Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Colman Variation
16/16
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Na56.Bb5+c67.dxc6bxc68.Qf3Rb8
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Colman Variation76k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
65%50k44%
18%14k54%
14%10k56%
2.8%2.1k58%
0.1%8647%
0.1%6120%
0.1%4141%
0%3219%
0%1753%
0%540%
Famous games in this line165 master games
Erigaisi, Arjun (2775) – Keymer, Vincent (2776)Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2660) – Inarkiev, Ernesto (2674)Ganguly, S. (2614) – Amin, B. (2627)Yemelin, Vasily (2573) – Tomashevsky, Evgeny (2646)Nickel, Arno (2606) – Butnorius, Algimantas (2605)Zhang, Zhong (2617) – Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (2579)Pridorozhni, A. (2533) – Ponkratov, P. (2624)Chiru, Ioan Calin (2494) – Karacsony, Dr. Zsolt (2619)Heroes of this opening Erigaisi, Arjun · Inarkiev, Ernesto · Tomashevsky, Evgeny · Nickel, Arno
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C58
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 Rb8
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
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