Italian Game: Classical Variation 4. c3 Nf6
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Statistics from Lichess
7,934,320 games: White 51.1% / Draw 4.7% / Black 44.2%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Center Attack | 4,194,0544.2M | |
| Giuoco Pianissimo | 2,572,1432.6M | |
| Italian Game: Classical Variation, Albin Gambit | 598,116598K | |
| Italian Game: Bird's Attack | 231,240231K | |
| 84,53285K | ||
| 75,81276K | ||
| 48,65449K | ||
| 40,69241K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 7, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.16 The position is about equal
Best play: 5. d3 a6 6. a4 d6 7. O-O Ba7 8. h3 O-O 9. Re1 Re8
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: Black scores 46% under 1400, 48% at 2200 and up and 47% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 3.1M | |
| 1400–1799 | 6.7M | |
| 1800–2199 | 3.9M | |
| 2200 and up | 457K | |
| Masters, over the board | 13K |
Master games
- Caruana, F. – Carlsen, M.
- Nepomniachtchi, I. – Carlsen, M.
- Kramnik, V. – Carlsen, M.
- Nepomniachtchi, I. – Carlsen, M.
- Caruana, F. – Kramnik, V.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Overview
Italian Game: Classical Variation (ECO C54, Open Games) is a variation of the Italian Game: Classical Variation, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 (4 moves).
In 7,934,320 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 51.1%, Black 44.2% and 4.7% were drawn. White's most played move here is 5. d4, in 53% of those games.
It branches into 3 named variations; the most played are Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo and Italian Game: Classical Variation, Center Attack. In all, 29 named lines continue from it.
Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.
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How to answer 4…Nf6
The most played answer, 5. d4 (Center Attack), also scores best for White: 55.0%, with White winning 52.6% and Black 42.6% of 4.2M games. Of the main answers, 5. d3 scores lowest: 52.5%. Stockfish's first choice is 5. d3.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
This line has gained ground since 2016: 0.28% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.21% (its peak: 0.35% in 2021).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.21% | 74,871 |
| 2017 | 0.26% | 145,627 |
| 2018 | 0.27% | 211,422 |
| 2019 | 0.27% | 334,471 |
| 2020 | 0.32% | 947,134 |
| 2021 | 0.35% | 1,385,216 |
| 2022 | 0.33% | 1,233,092 |
| 2023 | 0.32% | 1,193,408 |
| 2024 | 0.3% | 1,059,648 |
| 2025 | 0.28% | 959,353 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.26% | 286,485 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Variations (3)
Transpositions
All 29 named lines that continue from here
No line matches.
- C53 Italian Game: Bird's Attack 5 moves
- C54 Center Attack 5 moves
- C54 Giuoco Pianissimo 5 moves
- C54 Giuoco Pianissimo 5 moves
- C54 with a6 5 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Dubov Italian 6 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Modern Line 6 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Traditional Line 6 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, with d5 5 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Walbrodt-Baird Gambit 6 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Ghulam-Kassim Variation 9 moves
- C54 Giuoco Pianissimo 7 moves
- C54 Albin Variation 6 moves
- C54 Main Line 9 moves
- C54 with a4 a5 7 moves
- C54 with a6 6 moves
- C54 Modern Line 6 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Cracow Variation 7 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Greco's Attack 7 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Krause Variation 12 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Anderssen Variation 8 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Greco Variation 8 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Main Line 8 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Moeller-Therkatz Attack 9 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Aitken Variation 10 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Bernstein Variation 10 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Steinitz Variation 10 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Classical Variation, Greco Gambit, Moeller-Bayonet Attack 12 moves
- C54 Italian Game: Giuoco Piano, Therkatz-Herzog Variation 14 moves
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Italian Game: Classical Variation (C54)”. Lichess data as of 7 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-classical-variation-2