Italian Game: Two Knights Defense (3. Bc4 Nf6)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6

The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C55, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6. It is a line of the Italian Game. White is to move. 7 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 186,441 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. d3 (33% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. O-O h6)

ECO: C55
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/2B1P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 4 4
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	101,700	52%45%
1500-1999	70,984	50%46%
2000+	13,757	47%47%
All	186,441	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. d3 Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (3… Nf6 4. d3)	62,332 (33%)	51%45%
4. Ng5 Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack	55,567 (30%)	53%44%
4. Nc3 Italian Variation (3… Nf6 4. Nc3)	32,507 (17%)	49%47%
4. O-O	14,860 (8%)	50%47%
4. d4 Two Knights Defense, Open Variation	13,032 (7%)	53%43%
4. c3	5,317 (3%)	49%47%
4. Bxf7+	765 (0%)	45%52%
4. Qe2	701 (0%)	51%46%

Master games

989 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 42%, draw 13%, Black 45%). The strongest:

GM Jeffery Xiong (2686) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2727) 0-1 · Chess.com Rapid Wk2 Swiss · 2022-02-19
GM Hikaru Nakamura (2794) – GM Christopher Woojin Yoo (2599) 1-0 · Bullet Chess Winners 2024 · 2024-06-10
GM Alexey Sarana (2686) – GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen (2642) 0-1 · Titled Tue 13th May Late · 2025-05-13
GM Daniil Dubov (2710) – GM Kiril Georgiev (2589) 0-1 · Titled Arena Apr 3rd 2021 · 2021-04-03
GM Grzegorz Nasuta (2555) – GM Grigoriy Oparin (2687) 1/2-1/2 · AimChess Rapid Play-In · 2023-06-12

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

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2866) – GM gmbrewchess (3010) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Nana_jede_cevape (2860) – GM gmbrewchess (2979) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
GM Elda64 (2736) – GM cutemouse83 (2977) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Italian Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4

Continuations

Four Knights Game: Italian Variation (3… Nf6 4. Nc3) C47 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack C57 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Modern Bishop's Opening (3… Nf6 4. d3) C55 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation C56 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4
Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo (5… d6 6. d3) C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. Nc3 d6 6. d3
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense (7. Bg5 d6) C55 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 d6
Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Rosentreter Variation C54 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. O-O Bc5 5. d4 Bxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Bg5 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. f4

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.