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
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with h6 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. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 82 times by this move order. White won 39%, 9% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 7. Nbd2 (20% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 7. Re1 a6 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. h3 Na5)
- ECO
- C54
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2pp1/2np1n1p/2b1p3/2B1P3/2PP1N2/PP3PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7 | |
| 1500-1999 | 50 | |
| 2000+ | 25 | |
| All | 82 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. Nbd2 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6… h6 7. Nbd2) | 16 (20%) | |
| 7. b4 | 13 (16%) | |
| 7. a4 | 13 (16%) | |
| 7. h3 | 11 (13%) | |
| 7. Re1 Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6… h6 7. Re1) | 11 (13%) | |
| 7. Be3 | 7 (9%) | |
| 7. d4 | 4 (5%) | |
| 7. Bb3 | 3 (4%) |
Master games
105 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 27%, draw 34%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2804) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) 1-0 · GCT Blitz Paris 2016 · 2016-06-12
- GM Viswanathan Anand (2776) – GM Vladimir Kramnik (2808) 1/2-1/2 · Tal Memorial Blitz 2016 · 2016-09-25
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2794) – GM Veselin Topalov (2780) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE Candidates 2016 · 2016-03-15
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2740) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2761) 1-0 · 10th Tal Mem 2016 · 2016-10-02
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2793) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2674) 1/2-1/2 · ch-USA 2017 · 2017-03-31
Highest-rated Lichess games
- danylo03 (2590) – UnwrittenFuture (2518) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- FM Chessbasse16 (2510) – sophiaknowthatuandi (2568) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- danylo03 (2618) – NM rpcdias24 (2427) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
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
Continuations
- Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6… h6 7. Re1) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Re1
- Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6… h6 7. Nbd2) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 h6 7. Nbd2
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.