C58 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Kieseritzky Variation
11/11
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5Na56.d3
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Kieseritzky Variation228k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
53%120k47%
22%51k55%
9.4%21k34%
4.9%11k42%
3%6.9k49%
2.6%5.9k43%
2.2%5.1k52%
0.9%2.0k51%
0.8%1.9k41%
0.5%1.2k44%
Famous games in this line68 master games
Zeng, C. (2561) – Vidit, S. (2707)Spitz, Patrick (2533) – Martín Clemente, Joel (2595)Zeng, C. (2597) – Tin, Jingyao (2485)Stefansson, Vignir Vatnar (2541) – Van Foreest, Lucas (2522)Spitz, Patrick (2491) – Rubinas, Pavel (2562)Spitz, Patrick (2491) – Butnorius, Algimantas (2550)Spitz, Patrick (2533) – Iotov, Valentin Dimitrov (2500)Rogers, Ian (2569) – Jonkman, Harmen (2436)Heroes of this opening Vidit, S. · Martín Clemente, Joel · Zeng, C.
- 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. d3
Classical
★ Read the guide: Italian GameExplore all 184 Italian Game lines →Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Maróczy VariationC58 6…h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.Qe2 Nxc4 9.dxc4 …Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Yankovich VariationC58 6…h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.Qe2 Nxc4 9.dxc4 …
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