C56 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Keidansky Variation
18/18
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.d4exd45.e5d56.Bb5Ne47.Nxd4Bc58.Nxc6Bxf2+9.Kf1Qh4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Keidansky Variation3.3k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
39%1.3k37%
23%74937%
14%46929%
14%45645%
3.3%10951%
2.9%9424%
0.9%307%
0.8%258%
0.5%1822%
0.4%1425%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Aggelis, Nikolaos (2323) – Dounis, Alexandros (2207)- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C56
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 Ne4 7. Nxd4 Bc5 8. Nxc6 Bxf2+ 9. Kf1 Qh4
Classical
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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.
Study this opening