C57 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Pincus Variation
12/12
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Nxd56.d4Bb4+
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Pincus Variation1.6k games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
c397%1.6k67%
Bd21.9%3148%
Nc31%1622%
Kf10.1%10%
Famous games in this line2 master games
Petrov, Martin (2472) – Sulskis, S. (2529)Novitzkij, Dmitrij (2284) – Zaitsev, Igor A (2420)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
- C57
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. d4 Bb4+
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Study this opening elsewhere