Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Pavlov Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nh6 7. d4 d6 8. Bxh6 dxe5 9. Bxg7 Rg8 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Bxe5 Qg5 12. Nd2

The Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Pavlov 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 Nh6 7. d4 d6 8. Bxh6 dxe5 9. Bxg7 Rg8 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Bxe5 Qg5 12. Nd2. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move.

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

Engine evaluation: −0.70 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 12… Bg4 13. Nf3 Qh5 14. Qd3 c5 15. O-O-O)

ECO

C51

Moves

23 plies

FEN

r1b3r1/ppp2k1p/1b6/nP2B1q1/3PP3/8/P1PN1PPP/R2QK2R b KQ - 2 12

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nh6 7. d4 d6 8. Bxh6 dxe5 9. Bxg7 Rg8 10. Bxf7+ Kxf7 11. Bxe5 Qg5 12. Nd2

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.