Italian Game: Classical Variation, La Bourdonnais Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb6
The Italian Game: Classical Variation, La Bourdonnais Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C53, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb6. 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 3,680 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 7. O-O (29% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.44 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 7. O-O Nf6 8. h3 O-O 9. Re1 Nxe4)
- ECO
- C53
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/ppp2ppp/1bnp4/8/2BPP3/5N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 999 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,230 | |
| 2000+ | 451 | |
| All | 3,680 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. O-O | 1,049 (29%) | |
| 7. Nc3 | 784 (21%) | |
| 7. d5 | 618 (17%) | |
| 7. h3 | 452 (12%) | |
| 7. Ng5 | 230 (6%) | |
| 7. Be3 | 111 (3%) | |
| 7. Bb5 | 102 (3%) | |
| 7. Qb3 | 95 (3%) |
Master games
176 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 17%, Black 38%). The strongest:
- GM Yi Wei (2753) – GM Kacper Piorun (2557) 1-0 · FIDE World Cup 2025 · 2025-11-04
- GM Viorel Iordachescu (2614) – GM Richard Rapport (2680) 1/2-1/2 · 2nd Danube Rapid Cup 2013 · 2013-11-02
- GM Marin Bosiocic (2599) – GM Gareev, T. (2569) 0-1 · World Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-30
- GM Awonder Liang (2648) – GM Brian Escalante Ramirez (2485) 1-0 · 52nd Annual World Open · 2024-06-06
- GM Aram Hakobyan (2623) – IM Jan Malek (2499) 1-0 · 24th ch-EUR Indiv 2024 · 2024-11-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- tsnylsw (2733) – Superstitions_Guy (2770) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Howerts1 (2520) – slouuurps (2709) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Nenidon_Andriy (2550) – IM Angelicanmade (2546) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Classical Variation (3… Bc5 4. c3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3
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.