C58

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bishop Check Line

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Statistics from Lichess

3,854,601 games: White 48.1% / Draw 3.9% / Black 48.0%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	3,310,6683.3M
	533,263533K
	9,5879,587
	549549
	368368
	166166

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 27, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.12 The position is about equal

Best play: 6... c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 Nd5 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O Nf4 11. Nc3

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 better this line does for White: White scores 48% under 1400, 51% at 2200 and up and 54% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	907K
1400–1799	2.8M
1800–2199	2M
2200 and up	243K
Masters, over the board	2,788

Master games

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

Overview

Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bishop Check Line (ECO C58, Open Games) is a variation of the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ (6 moves).

In 3,854,601 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 48.1%, Black 48.0% and 3.9% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 6…c6, in 86% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played are Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bogoljubow Variation and Italian Game: Two Knights Defense. In all, 9 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bishop Check Line

6…Bd7 scores best for Black: 50.4%, with Black winning 48.1% and White 47.4% of 533K games. The most played answer, 6…c6, scores lowest: 49.9% in 3.3M games. Stockfish's first choice is 6…c6.

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, Polerio Defense, Bishop Check Line peaked in 2017 at 0.17% of Lichess games and has slipped since: 0.13% in 2025.

0.16%0.13%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.16%	56,668
2017	0.17%	92,488
2018	0.16%	126,891
2019	0.16%	196,015
2020	0.16%	469,678
2021	0.16%	606,556
2022	0.15%	569,411
2023	0.15%	560,251
2024	0.14%	515,706
2025	0.13%	461,066
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.13%	140,881

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 9 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Bishop Check Line (C58)”. Lichess data as of 27 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/italian-game-two-knights-defense-polerio-defense-bishop-check-line