Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (5. O-O d6)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. O-O d6
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 h6 5. O-O d6. 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 449 times by this move order. White won 51%, 6% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6. c3 (32% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.36 (Stockfish, depth 51; best line 6. c3 Be7 7. a4 a6 8. Re1 O-O)
- ECO
- C55
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp2pp1/2np1n1p/4p3/2B1P3/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQ1RK1 w kq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. O-O d6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 150 | |
| 1500-1999 | 169 | |
| 2000+ | 130 | |
| All | 449 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. c3 | 143 (32%) | |
| 6. h3 | 140 (31%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 61 (14%) | |
| 6. Re1 | 31 (7%) | |
| 6. Be3 | 29 (6%) | |
| 6. a4 | 13 (3%) | |
| 6. a3 | 12 (3%) | |
| 6. Nbd2 | 10 (2%) |
Master games
2,045 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 21%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2782) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) 1-0 · GCT Rapid Paris 2018 · 2018-06-21
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2782) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) 1-0 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2018-06-15
- GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2779) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2801) 0-1 · Saint Louis Rapid 2018 · 2018-08-12
- GM Levon Aronian (2764) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2018-06-16
- GM Levon Aronian (2764) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2808) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Rapid YourNextMove · 2018-06-13
Highest-rated Lichess games
- kletochkaa_2007 (2713) – Zaplya (2548) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Kasparov_Aram (2697) – Zaplya (2522) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- vwemby (2562) – CM skilledassassin04 (2611) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 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)
- 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.