Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3
The Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C56, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 414 times by this move order. White won 48%, 9% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 8… Qh5 (39% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 8… Qh5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Bg5 Bd6 11. Nxd6+)
- ECO
- C56
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1b1kb1r/ppp2ppp/2n5/3q4/3pn3/2N2N2/PPP2PPP/R1BQR1K1 b kq - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 22 | |
| 1500-1999 | 156 | |
| 2000+ | 236 | |
| All | 414 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… Qh5 | 160 (39%) | |
| 8… Qa5 | 84 (20%) | |
| 8… Qd7 | 69 (17%) | |
| 8… Qd8 | 67 (16%) | |
| 8… Qf5 | 21 (5%) | |
| 8… dxc3 | 5 (1%) | |
| 8… Qc4 | 4 (1%) | |
| 8… Qc5 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
580 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 23%, draw 27%, Black 50%). The strongest:
- GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2670) – GM So, W. (2770) 1-0 · NIC Classic Prelim 2021 · 2021-04-24
- GM Yi Wei (2743) – GM Yang Wen (2605) 1/2-1/2 · ch-CHN Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-08
- GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2677) – GM Vladislav Kovalev (2637) 1-0 · Titled Arena May 8th 2021 · 2021-05-08
- GM Yi Wei (2694) – GM Yang Wen (2611) 1/2-1/2 · 15th Asian Continental · 2016-05-30
- GM Gawain C B Maroroa Jones (2677) – GM Dmitrij Kollars (2607) 0-1 · Titled Arena May 8th 2021 · 2021-05-08
Search all games of the Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- FM Squoznyak (2889) – IM Hripach007 (2705) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- CM Mikkel_Vinh (2690) – umbrella01 (2795) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Alpha_777 (2766) – IM Shukh_Nikolay (2595) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Double Gambit Accepted 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4
Continuations
- Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack, Main Line C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3 Qa5 9. Nxe4 Be6 10. Bd2 Qd5 11. Bg5
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.