Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (3… Nf6 4. d3)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3
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. It is a line of the Italian Game. Black is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 62,332 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4… Bc5 (48% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.09 (Stockfish, depth 54; best line 4… Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. h3 O-O 7. O-O)
- ECO
- C55
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/3P1N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 29,713 | |
| 1500-1999 | 26,048 | |
| 2000+ | 6,571 | |
| All | 62,332 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Bc5 Giuoco Pianissimo, Normal | 30,060 (48%) | |
| 4… h6 | 9,198 (15%) | |
| 4… d5 | 7,460 (12%) | |
| 4… Be7 Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (4. d3 Be7) | 6,900 (11%) | |
| 4… d6 | 3,712 (6%) | |
| 4… Bb4+ | 2,102 (3%) | |
| 4… a6 | 643 (1%) | |
| 4… Na5 | 622 (1%) |
Master games
4,875 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 20%, Black 39%). The strongest:
- Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) – LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-15
- LCZero 0.33-dev-f6ec55c-BT4-6147500-it332 (3749) – Obsidian dev-16.15 (3714) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-13
- GM Vladimir Kramnik (2808) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) 0-1 · GCT Blitz YourNextMove · 2017-07-02
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2833) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2802) 1-0 · Chessable Masters Winners · 2025-02-21
- GM Alireza Firouzja (2777) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Losers 2023 · 2023-07-21
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 (3. Bc4 Nf6) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6
Continuations
- Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo, Normal C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (4. d3 Be7) C55 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Be7
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (5. O-O d6) C55 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 h6 5. O-O d6
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.