Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4

The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C57, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4. 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 3,577 times by this move order. White won 46%, 3% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nxf7 (40% of games).

Engine evaluation: +2.00 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 5. Bxf7+ Ke7 6. d4 h6 7. Nxe4 Kxf7)

ECO: C57
Moves: 8 plies
FEN: r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p1N1/2B1n3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	2,254	46%51%
1500-1999	1,203	46%52%
2000+	120	48%51%
All	3,577	46%51%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
5. Nxf7	1,413 (40%)	38%59%
5. Bxf7+	1,117 (31%)	58%40%
5. Nxe4	962 (27%)	45%52%
5. Qf3	37 (1%)	30%68%
5. d3	26 (1%)	31%69%
5. Qh5	5 (0%)	20%20%60%
5. Qe2	3 (0%)	33%67%
5. O-O	3 (0%)	67%33%

Master games

24 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 63%, draw 8%, Black 29%). The strongest:

GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko (2585) – GM Alexander Potapov (2424) 0-1 · UKR vs RUS LCWL blitz 5+2 2020 · 2020-05-17
GM Alan Pichot (2641) – FM Dawid Janaszak (2334) 0-1 · Titled Tue 12th Apr Late · 2022-04-12
IM Qi b Chen (2485) – FM Sander Severino (2364) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Apr Early · 2022-04-19
WGM Jiner Zhu (2489) – Kamil Dzida (2333) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th Mar Late · 2023-03-07
FM Jorge Soto Vega (2363) – GM Alexander Potapov (2424) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 2nd June · 2020-06-02

Search all games of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ponziani-Steinitz Gambit and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Prorook (2488) – Momp2024 (2549) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Zeppski88 (2445) – extasio (2360) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Cassius5171 (2363) – Aatu65536 (2404) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5

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.