Caissa Codex
C51

Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hicken Variation

Chess diagram: Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hicken Variation after 9. Bb2

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Statistics from Lichess

10 games: White 70.0% / Draw 0.0% / Black 30.0%

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Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
88
22

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 1, 2026

Engine evaluation

−2.14 Black is clearly better

Best play: 9... Qxe4+ 10. Kd1 Nxc4 11. Bxg7 Qe7 12. Qxe7+ Nxe7 13. Bxh8 d5 14. Nc3

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

Overview

Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hicken Variation (ECO C51, Open Games) is a declined gambit in the Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bb6 5. b5 Na5 6. Nxe5 Qg5 7. Qf3 Qxe5 8. Qxf7+ Kd8 9. Bb2 (9 moves).

In 10 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 70.0%, Black 30.0% and 0.0% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 9…Qxe4+, in 80% of those games. That is too few games for the percentages to mean much.

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Other lines from the same position

Instead of 7. Qf3 Qxe5 8. Qxf7+ Kd8 9. Bb2, the position after Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hirschbach Variation also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Italian Game: Evans Gambit Declined, Hicken Variation (C51)”. Lichess data as of 1 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-evans-gambit-declined-hicken-variation

https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-evans-gambit-declined-hicken-variation