Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Perreux Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Ng5
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Perreux Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C56, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Ng5. 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 564 times by this move order. White won 54%, 5% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 5… d5 (66% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.46 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 5… d5 6. exd5 Qe7+ 7. Kf1 Ne5 8. Qxd4)
- ECO
- C56
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/6N1/2BpP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Ng5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 344 | |
| 1500-1999 | 160 | |
| 2000+ | 60 | |
| All | 564 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… d5 | 371 (66%) | |
| 5… Ne5 | 110 (20%) | |
| 5… Nxe4 | 24 (4%) | |
| 5… Bb4+ | 20 (4%) | |
| 5… Qe7 | 15 (3%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 8 (1%) | |
| 5… h6 | 5 (1%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 2 (0%) |
Master games
113 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 45%, draw 12%, Black 43%). The strongest:
- IM Pierluigi Piscopo (2399) – GM Laurent Fressinet (2668) 0-1 · 14th Balagna Rapid KO · 2017-05-07
- FM Dawid Janaszak (2308) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2629) 1-0 · Titled Tue 16th Jan Late · 2024-01-16
- IM Bogdan Belyakov (2481) – IM Mark Van der Werf (2393) 1/2-1/2 · Euro Online +2300 Day 2 · 2020-05-30
- FM Dawid Janaszak (2308) – GM Andrew Hong (2539) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Dec Late · 2023-12-12
- GM Jonny Hector (2463) – FM Tobias Valentin Rostgaard (2332) 1-0 · OBRO International 2022 · 2022-08-25
Search all games of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Perreux Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- ShadowNinja7i (2602) – joeALT30 (2538) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
- CM Asatryan_Gor (2593) – IM Chess-Tales (2546) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- andrey_chess77 (2463) – ElKlemerr (2673) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti Defense 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4
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.