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
Family
Italian Game
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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Nearby lines in the family
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Waller Attack3…Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 …Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Harding Variation3…Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 …Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Richardson Attack3…Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O …
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
Videos on YouTube ↗Wikipedia: Italian Game ↗