Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation
The Open Variation of the Two Knights Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4, in which White opens the centre at once and aims for rapid development. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
3,098,651 games: White 52.3% / Draw 4.3% / Black 43.4%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti Defense | 2,277,3912.3M | |
| 285,634286K | ||
| Italian Game: Scotch Invitation Declined | 220,072220K | |
| 89,56290K | ||
| 83,87084K | ||
| 39,45439K | ||
| 28,39228K | ||
| 20,31520K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 1, 2026
Engine evaluation
0.00 The position is about equal
Best play: 4... exd4 5. e5 Ne4 6. Qe2 Nc5 7. O-O Ne6 8. c3 d5 9. exd6
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
The stronger the players, the worse this line does for White: White scores 55% under 1400, 51% at 2200 and up and 49% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 1.7M | |
| 1400–1799 | 2.6M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.6M | |
| 2200 and up | 192K | |
| Masters, over the board | 1,712 |
Master games
- Carlsen, M. – Le, Q. L.
- Duda, J. – Aronian, L.
- Nepomniachtchi, I. – Vachier Lagrave, M.
- Vitiugov, N. – Wang Hao
- Praggnanandhaa, R. – Dubov, D.
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
Description
The Open Variation of the Two Knights Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4, in which White opens the centre at once and aims for rapid development. After the usual 4...exd4 the position is the same as in the Scotch Gambit after 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6, its most common line. White then chooses between 5.e5, the most common move, 5.O-O and 5.Ng5.
Advance Variation: 5.e5
5.e5, often adopted by Evgeny Sveshnikov, has gradually become the main line. Black can reply 5...Ne4 or 5...Ng4, but the most common and natural move is 5...d5, and after 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bc5 the play is sharp.
Traditional line: 5.O-O
After 5.O-O Black is considered to equalise by removing White's last centre pawn with 5...Nxe4.
- 6.Re1 d5 7.Bxd5 Qxd5 8.Nc3 is the Anderssen Attack. White regains the piece, but Black is judged to have a comfortable position after 8...Qa5 or 8...Qh5. 6...d5 7.Nc3 is the Canal Variation.
- 6.Nc3 is the Nakhmanson Gambit. If Black takes the piece with 6...dxc3 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qd5+, the natural 8...Ke8 gives White adequate compensation, but 8...Kf6 has been analysed to give Black a substantial edge with best play. Returning the knight with 6...Nxc3 7.bxc3 d5 8.Bb5 Be7 also leads to a better position for Black.
- 5...Bc5 invites 6.e5 d5, the extensively analysed Max Lange Attack.
Perreux Variation: 5.Ng5
The tricky 5.Ng5 is best met by 5...d5 6.exd5 Qe7+, after which White most often has to play 7.Kf1. Black can also play 5...Ne5, with the typical continuations 6.Qxd4 Nxc4 7.Qxc4 d5 8.exd5 Qxd5 9.Qe2+ and 6.Bb3 h6 7.f4 hxg5 8.fxe5 Nxe4.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 52.3% of the 3.1 million games and Black 43.4%. From 2200 up the results are much closer, 47.5% against 44.8%. In 1,712 master games over the board 39.9% were drawn, Black won 31.2% and White 28.9%.
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How to play against the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation
The most played answer, 4…exd4 (Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti Defense), also scores best for Black: 47.4%, with Black winning 45.2% and White 50.4% of 2.3M games. Of the main answers, 4…Nxe4 scores lowest: 40.6%. Stockfish's first choice is also 4…exd4.
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
Popularity by year
The Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation has stayed between 0.12% and 0.13% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (0.12% in 2025).
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.13% | 44,885 |
| 2017 | 0.12% | 68,014 |
| 2018 | 0.12% | 94,461 |
| 2019 | 0.12% | 146,301 |
| 2020 | 0.13% | 374,099 |
| 2021 | 0.12% | 472,360 |
| 2022 | 0.12% | 455,094 |
| 2023 | 0.12% | 444,097 |
| 2024 | 0.12% | 414,781 |
| 2025 | 0.12% | 403,245 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.12% | 131,130 |
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 (2)
All 14 named lines that continue from here
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Invitation Declined 4 moves
- C44 Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Dubois Réti Defense 4 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit 5 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Max Lange Attack 6 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Perreux Variation 5 moves
- C44 Scotch Game: Scotch Gambit, Kingside Variation 5 moves
- C56 Double Gambit Accepted 5 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Keidansky Variation 9 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Berger Variation 13 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Krause Variation 7 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Max Lange Attack, Rubinstein Variation 11 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Anderssen Attack 8 moves
- C56 Italian Game: Scotch Gambit, Nakhmanson Gambit 6 moves
- C56 Main Line 11 moves
Sources
- Theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Two Knights Defense, version of 25 October 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Open Variation (C56)”. Lichess data as of 1 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-two-knights-defense-open-variation