Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5… O-O 6. d3)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3

The Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo is a chess opening classified as ECO C50, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 714 times by this move order. White won 46%, 7% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 6… d6 (41% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 6… d6 7. Na4 Na5 8. Nxc5 Nxc4 9. dxc4)

ECO: C50
Moves: 11 plies
FEN: r1bq1rk1/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/2b1p3/2B1P3/2NP1N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQ1RK1 b - - 0 6
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. d3

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	504	46%48%
1500-1999	203	48%45%
2000+	7	14%86%
All	714	46%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
6… d6	290 (41%)	51%43%
6… h6	278 (39%)	37%56%
6… a6	43 (6%)	53%40%
6… Nd4	22 (3%)	55%41%
6… Na5	18 (3%)	44%50%
6… Re8	13 (2%)	62%31%
6… Ng4	12 (2%)	58%33%
6… d5	9 (1%)	33%56%

Master games

42 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 21%, draw 22%, Black 57%). The strongest:

GM Levon Aronian (2729) – GM So, W. (2753) 1/2-1/2 · American Cup Champ · 2026-03-11
GM Levon Aronian (2729) – GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2639) 1-0 · Chess.com Open PlayIn1 · 2026-03-16
GM Kateryna Lagno (2508) – WGM Rakshitta Ravi (2321) 0-1 · Tata Steel India Blitz w · 2026-01-10
Marjan Damceski (2057) – Nedzmedin Sadiki (2194) 1/2-1/2 · XXI TCh-MKD 2012 · 2012-07-17
Bogdana Nonkovic (2074) – Ksenija Tomin (2066) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-SRB Premier w 2014 · 2014-09-04

Search all games of the Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

BossHeisenberg (2188) – Zottin (2122) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Daniel2010edward (2155) – jpiloto1971 (2116) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 600 + 0s
nasralnasser (2123) – debayudhdas (2109) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 5s

Comes from

Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5. O-O O-O) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. O-O O-O

More Italian Game lines (all)

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.