Chess Codex
Tree path 7 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Italian Game › Giuoco Piano › Italian Game: Evans Gambit › Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted
  1. Chess Codex
  2. King's Pawn Game C20
  3. King's Knight Opening C40
  4. Normal Variation C44
  5. Italian Game C50
  6. Giuoco Piano C50
  7. Italian Game: Evans Gambit C51
  8. Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted C51 you are here
C51

Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted

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Overview

Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted is a sacrificial opening line filed under ECO C51 in the Open Games group. The defining idea is the early concession of material to seize the initiative and unbalance the position.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

It begins with 8 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 to reach the canonical position.

In the opening tree, this line branches off from Italian Game: Evans Gambit, part of the broader King's Pawn Game system.

5 named variations grow from this line, including Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Anderssen Variation, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Main Line, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Mayet Defense, and others.

Counted recursively, this branch covers 38 sub-variations at all depths.

Use the board to walk through every move, check how the position has scored on Lichess, or take it head-to-head against Stockfish.

ECO code
C51
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
8
Parent
Italian Game: Evans Gambit
Direct variations
5
Total in subtree
38

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Statistics from Lichess

3,035,652 games · White 52.4% / Draw 3.4% / Black 44.2%

MovesGamesW / D / B
c33,014,911
O-O15,481
Bb22,789
a31,333
Nc3300
Ba3258
Bxf7+190
Ng5170

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:52:45

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Variations (5)

Related variations at the same level

Sister lines that share the same parent Italian Game: Evans Gambit:

Show all 38 sub-variations (full subtree)

https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-evans-gambit-accepted