Opening guide
Italian Game (C50) — win rates at club level
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, playing as white — data from 51,348,708 Lichess blitz & rapid games at 1600-1800.
The position
♜♝♛♚♝♞♜♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♞♟♝♟♞♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♜♞♝♛♚♜
Drill this opening
Play the position out move by move and find out instantly whether you picked what players at your rating actually pick — and what that move scores.
How it scores at your rating
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| Rating band | Games | White / draw / Black | Score for white |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1600-1800 | 51,348,708 | 50.6% / 4.0% / 45.4% | 52.6% |
| 1400-1600 | 57,634,184 | 50.9% / 3.7% / 45.4% | 52.7% |
| 1800-2000 | 33,058,893 | 50.0% / 4.4% / 45.6% | 52.2% |
| 2000+ | 16,271,167 | 48.6% / 5.4% / 46.0% | 51.3% |
What black actually plays next
Top replies at 1600-1800:
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| Move | Games | Played | Win / draw / loss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bc5 (Italian Game: Giuoco Piano) | 18,220,490 | 35.5% | 46.3% / 4.1% / 49.6% |
| Nf6 (Italian Game: Two Knights Defense) | 14,505,906 | 28.2% | 45.3% / 3.7% / 51.0% |
| h6 (Italian Game: Anti-Fried Liver Defense) | 7,423,785 | 14.5% | 42.4% / 4.3% / 53.2% |
| d6 (Italian Game: Paris Defense) | 3,708,128 | 7.2% | 44.3% / 4.3% / 51.4% |
| Nd4 (Italian Game: Blackburne-Kostić Gambit) | 2,598,190 | 5.1% | 48.2% / 3.9% / 47.9% |
| Be7 (Italian Game: Hungarian Defense) | 2,223,445 | 4.3% | 47.6% / 4.4% / 48.0% |
Common mistakes at 1600-1800
- h6 is played in 14.5% of games here but scores only 44.5% for black. After h6, d4 is the most common answer and scores 58.0% for white.
- d6 is played in 7.2% of games here but scores only 46.4% for black.
Model games
Real games from the Lichess masters database.
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| White | Black | Result | Year | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caruana, Fabiano (2835) | Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 0-1 | 2020 | View game |
| Kramnik, Vladimir (2812) | Carlsen, M. (2855) | 0-1 | 2016 | View game |
| Caruana, F. (2804) | Carlsen, M. (2855) | 1-0 | 2016 | View game |
| Carlsen, M. (2882) | So, W. (2776) | 1-0 | 2019 | View game |
| Ding, Liren (2791) | Carlsen, Magnus (2863) | 0-1 | 2020 | View game |
Recent club games in this line
Recent rated games at 1600-1800 — not model games, just what actually happens at that rating.
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| White | Black | Result | Year | Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| coffee0395 (1772) | SalarioMinimo (1656) | 0-1 | 2026 | View game |
| yunwei (1764) | ssupermen (1722) | 0-1 | 2026 | View game |
| houndlock21 (1664) | MxMsNsk (1671) | 1-0 | 2026 | View game |
| Sa_22 (1601) | sgindekozu (1620) | 1-0 | 2026 | View game |
Build a repertoire from here
See the full move tree for players in your rating band: 1600-1800 repertoire explorer (white) →