C50Opening

Italian Game:Giuoco Piano

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5

White to move

Legal moves: 33
Games in the next 4 moves: 1,272,509
Different positions among them: 411,682
Named lines from here: 117

Italian for “quiet game”. Both sides develop their bishops to c-file squares; the play can still become sharp, depending on White’s next moves.

It is reached after 6 moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5. It is a line of the Italian Game.

White is to move and has 33 legal moves. Over the next four moves — two for each side — the game can branch into 1,272,509 different games. Those games reach 411,682 different positions: most positions can be reached in more than one way, 3.1 on average.

The Lichess opening list names 117 further lines after this position, such as Evans Gambit (4. b4) and Giuoco Pianissimo (4. d3).

The same moves can be played in 9 different legal orders that all reach this position. For example 1. Nf3 e5 2. e4 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5, which starts as the Zukertort Opening.

Map of every game of the next four moves after the Italian Game: Giuoco Piano — Every game of the next four moves from this position, as the map draws it. Each ring is one more move; the outer ring holds all 1,272,509 games.

Move by move

1. e4King's Pawn Game
1... e5King's Pawn Game
2. Nf3King's Knight Opening
2... Nc6King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation
3. Bc4Italian Game
3... Bc5Italian Game: Giuoco Piano

Named lines from here

Evans GambitC514. b4
Giuoco PianissimoC504. d3
Jerome GambitC504. Bxf7+
Classical VariationC534. c3
Classical Variation, Giuoco PianissimoC544. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3
Deutz GambitC504. O-O Nf6 5. d4
Four Knights Game, Italian VariationC504. Nc3 Nf6
Rosentreter GambitC504. d4
Classical Variation, Albin GambitC504. O-O Nf6 5. c3
Classical Variation, Giuoco PianissimoC544. O-O Nf6 5. d3 h6 6. c3
Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, with a5C544. O-O Nf6 5. d3 a5 6. c3
Classical Variation, Giuoco PianissimoC544. O-O Nf6 5. d3 O-O 6. c3 d5

Famous games through this position

The Evergreen GameAnderssen, Berlin 1852, move 3Anderssen sacrifices his queen and mates with a bishop; more than 170 years on, the game is still fresh. Steinitz's CombinationSteinitz – von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895, move 3White's rook keeps offering itself on the seventh rank; von Bardeleben walks out rather than wait for the mate.

Related openings

Italian GameC501. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
Italian Game: Two Knights DefenseC551. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6
Italian Game: Hungarian DefenseC501. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Be7
Italian Game: Blackburne-Kostić GambitC501. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nd4

FEN

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