Tree path 11 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Italian Game › Two Knights Defense › Knight Attack › Normal Variation › Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense › Bishop Check Line › Italian Game: Two Knights Defense › Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Normal Variation C44
- Italian Game C50
- Two Knights Defense C55
- Knight Attack C57
- Normal Variation C57
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense C58
- Bishop Check Line C58
- Italian Game: Two Knights Defense C58
- Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense C59 you are here
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense
Overview
Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Suhle Defense is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C59.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
The line arises from 16 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6.
It is a variation of Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It branches into 3 notable variations — Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Knorre Variation, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Polerio Defense, Göring Variation, Italian Game: Two Knights Defense, Steinitz Variation.
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
- C59
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 16
- Direct variations
- 3
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
460,424 games · White 45.3% / Draw 4.3% / Black 50.4%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nf3 | 397,637 | |
| Nh3 | 57,234 | |
| Nxf7 | 3,056 | |
| Ne4 | 1,406 | |
| b4 | 276 | |
| f3 | 245 | |
| O-O | 174 | |
| d3 | 148 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 03:11:09
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