Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6… h6 7. Nbd2)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Nbd2
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo is a chess opening classified as ECO C54, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Nbd2. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 16 times by this move order. White won 50%, 6% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 7… O-O (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.15 (Stockfish, depth 58; best line 7… O-O 8. Re1 a6 9. Nf1 Be6 10. Bxe6)
- ECO
- C54
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2pp1/2np1n1p/2b1p3/2B1P3/2PP1N2/PP1N1PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b kq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Nbd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 9 | |
| 2000+ | 6 | |
| All | 16 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… O-O | 8 (50%) | |
| 7… Bg4 | 3 (19%) | |
| 7… a6 | 2 (13%) | |
| 7… g5 | 2 (13%) | |
| 7… Be6 | 1 (6%) |
Master games
55 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 31%, Black 22%). The strongest:
- GM Anish Giri (2764) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2862) 0-1 · Skilling Open KO 2020 · 2020-11-25
- GM Anish Giri (2782) – GM Veselin Topalov (2761) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Rapid YourNextMove · 2016-06-17
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2775) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2764) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2019 · 2019-08-01
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2752) – GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2706) 1/2-1/2 · Play for Russia Prelim · 2020-05-12
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2726) – GM David Navara (2717) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Prague Masters 2020 · 2020-02-18
Search all games of the Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- G_Erdenebayar (2162) – pinchonattack (2158) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Thomassamoth (2035) – Seirios_li (2106) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 0s
- Trusova_2004 (2088) – RRT1 (2032) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with h6 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6
More Italian Game lines (all)
- Italian Game C50
- Italian Game: Anti-Fried Liver Defense C50
- Italian Game: Blackburne-Kostić Gambit C50
- Italian Game: Classical Variation, Albin Gambit C50
- Italian Game: Deutz Gambit C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (3… Bc5 4. d3) C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5… d6 6. d3) C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5. O-O O-O) C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5… O-O 6. d3) C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Canal Variation C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Dubois Variation C50
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Italian Four Knights Variation C50
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.