C56 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Canal Variation
13/13
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.d4exd44.Bc4Nf65.O-ONxe46.Re1d57.Nc3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Canal Variation9.6k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
dxc444%4.2k46%
dxc341%3.9k54%
Be67.3%70454%
Be74%38134%
Bb42.1%20235%
Bf50.7%7221%
f50.6%5440%
Bc50.4%4033%
d30.1%917%
Bg40.1%911%
Famous games in this line44 master games
Van Wijgerden, Cor (2425) – Jussupow, Artur (2555)Blatny, Pavel (2415) – Smejkal, Jan (2550)Sulskis, S. (2528) – Krivonosov, O. (2411)Maciejewski, Andrzej (2470) – Vogt, Lothar (2440)Tishin, Petr (2445) – Varavin, Viktor (2445)Basagic, Zlatko (2372) – Mikhalchishin, Adrian (2512)Calvo Minguez, Ricardo (2460) – Rubinetti, Jorge Alberto (2415)Euler, Gerd (2380) – Ragozin, Evgeni (2480)Heroes of this opening Van Wijgerden, Cor · Smejkal, Jan · Vogt, Lothar · Tishin, Petr
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
- C56
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Nc3
GambitClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere