C56 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack
11/11
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.d4exd44.Bc4Nf65.O-OBc56.e5
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack1.1M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
40%455k40%
11%124k32%
11%122k31%
1.3%15k19%
0.5%5.1k23%
0.2%2.5k22%
0.2%1.9k26%
0.1%1.3k17%
0.1%94221%
Famous games in this line204 master games
Short, Nigel D (2690) – Fressinet, Laurent (2718)Robson, R. (2628) – Dominguez Perez, L. (2757)Azarov, S. (2618) – Kamsky, G. (2672)Jones, Gawain C (2556) – Bruzon Batista, Lazaro (2641)Zelcic, Robert (2558) – Bosiocic, Marin (2580)Christiansen, Johan-Sebastian (2597) – Moiseenko, Va (2526)Zelcic, Robert (2554) – Sulava, Nenad (2552)Ponkratov, P. (2603) – Shinkevich, V. (2468)Heroes of this opening Short, Nigel D · Robson, R. · Bruzon Batista, Lazaro · Bosiocic, Marin
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C56
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5
SharpAggressiveClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Max Lange Attack, Spielmann DefenseC56 6…Ng4Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Max Lange Attack, Long VariationC56 6…d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1 Be6 9.Ng5 …
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