Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz, Gruber Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4 6. c3 b5 7. Bf1 Nxd5 8. Ne4
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz, Gruber Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C57, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4 6. c3 b5 7. Bf1 Nxd5 8. Ne4. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11 times by this move order. White won 36%, 0% were drawn and Black won 64%. The most popular continuation is 8… Qh4 (45% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.09 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 8… Ne6 9. Bxb5+ Bd7 10. Bxd7+ Qxd7 11. O-O)
- ECO
- C57
- Moves
- 15 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/p1p2ppp/8/1p1np3/3nN3/2P5/PP1P1PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4 6. c3 b5 7. Bf1 Nxd5 8. Ne4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8… Qh4 | 5 (45%) | |
| 8… Ne6 | 3 (27%) | |
| 8… Nc6 | 2 (18%) | |
| 8… Bf5 | 1 (9%) |
Master games
18 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 56%, draw 11%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov (2681) – IM Harshavardhan G B (2405) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Nov Early · 2024-11-19
- GM Samuel Sevian (2647) – FM Luis Daniel Rodriguez Hernandez (2385) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 10th Aug · 2021-08-10
- GM Baadur Jobava (2603) – IM Harshavardhan G B (2397) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 26th Jan · 2021-01-26
- GM Adham Fawzy (2481) – FM Adelard Bai (2399) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Oct Early · 2022-10-04
- IM Yaroslav Remizov (2411) – IM Evgeny Egorov (2293) 1-0 · Chelyabinskiy Variant GpA · 2021-03-30
Highest-rated Lichess games
- amirreza02 (2372) – siamak_pirmaleki (2402) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 2s
- Doron_Kavillio (2365) – The_FABIANO (2288) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Amaya64 (2227) – ronimer (2294) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Fritz Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nd4
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.