Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation, Kurkin Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6 7. Nxf7
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation, Kurkin Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C57, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6 7. Nxf7. 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 4 times by this move order. White won 0%, 25% were drawn and Black won 75%. The most popular continuation is 7… Kxf7 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.02 (Stockfish, depth 44; best line 7… Kxf7 8. dxc6 Bc5 9. Be2 Rf8 10. d3)
- ECO
- C57
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/p1p2Np1/2n2n1p/1p1Pp3/8/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 7- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5 6. Bf1 h6 7. Nxf7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 2 | |
| 2000+ | 2 | |
| All | 4 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Kxf7 | 4 (100%) |
Master games
13 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 69%, draw 0%, Black 31%). The strongest:
- GM Andrei Istratescu (2671) – GM Kivanc Haznedaroglu (2437) 1-0 · Graz Casino Open 2014 · 2014-02-17
- GM Mikhail Golubev (2461) – FM Ruben Akhayan (2255) 1-0 · Titled Tue 19th Nov Late · 2024-11-19
- GM Mikhail Golubev (2461) – CM Michael Kotyk (2127) 0-1 · Titled Tue 17th Oct Late · 2023-10-17
- Jason Yu (2081) – IM Prasanna Raghuram Rao (2460) 1-0 · PRO League Group Stage · 2019-02-07
- FM Jakub Pulpan (2382) – Dalibor Prochazka (2148) 1-0 · Vera Menchik Mem Rapid · 2016-09-18
Highest-rated Lichess games
- VGP987654321 (2125) – Zazzoo115 (2288) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
- Pen-07 (2064) – TheRasmus (2087) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- diuberjesus14 (1906) – senior73 (2026) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Ulvestad Variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 b5
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.