Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Steinitz Variation

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Bg5 f6 11. Be3

The Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Steinitz Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C51, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Bg5 f6 11. Be3. 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: −0.36 (Stockfish, depth 29; best line 11… Nxc4 12. Qa4+ c6 13. Qxc4 Ne7 14. Rfe1)

ECO

C51

Moves

21 plies

FEN

r1bqk1nr/ppp3pp/1b1p1p2/n7/2BPP3/2N1BN2/P4PPP/R2Q1RK1 b kq - 1 11

PGN

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Bb6 9. Nc3 Na5 10. Bg5 f6 11. Be3

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.