Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense
The Polerio Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5, Black's standard reply to the Knight Attack in the Two Knights Defense. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
4,532,094 games: White 47.5% / Draw 3.9% / Black 48.6%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Bishop Check Line | 3,855,2213.9M | |
| Kieseritzky Variation | 259,161259K | |
| 160,919161K | ||
| 116,528117K | ||
| 44,35744K | ||
| 34,98635K | ||
| 25,95326K | ||
| 21,13121K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 5, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.18 The position is about equal
Best play: 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O Nf4
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 Black: Black scores 53% under 1400, 49% at 2200 and up and 46% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 1.6M | |
| 1400–1799 | 3.8M | |
| 1800–2199 | 2.3M | |
| 2200 and up | 271K | |
| Masters, over the board | 2,858 |
Master games
- So, W. – Carlsen, M.
- Aronian, L. – Caruana, F.
- Aronian, L. – Ding Liren
- Firouzja, A. – Caruana, F.
- Aronian, L. – Ding Liren
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 Polerio Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5, Black's standard reply to the Knight Attack in the Two Knights Defense. It has also been called the Chigorin Gambit. The knight attacks the bishop on c4 before White can move the d5-pawn and renew the pressure on f7.
The idea
Black gives up a pawn for a lead in development. In the 19th century Mikhail Chigorin demonstrated Black's compensation in the line 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6, which is now the main line.
Main lines
After 6.Bb5+ c6 7.dxc6 bxc6 White has three common moves:
- 8.Be2 h6 9.Nf3 e4 10.Ne5 was the main line from the 19th century. White is behind in development but has an extra pawn and the better structure, while Black has two isolated pawns. 9.Nh3, popularised by Wilhelm Steinitz and revived by Bobby Fischer in the 1960s and Nigel Short in the 1990s, is thought to be about as good.
- 8.Bd3 was still considered a mistake by Jan Pinski in 2004 but is now the main line of the whole 4.Ng5 variation.
- 8.Qf3, the Bogoljubow Variation, pins the c6-pawn to the rook on a8. Black can sacrifice the rook with 8...cxb5, as Joseph Henry Blackburne did, but 8...Be7 and 8...Rb8 are more common.
8.Ba4? is a notable mistake: after 8...h6 9.Nf3 e4 the knight must retreat to g1 or go to e5, where 10...Qd4 wins material.
Black can also answer 6.Bb5+ with 6...Bd7. White's other sixth move is 6.d3, the Kieseritzky or Morphy Variation, which tries to keep the pawn. It is relatively unpopular, since after 6...h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.Qe2 Nxc4 9.dxc4 Bc5 Black gets good chances for the pawn and White gives up the bishop pair.
The numbers
On Lichess Black wins 48.6% of the 4.5 million games and White 47.5%. Black does best under 1400, 51.9% against 45.1%; from 2200 up White is ahead, 48.3% against 46.1%. In 2,858 master games over the board White won 31.1%, Black 23.5%, and 45.3% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense
6. d3 (Kieseritzky Variation) scores best for White: 53.0%, with White winning 50.8% and Black 44.8% of 259K games. The most played answer, 6. Bb5+, scores lowest: 50.0% in 3.9M games. Stockfish's first choice is 6. Bb5+.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White'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, Polerio Defense has lost ground since 2016: 0.15% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.2%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.2% | 70,332 |
| 2017 | 0.2% | 109,657 |
| 2018 | 0.19% | 147,433 |
| 2019 | 0.18% | 228,592 |
| 2020 | 0.19% | 557,189 |
| 2021 | 0.19% | 723,779 |
| 2022 | 0.18% | 672,190 |
| 2023 | 0.17% | 657,054 |
| 2024 | 0.17% | 598,937 |
| 2025 | 0.15% | 534,414 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.15% | 162,988 |
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 13 named lines that continue from here
- C58 Bishop Check Line 6 moves
- C58 Kieseritzky Variation 6 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense 8 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Maróczy Variation 9 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bogoljubow Variation 8 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Yankovich Variation 10 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Blackburne Variation 8 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Colman Variation 8 moves
- C58 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Paoli Variation 9 moves
- C59 Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense 8 moves
- C59 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knorre Variation 12 moves
- C59 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Göring Variation 10 moves
- C59 Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Steinitz Variation 9 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, Polerio Defense (C58)”. Lichess data as of 5 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-two-knights-defense-polerio-defense