Italian Game: Giuoco Piano

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5

The Italian Game: Giuoco Piano is a chess opening classified as ECO C50, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 12 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 173,485 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 4. c3 (28% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.20 (Stockfish, depth 56; best line 4. d3 Nf6 5. O-O d6 6. c3 O-O)

ECO: C50
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: r1bqk1nr/pppp1ppp/2n5/2b1p3/2B1P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 4 4
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	79,504	49%47%
1500-1999	81,552	50%46%
2000+	12,429	48%46%
All	173,485	49%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. c3 Classical Variation (3… Bc5 4. c3)	49,021 (28%)	52%44%
4. O-O	37,874 (22%)	49%47%
4. d3 Giuoco Pianissimo (3… Bc5 4. d3)	36,940 (21%)	48%48%
4. Nc3	21,524 (12%)	48%48%
4. b4 Evans Gambit (3… Bc5 4. b4)	10,440 (6%)	54%44%
4. d4 Rosentreter Gambit	8,773 (5%)	53%44%
4. Ng5	3,019 (2%)	34%63%
4. a3	1,478 (1%)	50%47%

Master games

4,704 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 24%, Black 38%). The strongest:

LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) – Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) 1-0 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-17
Stockfish dev-20230409-b36d39d (3639) – LCZero 0.30-dag-a9b25c2b-BT2-3 (3598) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 24 Superfinal 2023 · 2023-04-17
KomodoDragon 3.3 (3583) – Caissa 1.21.2 (3545) 1-0 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-08
Caissa 1.21.2 (3545) – KomodoDragon 3.3 (3583) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Premier 2024 · 2024-12-06
LCZero v0.26.3_T60.66740 (3575) – KomodoDragon 2647.00 (3522) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2021-01-08

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2899) – GM gmbrewchess (2965) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM Pon4ik2006 (2968) – kuhmft (2859) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM cutemouse83 (2971) – Sunrise34 (2856) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Italian Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4

Continuations

Italian Game: Classical Variation (3… Bc5 4. c3) C53 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3
Italian Game: Evans Gambit (3… Bc5 4. b4) C51 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4
Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (3… Bc5 4. d3) C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3
Italian Game: Jerome Gambit C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Bxf7+
Italian Game: Rosentreter Gambit C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d4
Four Knights Game: Italian Variation (4. Nc3 Nf6) C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Nc3 Nf6
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Albin Gambit C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. c3
Italian Game: Deutz Gambit C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d4
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (5… h6 6. c3) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. c3
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (5… d6 6. c3) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a5 C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 a5 6. c3
Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo (6. c3 d5) C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. c3 d5

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.