C56 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Krause Variation
13/13
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.d4exd45.O-OBc56.e5Ng47.c3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Krause Variation47k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
dxc346%21k33%
O-O28%13k41%
Ngxe515%6.9k34%
d55.2%2.5k49%
d32.1%96750%
d61.7%78943%
Ncxe51.6%75733%
Nxf20.4%19832%
h50.4%19240%
Qe70.1%6538%
Famous games in this line1 master games
Volovikov, Anton (2324) – Budnikov, Oleg (2442)Keep exploring
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.
- 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. O-O Bc5 6. e5 Ng4 7. c3
SharpAggressiveClassical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere