Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Yankovich Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. Qe2 Nxc4 9. dxc4 Bc5 10. Nfd2
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Yankovich Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C58, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. Qe2 Nxc4 9. dxc4 Bc5 10. Nfd2. 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 5 times by this move order. White won 20%, 0% were drawn and Black won 80%. The most popular continuation is 10… O-O (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.47 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 10… O-O 11. Nb3 Bg4 12. Qf1 Bb4+ 13. Nc3)
- ECO
- C58
- Moves
- 19 plies
- FEN
r1bqk2r/ppp2pp1/5n1p/2bP4/2P1p3/8/PPPNQPPP/RNB1K2R b KQkq - 2 10- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. d3 h6 7. Nf3 e4 8. Qe2 Nxc4 9. dxc4 Bc5 10. Nfd2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 5 | |
| All | 5 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 10… O-O | 5 (100%) |
Master games
28 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 22%, Black 32%). The strongest:
- GM Chongsheng Zeng (2561) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2707) 0-1 · 18th Asian Continental · 2019-06-12
- GM Chongsheng Zeng (2561) – IM Shinya Kojima (2400) 1-0 · 18th Asian Continental · 2019-06-08
- FM Alexandru Calin (2214) – GM Jan Gustafsson (2597) 1-0 · Titled Tue 25th Feb Late · 2025-02-25
- FM Juraj Druska (2355) – IM Richard Jr. Biolek (2429) 1/2-1/2 · 25th Czech Open A 2014 · 2014-07-26
- Aleksander Fossan (2149) – GM Aryan Tari (2623) 0-1 · 7th Norway Open 2019 · 2019-06-08
Highest-rated Lichess games
- stanislaski (1896) – vita1ijus (1845) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
- NEBUER_ALOREVEG (1827) – SkyWalker1707 (1844) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 2s
- volodya56 (1928) – BHdocongphucminh (1586) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Kieseritzky Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. 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.