Italian Game: Two Knights Defense (7. Bg5 d6)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 d6
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C55, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 d6. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 8 times by this move order. White won 38%, -1% were drawn and Black won 63%. The most popular continuation is 8. f4 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.05 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 8. f4 Bg4 9. Bxf6 Bxd1 10. Bxd8 Rxd8)
- ECO
- C55
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2ppp/3p1n2/4p1B1/2BnP3/8/PPP2PPP/RN1Q1RK1 w kq - 0 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 8 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. f4 | 5 (63%) | |
| 8. Nc3 | 2 (25%) | |
| 8. c3 | 1 (13%) |
Master games
9 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 12%, Black 44%). The strongest:
- IM Eytan Rozen (2354) – GM Evgeny Zanan (2531) 0-1 · TCh-ISR 2021 · 2021-04-30
- FM Yichen Han (2399) – IM Gal Drnovsek (2397) 1-0 · Titled Tue 14th Feb Late · 2023-02-14
- Atia, M. (2069) – IM Seyed Abolfazl Moosavifar (2419) 0-1 · 37th TCh-IRQ 2026 · 2026-09-05
- WIM Mathilde Congiu (2301) – WFM Isabelle Malassagne (2171) 1/2-1/2 · 17th Sants Open 2015 · 2015-08-27
- IM Adrian Martinez Fernandez (2404) – Dominique Myers (2022) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Mar Late · 2024-03-05
Search all games of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- EzQueen (2226) – Ponuzhaev_Maxim (2449) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 900 + 0s
- pkannan365 (2004) – Dontboo (2163) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
- camilojsir (1933) – chesstere (1962) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense (3. Bc4 Nf6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6
Continuations
- Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Holzhausen Attack C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 d6 8. f4 Qe7 9. fxe5 dxe5 10. Nc3
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.