C56 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation
7/7
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.d4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation2.9M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
9.5%270k41%
3%86k42%
2.8%81k40%
1.3%37k44%
1%27k34%
0.7%20k34%
0.5%15k40%
0.5%14k20%
Famous games in this line1.7k master games
Carlsen, M. (2864) – Le, Quang Liem (2728)Duda, J. (2740) – Aronian, L. (2775)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2767) – Vachier Lagrave, M. (2721)Vitiugov, N. (2719) – Wang Hao (2730)Praggnanandhaa, R. (2768) – Dubov, Daniil (2674)Jones, G.. (2670) – So, W.. (2770)Ponkratov, P. (2641) – Caruana, F. (2792)Mamedov, Rau (2655) – Keymer, Vincent (2755)Heroes of this opening Wang Hao · Dubov, Daniil · Jones, G.. · Caruana, F.
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C56
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Scotch Invitation DeclinedC56 4…d6Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti DefenseC44 4…exd4 · 11 deeper linesItalian Game: Scotch GambitC56 4…exd4 5.O-O · 7 deeper linesItalian Game: Two Knights Defense, Perreux VariationC56 4…exd4 5.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