Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (4. d3 Be7)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7

The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO C55, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7. 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 6,900 times by this move order. White won 49%, 4% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 5. O-O (32% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.24 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5. O-O O-O 6. Re1 d6 7. a4 Na5)

ECO: C55
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: r1bqk2r/ppppbppp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 1 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1,443	51%46%
1500-1999	3,744	48%48%
2000+	1,713	47%46%
All	6,900	49%47%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. O-O	2,213 (32%)	50%45%
5. c3	1,550 (22%)	50%45%
5. Nc3	1,225 (18%)	47%48%
5. h3	432 (6%)	51%44%
5. Bg5	387 (6%)	45%52%
5. Ng5	276 (4%)	42%53%
5. a3	272 (4%)	51%46%
5. Be3	253 (4%)	46%51%

Master games

9,027 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 25%, Black 34%). The strongest:

GM Vladimir Kramnik (2812) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) 0-1 · GCT Blitz Paris 2016 · 2016-06-11
GM Magnus Carlsen (2839) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2816) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 21st Oct 2025 · 2025-10-21
GM Anish Giri (2782) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2016-06-19
GM Viswanathan Anand (2751) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2864) 1/2-1/2 · 10th Norway Chess 2022 · 2022-06-05
GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 0-1 · Bullet Chess Losers 2023 · 2023-07-21

Search all games of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2866) – GM gmbrewchess (3010) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM Elda64 (2736) – GM cutemouse83 (2977) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Nana_jede_cevape (2897) – NM Andrey11976 (2786) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (3… Nf6 4. d3) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3

More Italian Game lines (all)

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.