C57 · Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz, Gruber Variation

15/15
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Nd46.c3b57.Bf1Nxd58.Ne4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz, Gruber Variation4.9k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
38%1.9k47%
27%1.4k42%
13%63053%
8.3%41233%
7.3%35940%
5%24740%
0.8%3836%
0.1%714%
0.1%520%
0.1%50%
Famous games in this line59 master games
Narciso Dublan, Marc (2450)Kuzmin, Alexey (2525)1997½–½Timman, Jan H (2675)Arikok, Enis (2290)19880–1Muzychuk, Anna (2417)Antic, Dejan (2505)2006½–½Bagirov, Rufat (2467)Gubajdullin, Alexey (2455)20091–0Vouldis, Angelos (2425)Grivas, Efstratios (2495)19950–1Barbeau, Sylvain (2404)Garcia, Gildardo (2461)20041–0Sermek, Drazen (2515)Olarasu, Gabriela (2347)20011–0Pilgaard, Kim (2400)Pedersen, Nicolai Vesterbaek (2441)20021–0
Heroes of this opening Arikok, Enis · Bagirov, Rufat · Grivas, Efstratios · Barbeau, Sylvain
Category
Open
First move
1.e4
ECO
C57
Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4 6. c3 b5 7. Bf1 Nxd5 8. Ne4
Classical
Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines
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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.

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