Open · a plan for White

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Yurdansky Attack

25/25
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.d4exd44.Bc4Nf65.O-ONxe46.Re1d57.Bxd5Qxd58.Nc3Qa59.Nxe4Be610.Bg5h611.Bh4g512.Nf6+Ke713.b4
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Yurdansky Attack278 games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
82%22841%
9.4%2640%
6.5%180%
1.4%450%
0.7%20%
Famous games in this line2 master games
Vakulienko, Vladlen (2360) – Kiselev, Sergey (2445)1989½–½Hemstapat, Andrew (2130) – Iniyan, P.. (2506)20200–1
Family
Italian Game
Category
Open
First move
1.e4
ECO
C56
Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bh4 g5 12. Nf6+ Ke7 13. b4
AggressiveClassical
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Nearby lines in the family
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Fraser-Mortimer Attack3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 …Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Mortimer-Evans Gambit3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 …Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Berger Variation3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.O-O Bc5 …
From the archives

The Italian Game appears in the Göttingen manuscript (c. 1500) and in Polerio's notebooks — chess players have been putting the bishop on c4 for more than five hundred years. It fell out of top-level fashion for decades, then came back as White players went looking for a way round the Berlin Defence; Carlsen used the quiet Giuoco Pianissimo in the 2016 world-championship match.

Study this opening
Videos on YouTube ↗Wikipedia: Italian Game ↗