C50 · for White · beginner
Italian Game
CoursePlay this line through, move by move →5/5
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4
One of the oldest and most natural openings: White develops the bishop to c4, aiming it at Black's weak f7 square, and prepares quick castling. It leads to open, tactical positions and is a staple of club and beginner play.
Key ideas
- Point the c4 bishop at f7 and combine with Nf3 and pressure on e5
- Play the slow Giuoco Pianissimo with c3 and d3, building a big pawn centre later with d4
- In sharper lines push c3 and d4 quickly to blow open the centre
- Castle early and look for kingside attacks against Black's f7
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game97.2M games · Black to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
0.4%391k47%
0.3%334k42%
0.3%311k35%
Famous games in this line49k master games
Caruana, Fabiano (2835) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Kramnik, Vladimir (2812) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Caruana, F. (2804) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Carlsen, M. (2882) – So, W. (2776)Ding, Liren (2791) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Ding, Liren (2791) – Carlsen, Magnus (2863)Carlsen, M. (2855) – Aronian, L. (2792)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2792) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, Magnus · Caruana, F. · Ding, Liren
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Italian Game: Giuoco PianoC50 3…Bc5 · 92 deeper linesItalian Game: Paris DefenseC50 3…d6Italian Game: Rousseau GambitC50 3…f5Italian Game: Hungarian DefenseC50 3…Be7 · 2 deeper lines
Nearby lines in the family
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