C57 · Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz Variation

10/10
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Nd4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz Variation878k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
55%485k51%
22%193k27%
13%114k51%
3.6%32k51%
2.4%21k52%
1.7%15k34%
0.9%7.8k23%
0.4%3.8k45%
0.3%2.2k48%
0.1%1.1k46%
Famous games in this line145 master games
Kollars, Dmitrij (2644)Hammer, J. (2618)20251–0Saric, Ivan (2567)Georgiev, Kiril (2685)20101–0Wei Yi (2641)Duda, J. (2599)2014½–½Morozevich, Alexander (2610)Timman, Jan H (2590)19960–1Gharamian, Tigran (2650)Gozzoli, Yannick (2543)20111–0Urkedal, F. (2564)Hammer, J. (2596)2024½–½Ninov, Nikolai (2486)Cheparinov, Ivan (2621)20050–1Kvaloy, Aksel Bu (2477)Hammer, J. (2608)2025½–½
Heroes of this opening Kollars, Dmitrij · Saric, Ivan · Timman, Jan H · Gharamian, Tigran
Category
Open
First move
1.e4
ECO
C57
Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4
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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