Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Classical Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bc5

The Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Classical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C48, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bc5. It is a line of the Four Knights Game. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,395 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 5. Bxc6 (37% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.15 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 5. O-O O-O 6. Nxe5 Nxe5 7. d4 Bd6)

ECO: C48
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: r1bqk2r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/1Bb1p3/4P3/2N2N2/PPPP1PPP/R1BQK2R w KQkq - 6 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bc5

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	2,350	46%49%
1500-1999	826	49%46%
2000+	219	53%38%
All	3,395	47%48%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. Bxc6	1,267 (37%)	45%51%
5. O-O	867 (26%)	53%43%
5. d3	565 (17%)	43%51%
5. Nxe5	341 (10%)	55%39%
5. h3	195 (6%)	47%50%
5. d4	52 (2%)	37%63%
5. Nd5	26 (1%)	42%58%
5. a3	22 (1%)	55%45%

Master games

806 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:

GM Yi Wei (2753) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2710) 1/2-1/2 · Huocheng Xinjiang Rapid · 2017-08-02
GM Vladislav Kovalev (2664) – GM Levon Aronian (2780) 1/2-1/2 · 43rd Olympiad 2018 · 2018-10-01
GM Vladislav Kovalev (2639) – GM Levon Aronian (2805) 1-0 · World Rapid 2017 · 2017-12-26
GM Hao Wang (2735) – GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2702) 1/2-1/2 · IMSA World Masters Rapid · 2019-05-15
GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2697) – GM Tamir Nabaty (2692) 1/2-1/2 · 4th Gideon Japhet Mem Op · 2018-07-06

Search all games of the Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Classical Variation and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

MASHUK777 (2755) – GM ikica77 (2674) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
vwemby (2608) – Aggressive-Python (2676) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
SolaceOfNight (2554) – Aggressive-Python (2715) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation (3… Nf6 4. Bb5) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5

Continuations

Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Bardeleben Variation C48 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bc5 5. O-O O-O 6. Nxe5 Nxe5 7. d4 Bd6 8. f4 Nc6 9. e5 Bb4

More Four Knights Game lines (all)

Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.