Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined (4. b4 Bb6)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6
The Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined is a chess opening classified as ECO C51, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,587 times by this move order. White won 47%, 2% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 5. c3 (48% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.23 (Stockfish, depth 51; best line 5. O-O d6 6. a4 a6 7. c3 Nf6)
- ECO
- C51
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/1bn5/4p3/1PB1P3/5N2/P1PP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 555 | |
| 1500-1999 | 885 | |
| 2000+ | 147 | |
| All | 1,587 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. c3 | 757 (48%) | |
| 5. a4 Evans Gambit Declined (4… Bb6 5. a4) | 301 (19%) | |
| 5. b5 | 216 (14%) | |
| 5. O-O | 199 (13%) | |
| 5. Bb2 Evans Gambit Declined, Cordel Variation | 27 (2%) | |
| 5. d4 | 24 (2%) | |
| 5. a3 | 19 (1%) | |
| 5. d3 | 12 (1%) |
Master games
108 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 12%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2619) – GM Levon Aronian (2815) 1-0 · FIDE World Rapid 2014 · 2014-06-16
- GM Maxime Lagarde (2640) – GM Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2691) 0-1 · TCh-POL Ekstraliga 2021 · 2021-10-06
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2487) – GM Levon Aronian (2785) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-29
- FM Jorge Soto Vega (2363) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2835) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 7th July · 2020-07-07
- GM Shanglei Lu (2526) – GM Oleg Korneev (2591) 0-1 · 2nd Indonesia Open · 2012-10-17
Search all games of the Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Kruciatos (2647) – GM ikica77 (2683) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Kruciatos (2645) – GM ikica77 (2684) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- ElKlemerr (2676) – andrey_chess77 (2461) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Italian Game: Evans Gambit (3… Bc5 4. b4) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4
Continuations
- Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined (4… Bb6 5. a4) C51 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. a4
- Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Cordel Variation C51 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. Bb2
- Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation C51 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5
- Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Lange Variation C51 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Nh6
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.