Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Blackburne Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 cxb5
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Blackburne Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C58, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 cxb5. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 335 times by this move order. White won 47%, 3% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 9. Qxa8 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 9. Qxa8 Be7 10. O-O O-O 11. d4 Qxd4)
- ECO
- C58
- Moves
- 16 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/p4ppp/5n2/np2p1N1/8/5Q2/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K2R w KQkq - 0 9- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3 cxb5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 71 | |
| 1500-1999 | 159 | |
| 2000+ | 105 | |
| All | 335 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 9. Qxa8 | 334 (100%) | |
| 9. Qc6+ | 1 (0%) |
Master games
99 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 19%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- GM Yangyi Yu (2709) – GM Liren Ding (2791) 1/2-1/2 · Lindores Abbey Final 8 · 2020-05-25
- GM Erigaisi Arjun (2718) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2766) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess 2022 · 2022-11-23
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2766) – GM Nodirbek Yakubboev (2663) 1-0 · FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 · 2025-09-11
- GM Pranesh M (2598) – GM Vasif Durarbayli (2626) 1-0 · Titled Tue 27th Aug Early · 2024-08-27
- GM Bharath Subramaniyam H (2591) – GM Rasmus Svane (2620) 1-0 · Titled Tue 9th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-09
Highest-rated Lichess games
- josedavid321 (2686) – alexlele2008 (2637) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Pirat22 (2486) – Batman412 (2593) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- You_Are_All_Weak (2488) – Knight_ofthelight73 (2568) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bogoljubow Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Qf3
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.