Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack

11/11
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Nxd56.d4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack94k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
31%29k37%
16%15k34%
14%13k42%
11%9.9k45%
9.9%9.3k40%
9.2%8.6k34%
1.6%1.5k33%
1.4%1.3k5%
1.2%1.2k33%
Famous games in this line9 master games
Petrov, Martin (2472)Sulskis, S. (2529)2019½–½Solodovnichenko, Yuri (2516)Michalczak, Thomas (2364)20040–1Novitzkij, Dmitrij (2284)Zaitsev, Igor A (2420)19990–1Boehme, Sebastian (2369)Háse, Pavel (2332)20121–0Veinger, Itzhak (2410)Brook, Otto (2285)1986½–½Arppi, Heikki (2332)Eloranta, Kari (2271)20051–0Zhuravleva, O. (2278)Mamedjarova, T. (2310)20190–1Bontems, Cyrille (2226)Tanti, Joe G. (2246)2020½–½
Heroes of this opening Michalczak, Thomas · Zaitsev, Igor A · Boehme, Sebastian · Arppi, Heikki
Category
Open
First move
1.e4
ECO
C57
Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. d4
AggressiveClassical
Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines
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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.

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