Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5

The Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C51, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: −0.60 (Stockfish, depth 29; best line 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 8. Qh5 Qxh5 9. Bxh5 Bd4)

ECO

C51

Moves

12 plies

FEN

r1b1k1nr/pppp1ppp/1b6/nP2N1q1/2B1P3/8/P1PP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 7

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

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.