Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, Main Line
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Bb3 Ba7 9. h3
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C54, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Bb3 Ba7 9. h3. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move.
This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.
Engine evaluation: +0.10 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 9… h6 10. Nbd2 Be6 11. Nf1 Re8 12. Be3)
- ECO
- C54
- Moves
- 17 plies
- FEN
r1bq1rk1/bpp2ppp/p1np1n2/4p3/4P3/1BPP1N1P/PP3PP1/RNBQR1K1 b - - 0 9- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O O-O 7. Re1 a6 8. Bb3 Ba7 9. h3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Hedinn Steingrimsson (2574) – GM Alexander G Beliavsky (2624) 1-0 · 17th ch-EUR Indiv 2016 · 2016-05-22
Comes from
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (5. d3 d6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6
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.