for Black · advanced
Two Knights Defense
6/6
1.e4e52.Nf3Nc63.Bc4Nf6
Black answers the Italian by counterattacking e4 with the knight rather than mirroring the bishop. This creates sharp, unbalanced play. The oldest and wildest gambit lines arise from this setup. Among them is the notorious Fried Liver Attack.
Key ideas
- Counterattack e4 directly to seize the initiative
- Prepare for the sharp Ng5 lines and the ...d5 counter
- Consider the pawn sacrifice ...b5 (Ulvestad/Fritz) for active piece play
- Accept dynamic imbalance in exchange for piece activity
Live databaseLichess 1600–2000 · blitz + rapid
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense32.7M games · White to move
MoveWhite / draw / BlackPlayedGamesScore
13%4.2M53%
0.5%155k52%
0.3%96k47%
0.1%42k48%
0.1%31k48%
Famous games in this line21k master games
Kramnik, Vladimir (2812) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Kramnik, V. (2808) – Carlsen, M. (2832)Nepomniachtchi, I. (2782) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Giri, A. (2782) – Carlsen, M. (2855)Caruana, F. (2805) – Carlsen, M. (2830)Carlsen, M. (2833) – Nakamura, Hi (2802)Carlsen, M. (2833) – Erigaisi, Arjun (2801)So, W.. (2770) – Carlsen, M.. (2862)Heroes of this opening Carlsen, M..
Keep exploring
Go deeper — named lines from here
Four Knights Game: Italian Variation4.Nc3 · 1 deeper lineItalian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack4.Ng5 · 29 deeper linesItalian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation4.d4 · 13 deeper linesItalian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening4.d3 · 1 deeper line
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