6
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Bc5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano37.8M games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
25%9.3M51%
10%3.9M50%
1%374k49%
0.5%197k49%
0.5%171k27%
Famous games in this line26k master games
Caruana, Fabiano (2835) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Caruana, F. (2804) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Carlsen, M. (2882) – So, W. (2776)Ding, Liren (2791) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Ding, Liren (2791) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Carlsen, M. (2855) – Aronian, L. (2792)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2792) – Carlsen, M. (2855)So, W. (2812) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, Magnus · Caruana, F. · Ding, Liren
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C50
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Evans Gambit4.b4 · 47 deeper linesItalian Game: Jerome Gambit4.Bxf7Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo4.d3 · 4 deeper linesItalian Game: Rosentreter Gambit4.d4
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