Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (5… d6 6. c3)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3

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. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move. 5 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 446 times by this move order. White won 47%, 5% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 6… Bg4 (34% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 6… O-O 7. Re1 Bb6 8. h3 h6 9. Nbd2)

ECO: C54
Moves: 11 plies
FEN: r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2np1n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2PP1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 0 6
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	98	56%41%
1500-1999	244	46%49%
2000+	104	40%51%
All	446	47%48%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6… Bg4	152 (34%)	55%42%
6… h6 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with h6	82 (18%)	39%52%
6… a6 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 a6)	72 (16%)	43%47%
6… O-O Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 O-O)	53 (12%)	42%57%
6… Be6	29 (7%)	41%52%
6… a5 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 a5)	21 (5%)	29%62%
6… Bb6 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 Bb6)	15 (3%)	53%40%
6… Bd7	6 (1%)	67%33%

Master games

63 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 54%, draw 11%, Black 35%). The strongest:

IM Roman Shogdzhiev (2426) – GM Awonder Liang (2696) 0-1 · FIDE World Rapid Team · 2026-06-19
GM Ildar Khairullin (2630) – IM Azat Sharafiev (2418) 1-0 · ch-RUS Rapid 2016 · 2016-10-03
IM Craig Hilby (2434) – GM Tanguy Ringoir (2498) 1/2-1/2 · Charlotte Open 2020 · 2020-01-03
GM Isan Reynaldo Ortiz Suarez (2581) – FM Mergen Kakabayev (2338) 1-0 · 42nd Olympiad 2016 · 2016-09-08
GM Petr Kostenko (2416) – FM Konstantin Kazakov (2390) 1-0 · Kazakhstan Cup Final 2017 · 2017-12-24

Search all games of the Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

GM cutemouse83 (2971) – Sunrise34 (2856) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
MightBeDecent (2647) – NameTheGame (2711) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
m_d1386 (2540) – Yaponets (2573) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Italian Game: Giuoco Piano 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5

Continuations

Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 a5) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a5
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 a6) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 Bb6) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 Bb6
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 O-O) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 O-O
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with h6 C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6

More Italian 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.