C58 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bogoljubow Variation
15/15
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Na56.Bb5+c67.dxc6bxc68.Qf3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bogoljubow Variation816k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
31%251k46%
17%142k53%
15%124k43%
7.3%60k53%
3.2%26k36%
3%25k46%
2.7%22k51%
1.8%15k30%
Famous games in this line485 master games
Erigaisi, Arjun (2775) – Keymer, Vincent (2776)Yu, Yangyi (2709) – Ding, Liren (2791)Duda, J. (2739) – Aronian, L. (2747)Firouzja, Alireza (2766) – Yakubboev, Nodirbek (2663)Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar (2724) – Tomashevsky, Evgeny (2664)Fedoseev, Vl3 (2687) – Predke, A.. (2690)Erigaisi, Arjun (2689) – Robson, R. (2682)Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2660) – Inarkiev, Ernesto (2674)Heroes of this opening Erigaisi, Arjun · Aronian, L. · Firouzja, Alireza · Fedoseev, Vl3
- Family
- Italian Game
- Category
- Open
- First move
- 1.e4
- ECO
- C58
- Line
- 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Colman VariationC58 8…Rb8Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Blackburne VariationC58 8…cxb5Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Paoli VariationC58 8…Qc7 9.Bd3
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