C57 · Open · a plan for White
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation, Kurkin Gambit
13/13
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf64.Ng5d55.exd5b56.Bf1h67.Nxf7
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation, Kurkin Gambit1.1k games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
98%1.1k49%
2%2232%
0.1%10%
0.1%10%
Famous games in this line23 master games
Vallejo Pons, Francisco (2660) – Naiditsch, Arkadij (2639)Istratescu, A. (2671) – Haznedaroglu, K. (2437)Howell, James C (2490) – Volzhin, Alexander (2485)Pommerel Brouwer, Wim H (2430) – Ziese, Gerhard (Leipzig) (2487)Das, Arghyadip (2419) – Karpatchev, Aleksandr (2483)Veinger, Itzhak (2380) – Hebden, Mark (2510)Gretarsson, Andri Ass (2355) – Hebden, Mark (2530)Nabaty, Tamir (2417) – Kaplan, Sasha (2456)Heroes of this opening Vallejo Pons, Francisco · Istratescu, A. · Howell, James C · Das, Arghyadip
- 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 b5 6. Bf1 h6 7. Nxf7
GambitClassical
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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