Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a6 (5. d3 a6)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a6 is a chess opening classified as ECO C54, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 232 times by this move order. White won 45%, 7% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 6. O-O (27% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O d6 8. h3 h6)
- ECO
- C54
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/1ppp1ppp/p1n2n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2PP1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 57 | |
| 1500-1999 | 112 | |
| 2000+ | 63 | |
| All | 232 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. O-O | 62 (27%) | |
| 6. Bb3 | 43 (19%) | |
| 6. a4 | 42 (18%) | |
| 6. b4 | 30 (13%) | |
| 6. Bg5 | 18 (8%) | |
| 6. Nbd2 | 12 (5%) | |
| 6. a3 | 8 (3%) | |
| 6. h3 | 7 (3%) |
Master games
2,327 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 28%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2796) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 1-0 · GCT Blitz Paris 2017 · 2017-06-24
- GM Vladimir Kramnik (2808) – GM So, W. (2812) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2017-07-01
- GM So, W. (2770) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 0-1 · Clutch Champions Showdown · 2020-05-29
- GM So, W. (2770) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 1-0 · Clutch Champions Showdown · 2020-05-29
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2811) – GM Levon Aronian (2777) 1/2-1/2 · 4th Zurich CC Rapid · 2015-02-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GM ikica77 (2667) – kuhmft (2853) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- iamjeremyplunkett (2538) – MihailRodin (2506) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
- CaluNazdravan (2491) – MihailRodin (2537) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (4… Nf6 5. d3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3
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.