Tree path 9 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Italian Game › Giuoco Piano › Italian Game: Evans Gambit › Italian Game: Evans Gambit Accepted › Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense › Main Line
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line
Overview
Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line is a gambit, classified under ECO code C51 within the Open Games family. As with all gambits, one side sacrifices material early — usually a pawn — in exchange for development, open lines, or initiative.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
It begins with 16 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Bb6 to reach the canonical position.
It is a variation of Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It branches into 3 notable variations — Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Göring Attack, Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Ulvestad Variation.
Together the deeper variations number 8 across the full subtree.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- C51
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 16
- Direct variations
- 3
- Total in subtree
- 8
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
171,521 games · White 47.9% / Draw 3.2% / Black 48.9%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Qb3 | 42,001 | |
| Nc3 | 28,874 | |
| Ng5 | 15,079 | |
| d5 | 13,554 | |
| e5 | 12,704 | |
| Bb2 | 11,419 | |
| Bg5 | 11,281 | |
| h3 | 9,025 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 03:10:50
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Variations (3)
Show all 8 sub-variations (full subtree)
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit 18-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Göring Attack 19-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Ulvestad Variation 19-ply
- C51 Fraser Attack 19-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Paulsen Variation 20-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Steinitz Variation 21-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Fraser-Mortimer Attack 25-ply
- C51 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Mortimer-Evans Gambit 26-ply