Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Anderssen Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb4+
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Anderssen Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C54, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb4+. 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 420 times by this move order. White won 50%, 8% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 9. Bd2 (66% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 9. Bd2 Be7 10. O-O a6 11. Be2 O-O)
- ECO
- C54
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/2n5/1B1pP3/1b1Pn3/5N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 9- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5 7. Bb5 Ne4 8. cxd4 Bb4+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 30 | |
| 1500-1999 | 256 | |
| 2000+ | 134 | |
| All | 420 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. Bd2 | 279 (66%) | |
| 9. Nbd2 | 130 (31%) | |
| 9. Nc3 | 8 (2%) | |
| 9. Kf1 | 3 (1%) |
Master games
462 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 53%, draw 20%, Black 27%). The strongest:
- GM Rauf Mamedov (2636) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2736) 1-0 · Aimchess Rapid Div 3 W · 2023-07-11
- GM Pavel Ponkratov (2608) – GM Alexander Grischuk (2732) 1/2-1/2 · Dvoretsky Mem Blitz 2023 · 2023-12-09
- GM Emre Can (2600) – GM Yi Wei (2732) 0-1 · PRO League Group Stage · 2020-02-12
- GM Kirill Shevchenko (2677) – GM Narayanan S L (2654) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-ESP Div Honor 2023 · 2023-09-22
- GM Andrei Volokitin (2627) – GM David W L Howell (2694) 1-0 · 22nd European Teams · 2019-10-28
Highest-rated Lichess games
- superkramsky (2476) – Field37 (2458) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Qyran (2389) – Nacho90chess (2398) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- d3rang3d (2380) – Margelovets (2350) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Modern Line (6. e5 d5) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. e5 d5
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.