C50 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Hungarian Defense
6/6
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Be7
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Hungarian Defense5.2M games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
O-O26%1.4M51%
d425%1.3M53%
c319%1.0M51%
d314%712k49%
Nc313%668k49%
a31.1%60k50%
h30.7%39k50%
b40.4%19k48%
Bxf7+0.2%11k35%
a40.2%8.1k52%
Famous games in this line1.0k master games
Nepomniachtchi, I. (2773) – Artemiev, V. (2700)Navara, D. (2736) – Laznicka, V. (2675)Pruijssers, R. (2536) – Carlsen, M. (2834)Areshchenko, A. (2652) – Jobava, Ba (2687)Savchenko, Boris (2564) – Artemiev, Vladislav (2716)Shirov, Alexei (2695) – Campora, Daniel Hugo (2550)Van Foreest, Jorden (2695) – Ernst, S. (2539)Spassky, Boris V (2610) – Hort, Vlastimil (2620)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M. · Jobava, Ba
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Scotch Game: Benima DefenseC44 4.d4 exd4 · 1 deeper lineItalian Game: Hungarian Defense, Tartakower VariationC50 4.d4 exd4 5.c3 Nf6 6.e5 Ne4
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
- C50
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere