Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Laroche Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 Nf6
The Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Laroche Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C52, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 Nf6. 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 32 times by this move order. White won 69%, 0% were drawn and Black won 31%. The most popular continuation is 7. dxe5 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.54 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7. dxe5 Ng4 8. Bg5 f6 9. exf6 gxf6)
- ECO
- C52
- Moves
- 12 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/b3p3/2BPP3/2P2N2/P4PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 15 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 32 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7. dxe5 | 17 (53%) | |
| 7. Qb3 | 6 (19%) | |
| 7. O-O | 4 (13%) | |
| 7. Bg5 | 2 (6%) | |
| 7. d5 | 2 (6%) | |
| 7. Qe2 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
7 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 86%, draw 0%, Black 14%). The strongest:
- GM Mikhail Golubev (2489) – FM Ivan Yurkovskiy (2303) 1-0 · Odessa Euromaidan Blitz · 2014-01-20
- Benson, L. (1988) – Jan Feco (1761) 0-1 · World Senior 65+ 2016 · 2016-11-26
- Joerg Mehringer (1933) – Theo Stage-Steffensen (1697) 1-0 · Xtracon Chess Open 2018 · 2018-07-28
- CM Amaro Lutuima (2048) – Adam Roachford (1443) 1-0 · 44th Olympiad 2022 · 2022-08-08
- Karol Urbaniak (1592) – Zbigniew Mlynarski (1653) 1-0 · 210th YMCA Winter B 2019 · 2019-03-21
Search all games of the Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Laroche Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- hippopotamus13 (2203) – saher_1973 (2156) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- cz_cod (2172) – Tarsky_Vladislav-3 (2170) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- BobbyFischer0324 (2166) – Edvard1887 (2160) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Main Line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5
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.