Italian Game: Scotch Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O
The Italian Game: Scotch Gambit 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. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,102 times by this move order. White won 53%, 5% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 5… Bc5 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5… Nxe4 6. Re1 d5 7. Bxd5 Qxd5 8. Nc3)
- ECO
- C56
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/8/2BpP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 b kq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 451 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,058 | |
| 2000+ | 593 | |
| All | 2,102 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Bc5 | 675 (32%) | |
| 5… Nxe4 Scotch Gambit, Double Gambit Accepted | 651 (31%) | |
| 5… d6 | 394 (19%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 167 (8%) | |
| 5… d5 | 118 (6%) | |
| 5… h6 | 33 (2%) | |
| 5… Bb4 | 19 (1%) | |
| 5… Bd6 | 17 (1%) |
Master games
222 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 17%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-9057bc13 (3749) – Stoofvlees II d9 (3541) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Gambit Bonus 2026 · 2026-05-30
- GM Bartlomiej Heberla (2544) – GM Mateusz Bartel (2662) 1/2-1/2 · ch-POL 2014 · 2014-03-31
- GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2597) – GM Vadim Moiseenko (2526) 1-0 · World Rapid 2019 · 2019-12-28
- FM Dimitris Alexakis (2450) – GM Alexei Shirov (2662) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 12th Jan · 2021-01-12
- FM Marco Riehle (2368) – GM Quang Liem Le (2739) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 11th Feb Late · 2025-02-11
Search all games of the Italian Game: Scotch Gambit 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
Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4
Continuations
- Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Double Gambit Accepted C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Krause Variation C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5 Ng4 7. c3
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 Qd5 10. Nc3 Qf5 11. Nce4 Bf8
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Berger Variation C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Bc5 6. e5 d5 7. exf6 dxc4 8. Re1+ Be6 9. Ng5 Qd5 10. Nc3 Qf5 11. g4 Qg6 12. Nce4 Bb6 13. f4 O-O-O
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.