Caissa Codex
C57

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack

Chess diagram: Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack after 6. d4

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.

Statistics from Lichess

101,577 games: White 61.2% / Draw 3.5% / Black 35.3%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
31,12331K
16,81517K
14,40214K
10,80011K
9,9629,962
9,2929,292
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Pincus Variation 1,8021,802
1,6361,636

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 28, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.79 White is better

Best play: 6... Nxd4 7. c3 b5 8. Bd3 h6 9. Nxf7 Kxf7 10. cxd4 Bb4+ 11. Bd2

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

Overview

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack (ECO C57, Open Games) is a variation of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack, Normal Variation, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. d4 (6 moves).

In 101,577 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 61.2%, Black 35.3% and 3.5% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 6…Nxd4, in 31% of those games.

It continues into one named variation, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Pincus Variation.

Written from the Lichess opening list and explorer. Know this line well? Write about it.

Write a description or report a mistake
What would you like to send?

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

How to play against the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack

6…Be6 scores best for Black: 44.8%, with Black winning 42.7% and White 53.1% of 11K games. The most played, 6…Nxd4, scores 36.9% in 31K games, and 6…h6 scores lowest: 34.1%. Stockfish's first choice is 6…Nxd4.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings

Variations (1)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. d4, the position after Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knight Attack, Normal Variation also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Lolli Attack (C57)”. Lichess data as of 28 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-two-knights-defense-lolli-attack

https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-two-knights-defense-lolli-attack